Hardcover, 368 pages
Published May 3, 2022 by Ecco.
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth …
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
Up-lit with an octopus. I liked the chapters from Marcellus and the interactions between him and Tova, but the rest of the story just wasn't my thing. Very sentimental, but I can see why others like it so much.
2.5 stars, probably, but rounded up for the octopus.
I have lots of complaints about this book but I loved the octopus. More octopus POV please!
The author is from Washington but doesn't know there are no bridges to the San Juan islands; put a small town on the coast halfway between Seattle and Anacortes (so... the Tulalip Reservation?); and decided that tiny town could support a multi-employee paddleboard shop year-round, despite 9 straight months of cold rain.
She also apparently wants us to believe that no pregnant teenager (there are many, for a small cast in a book that isn't about teenagers or teen pregnancy) would even consider abortion.
But I really loved the octopus.
There's a lot in this book that should've turned me off: a sentient octopus capable of communicating with a human, a pile of far-fetched coincidences used to hold the plot together, and an unresolved storyline. And yet, here I am giving it very solid 4 stars anyway. That's the mark of a good writer.
Here's why I recommend this book:
• I loved the voice of the octopus (Marcellus). He sounded like a snarky gay man who has much better taste than the rest of us. His chapters are written like prison diaries, because he doesn't want to be living in an aquarium. He's fabulous.
• While there's a mystery to the book, it's solved for the reader about halfway in so you get to something of a co-conspirator while you wait for the characters to catch-up.
• It has a very satisfying ending. The author does a good job …
There's a lot in this book that should've turned me off: a sentient octopus capable of communicating with a human, a pile of far-fetched coincidences used to hold the plot together, and an unresolved storyline. And yet, here I am giving it very solid 4 stars anyway. That's the mark of a good writer.
Here's why I recommend this book:
• I loved the voice of the octopus (Marcellus). He sounded like a snarky gay man who has much better taste than the rest of us. His chapters are written like prison diaries, because he doesn't want to be living in an aquarium. He's fabulous.
• While there's a mystery to the book, it's solved for the reader about halfway in so you get to something of a co-conspirator while you wait for the characters to catch-up.
• It has a very satisfying ending. The author does a good job seaming together all the threads, and when the title is pulled in, it's a little chef's kiss.
This book requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, but it rewards you with charm, along the lines of "The House in The Cerulean Sea."
