Remarkably Bright Creatures

2 ⭐️ while the writing style was easy to read/listen to and kept me curious enough to keep going, the actual story was painfully slow. this honestly might be one of the most mundane books i’ve ever read/listened to. it felt like nothing truly happened for most of the book, and so many scenes dragged on way longer than they needed to. it genuinely could’ve been much shorter and still delivered the exact same emotional impact. and i’m sorry but cameron was absolutely insufferable to me. i could not stand being in his head half the time. he’s a 30 year old man acting like a miserable teenager who thinks life is out to get him, when really he just has zero ambition and refuses to take accountability for anything. at some point you have to stop blaming your mommy/daddy issues and actually take control of your life <3 the best part of the book was obviously marcellus. but i wanted WAY more octopus. every time the story shifted away from him, my interest disappeared, he should have had a way bigger part overall, i didn’t hate the writing itself, but the story felt like watching a day-in-the-life vlog of the most boring person you know. slow, repetitive, and way less compelling than i expected considering all the hype around it 🥲 i’ll probably still watch the movie which may end up being better.

i shocked myself immensely when i pulled myself together and finished this book. i was ready to DNF at 15% but because it was chosen as a book club read i put my big girl panties on and carried on. originally i was reading in physical format but the writing style was so immature for my personal taste and the verbiage felt like trying to hit the word count on an essay, so i switched over to audiobook and it became easier to get through. i guessed the entire ending/twist/ plot of the novel about halfway through which was a bummer. the book focuses on the lives of tova (an ederly woman who lost her son years ago in a boating accident that was deemed a suicide), cameron (a deadbeat loser who can’t hold a job with a deadbeat mom and a MIA father) and marcellus (a four year old giant pacific octopus living in captivity at an aquarium at the end of his lifespan) tova’s life revolves around working at the aquarium. she has friends, but they all have families and tova is a loner. her friends are the sea creatures that surround her, specifically marcellus, who she finds extremely intelligent and cognizant of what’s going on. cameron is on a mission to find his dad since he has nothing left going on for him in his life, and the three characters all end up at the aquarium in the same PNW small town together. the best chapters the ones told from the octopus POV and yet they’re like one page long? the author spends so much time wasted on world building and pointless plot points that don’t seem to go anywhere. the twist is predictable, and the “found family” trope is heartwarming, sure, but boring (to me). if you enjoyed “a man called ove” or “lessons in chemistry” or “if you give a mouse a cookie” you would probably love this. me? not my style at all.

This book took me FOREVER to read. Such a slow start and the “twist” is revealed halfway through the book and you just wait for the characters to catch on. However, very heartwarming and Tova and Marcellus redeem this book for me. Made me think about how much my family means to me and made me rethink how I will think about family when I’m older.