Remarkable Bright Creatures

Van Pelt, Shelby. Remarkably Bright Creatures. New York: HarperCollins 202. Print.

First Sentences:

Darkness suits me. Each evening, I await the click of the overhead lights, leaving only the glow from the main tank. Not perfect, but close enough. Almost-darkness, like the middle-bottom of the sea. I lived there before I was captured and imprisoned....Darkness runs through my blood.

 

Description:

Not sure whether Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures, title refers to octopuses or humans. You see, a small part of this interesting novel is narrated by an curmudgeonly Giant Pacific octopus, a creature (named Marcellus, of course) held in a tank located in the Sowell Bay Aquarium for the past four years.

"Held" is a relative term. At night, Marcellus is able to squeeze through a tiny opening under his tank's lid, pull himself out, and slip-slide throughout the room, snacking on the other water creatures in adjacent tanks, opening locked doors, and generally exploring everything in the aquarium during the 18 minutes he can survive before he needs to return to water. 

 

Remarkably Bright Creatures focuses of Tova Sullivan, an elderly woman who cleans the aquarium, idly talking to the fish and other waterlife there, including Marcellus, as she mops floors and polishes the glass on the tanks. Tova recently lost her beloved husband to cancer, and also thirty years earlier suffered the loss of her teenage son who disappeared one night under unknown conditions. Cleaning the aquarium gives her something to do and help her cope.

Marcellus hears her kind words of greeting and observes her sadness. And when one evening Tova finds Marcellus accidentally trapped in computer cords outside his tank during one of his wanderings, she rescues him and the two form an secret friendship. Tova even finds she can place her arm inside his tank and Marcellus will wrap a tentacle around it, squeezing it gently, and leaving suction marks that puzzle Tova's friends.

 

It should be mentioned that during Marcellus late-night movements, he collects items and hides them safely under a rock in his tank. And one item, he realizes, might prove how Tova's son died. But communicating this information is far from easy.

It is lonely. Perhaps it would be less so if I had someone with whom to share my secrets. I am very good at keeping secrets. You might say I have no choice. Whom might I tell? My options are scant.

Then along comes a young man, Cameron, who visits Sowell Bay on a quest to look for his absentee father as well as any information about his mother who had abandoned him years ago without revealing Camderon's father's name. An old photograph, high school yearbook, and class ring have led him to Sowell Bay and eventually to work in the aquarium alongside Tova and Marcellus.

Now hang with me for a moment, all you doubters. It sounds like a ridiculous premise: a thinking, observant sea creature who understands English, and remembers every action, word, and creature (aquatic and human) who enter his viewing room? But Marcellus is no ordinary octopus, or maybe he is and we have never gave his species credit for their cleverness and brain.

Well, of course I am intelligent. All octopuses are. I remember each and every human face that pauses to gaze at my tank. Patterns come readily to me....When I choose to hear, I hear everything...my vision is precise. I can tell which particular human has touched the glass of my tank by the fingerprints left behind. Learning to read their letters and words was easy....My neurons number half a billion, and they are distributed among my eight arms....I have wondered whether I might have more intelligence in a single tentacle than a human does in its entire skull.

Author Van Pelt cleverly, convincingly, dreamily explores and eventually ties together the stories of loss and hope of these characters. It is an absorbing tale of realistic figures (including the octopus), who deal with personal and social challenges and heartbreak, but retain hope throughout all their trials. It is an optimistic book, full of positivity and endurance despite the obstacles placed before each of them. A quiet story to absorb you from page one to the very end.

Secrets are everywhere. Some humans are crammed full of them. How do they not explode. It seems to be a hallmark of the human species' abysmal communication skills....Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire. 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

     See More Recommendations 

          (and an Intro to The First Sentence Reader) 

________________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Montgomery, Sy. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness.

An absolutely fascinating account of the author's varied experiences with octopuses, relating numerous examples of their intelligence, interaction with humans, and lifestyles. Don't miss it.  (previously reviewed here)