Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel
By: Shelby Van Pelt / Narrated By: Marin Ireland, Michael Urie
Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
Tired old trope? You betcha. Luminous, brilliant crafting, a story that’ll make you cry? OH GOSH YES!
You never know what you’re gonna get with New York Times Book Recommendations. Some of the complete and utter dogs (Nooo offense to dogs!) that I’ve excitedly purchased, listened to, retched over, and have summarily chucked into the Audiobook Accomplice I Want My Hours Back bin o’ shaaaame, have come highly recommended. So boooo!
But maybe Remarkably Bright Creatures was hailed by The Washington Post? Hmmm, muuuch more worthy of confidence…
WhatEVER! What I’m trying to say is that I saw this in a Recommendation article, saw it was one of my favorite tropes: Older person, shut down, learning to embrace Life again… PLUS OCTOPUS?! I considered Pre-Ordering but, wary, settled for chucking it onto my Wish List. Dunno why, but soon decided: Gee, I’d really like to hear about an octopus bringing somebody to Life. And so, here I am… done with m’ Listen… and what to say?
It opens whizbang with Marcellus the captive octopus as narrated by the magNIFicent Michael Urie, and instantly I was smitten and engaged. Marcellus is vaaastly intelligent, is cynical, is waiting for his upcoming death (A lifespan of 4-years, so he’s tallying up days in captivity, counting down days until his demise), and the Listener simply cannot help but adore this creature who’s most misunderstood, most unhappily bored, MOST challenged to remain engaged and alive in each day; he hides behind his mound of rocks, but he watches and observes everything. FanTAStic way to start the book: What agent/editor/freaking publisher would NOT snap this book up?!
-And then- we get to 70-year old Tova who’s been working at the Sowell Bay Aquarium for years now, cleaning during the night shift. And the first kinda sorta Thunk happened. I KNOW: I LOVE THIS TROPE, but imMEDiately I started remembering How the Penguins Saved Veronica, and man, was that a light listen, or what? So I didn’t even realize that I’d lowered m’ bar for expectations of the book. -And then- Cameron, 30-something band dude who can’t quite seem to make it back to his girlfriend’s apartment after the rare gig, who can’t quite seem to hold down a job, is introduced. So I was instantly, like, Whazzis? Despicable character I dated in my 20s and outgrew? Oh jeez.
Bar lowered yet again.
Plus, Marin Ireland is a seasoned performer and always does well… but I ALWAYS begin one of her narrations with an: Oh man, brittle, brittle, BRITTLE tones… hope I can manage the whole audiobook.
But ZOUNDS! When you’re just listening to the story unfold, when characters start meeting and interacting, as walls start coming down, as itty bitty sparks of Hope start coming to life? When you realize you’ve got a lump in your throat from one of the character’s tragic beliefs, or from a particularly touching interaction between characters?
When you’re sitting back, sobbing cuz something truly beautiful just happened, when you realize that debut author Shelby Van Pelt must’ve had these characters, this story living in her for yeeeears, and now she’s successfully transcribed an entirely new world onto the page?
Then, my dear fellow Accomplice, you realize what you’d assumed would be a favorite trope is actually, done so properly, executed with flawless choices, is inDUBitably a Fave, a plain ol’ simple FAVE. Good cow, that bar that you barely noticed was falling oh so low, shoots way back up, and suddenly you have grand expectations that the final “pages” will be AWEsome. And they ARE!!!
Van Pelt makes nary a misstep, and her crafting is beyond excellent. There were so many times she could’ve taken an easier, more predictable route, wound things up a certain way, but for the most part, she does not. Cameron is a hellbent loser, is resentful of people who’ve had Normal Lives, as he was abandoned by his drug-addicted mother when he was 9-years old, left in the care of a loving aunt who’s just a trifle nutty. At no point does he SUDDENLY become perfect. There are miscues and miscommunications, and his thoughts immediately fly to: Screw This: This Life Was Never Meant For Me. He makes mistakes, in other words. And tho’ he has a definite arc of growth, life is a struggle, his choices are NOT excellent, but man! he comes to grow on the Listener.
Tova could’ve been a shut-down and guarded old lady, but even tho’ we see that in her, Van Pelt writes the continual undercurrent of pain that she’s numb to but which flares up unexpectedly. She’s in her 70s, grief grief grief in her past, but still sooo There that she can crumple, dissolve into sobs, p’raps in touch yet again, p’raps letting go. Ya never know, because pain is held so tightly within her, and it’s been her guiding light for 30-years.
Now here’s where I shout my praises about Marin Ireland: She nails it. I saw one reviewer dinged her most mightily for making her men sound like stoners but if Cameron’s character is anything to go by? Well, he’s not a stoner, but yessss he IS a grownup man-child, a band dude, gets caught up in snitty resentments, and hangovers are not unknown to him. Immaturity, beyond the shadow of a doubt, so I do believe that Ireland captured his hissy fits quite well. And she manages Ethan, the yak-about grocery store owner, Scottish as all get-out, perfectly as well. He too has a bit o’ the music lover about him, so what’s not to love. Then too, Ireland perfectly voices Tova (And her well-intentioned but interfering friends, the Knit-Wits) and conveys a woman dancing sooo close to the edge of incapacitating grief and agony. That Tova would like things spic and span, neat and perfect, that she has unstinting standards… that she’s a widow who still grieves for a husband lost to cancer… that she’s a mother who’s lost her son, no sign of closure in sight, is trying to navigate a lonely aging process knowing that means a life in a Home, without the Cat who just kinda sorta entered her life? Ireland does it all; and certainly Van Pelt has crafted it all for her to convey.
Plus, Ireland does the absolute beauty of a growing friendship between Woman and Octopus. FRIENDSHIP, yessss!!!
But of COURSE the standout is Marcellus and Michael Urie. At no point did I think: Ahhhh, Michael Urie is knocking this out of the park. Rather, it was a matter of him BEING Marcellus, not a breath’s difference between narrator and character. As Marcellus, ever-intrepid, starts to pick up his efforts to force epiphanies even as his body is winding down, he is beYONd brilliantly done. And the end? Oh jeez, Big Sis and I talked about it, and there were sobs, like soooo POST-Listen that necessitated a tissue or two. Wonderfully done!
I’d feel sheepish about going into Remarkably Bright Creatures not knowing a danged thing beyond: Woman, Octopus… except that I don’t. I DO, however, feel a trifle embarrassed that I went in, dropping the bar as I went, clueless and oblivious. But boy, a little bit of Feckless Listener goes a loooong way, and I gotta tell ya that there’s nothing as delightful as being wholly pleasantly surprised. The literary 2-by-4 thonking me on the head most soundly. The tears streaming down my face most appreciated.
This 11+ hours audiobook felt not a bit too long, such tight writing, and impeccably written scenes and characters. I did have to jack up my listening speed as, near the end, there’s a bit of suspense as to just how things will work out as poor decisions, decisions based on fear and hopelessness, are made and balls get to be rolling, gathering speed.
Truly well-done, truly admired.
DEFinitely the Fave of the Week… and whazzis? Tears, sooo many tears?
Why definitely just a flat-out Fave!
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