Let me say this: I liked this book up until the very end. Though there’s probably a risk of me hanging out at an aquarium trying to bond with an octopus, and I’d probably get kicked out. I’ve always wanted to visit that part of the country, and now I want to visit even more. The prose of this novel is lovely, and it really lends so much more beauty to an already incredible setting in Sowell Bay, Washington, on Puget Sound. I thought he was the soul of this book, representative of the depth of goodness at the heart of a rugged and shaggy world that’s often judged by its rough exterior versus the more understated side full of warmth and humor. Of course, I loved Tova dearly and was rooting for her to find her peace, but Ethan just brought a smile to my face every time he popped up. Hands down, my favorite human character was Ethan, the colorful owner of the local food mart. That didn’t make him any less annoying, but I totally understand him and appreciate the complex human that he is.

I in no way am trying to say Van Pelt did anything wrong in the way she presented him. Sure, he had his reasons, and he was supposed to be presented as a stunted adult. Honestly, I had trouble viewing him as a man in his 30’s.

There’s a whole host of other delightful and quirky characters who make up this novel, and each of them has a very important part to play.Īll the characters are flawed, but none was quite as flawed as Cameron, the young man who moves from California to Sowell Bay in search of information about his past. The rest is narrated by Marin Ireland, pretty much a legend in audiobook narration. Definitely listen to this one, because Michael Urie stole the show with his narration of Marcellus. Marcellus the curmudgeonly octopus is what you get if you take Backman’s Ove and give him eight tentacles and nine super-charged brains. She seamlessly crafted these perfectly flawed people in separate spheres of this delightful universe and brought them together in such a satisfying way.

I loved Van Pelt’s development of character. Tova carries around the kind of sadness very few humans could ever understand, but when she meets Marcellus, the giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium, she doesn’t know just how much change he will bring to her life. She doesn’t need a job, but she needs the distraction that staying busy gives her. Tova Sullivan lives a quiet life keeping her little house tidy and working as a night shift janitor at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. It’s a debut novel from Shelby Van Pelt, and I certainly hope to see so much more from her in the future, because I need to regularly ugly cry at the end of a book to remember I am actually human. This was my favorite of my reads for 2022. When I decided to restart the blog, I couldn’t think of a better book to begin than a review for this gem.

Bright creatures book