Remarkably Bright Creatures is the story of the remarkably bright Pacific octopus, Marcellus, who lives at the Sowell Bay aquarium. Marcellus is counting down his days. He was a rescue, brought to the aquarium as a young octopus, and he’s on his last legs. Marcellus has charmed Tova, the aquarium’s night-shift cleaner, who is remarkably clean. She discovers Marcellus on the run from his tank (he’s quite the escape artist) and keeps his secret. But Marcellus has other secrets. For example, when he comes across Tova’s lost house key on the aquarium floor, he recognizes that it is a key he has seen before–at the bottom of the ocean near the pier, which is also where Tova’s son Erik disappeared years ago. Marcellus has clues and he’s dedicated to revealing them to Tova. The third main character in the story is Cam, who is in Sowell Bay looking for his estranged father. Cam is remarkably bright but makes remarkably stupid, short-sighted choices. In his case, it’s Tova who has clues to how he can get his life on the right track.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is a novel about charming creatures, some with 2 legs, some with 8. Each of them is dealing with loneliness and looking for a sense of family and connection in different ways. This is a quiet, gentle read with a few mysterious plot twists.