Growing older with Remarkably Bright Creatures

I turned 70 years old last month. I don’t feel like it, though. I still have a ton of energy, and I have no plans to retire. But somehow, I have officially reached an age my younger self would have called “old.” It’s hard to wrap my head around.

Fortunately, I recently read Remarkably Bright Creatures, a terrific novel that helped me make a bit more sense out of aging. Shelby Van Pelt released her debut novel a couple years ago. It was a huge hit, and I think I might be one of the last people to read it—but I’m glad I waited until now.

Tova, the main character, is also 70, and she feels every single one of those years. Her life hasn’t been easy. Tova’s son is presumed dead after he disappeared when he was a teenager, and her husband died from cancer five years earlier. To pass the time, she works night shifts cleaning the local aquarium, which is where she meets Marcellus, an elderly giant Pacific octopus who is nearing the end of his life.

Marcellus is a fascinating character. Octopuses are some of the smartest animals in the world, and although Marcellus can’t speak, he is super observant. Van Pelt cleverly includes chapters from his perspective, so you get to learn about how he sees the world. He considers Tova a friend after she rescues him after a late-night excursion from his tank goes dangerously wrong. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but Marcellus’s power of observation ends up changing the lives of many of the books’ characters.

Tova gets a much-needed sense of fulfillment from caring for Marcellus and the aquarium. She struggles with purpose throughout the book. Her friends are motivated by their grandchildren, but without her husband and son, Tova feels aimless and alone (even though the reader knows that she has plenty of people in her life who love her—including Ethan, the owner of the local grocery store). Early in the book, she feels so lost that she considers moving away from her hometown and into a senior living community.

Tova’s struggle is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, because I worry that we might soon see more people feeling like her. As life expectancies go up, many people are living for years and even decades after they stop working. That sounds like a luxury, and it is in a lot of ways—but it is also a lot of time to fill. The decline of third places like churches and libraries makes it harder than ever to find connections that keep the days interesting. Fewer families are having children, which means that fewer older people are becoming grandparents. And while part-time work can help give life meaning, not everyone is physically capable of working.

“Tova has always felt more than a bit of empathy for the sharks, with their never-ending laps around the tank. She understands what it means to never be able to stop moving, lest you find yourself unable to breathe,” Van Pelt writes. Her message is clear: People need a reason to get out of bed in the morning. For many, it’s hard to transition from a lifetime of working to retirement. So, what can we do to help older people find purpose? And how can we prepare for a potential future where technological advances mean all of us have less work to fill our days?

Remarkably Bright Creatures doesn’t try to answer those questions, but Tova’s story really makes you think about how people find meaning in life. Her story is mirrored by Cameron’s, a young man who struggles to find his own purpose and ends up working with Tova at the aquarium. Although their lives couldn’t be more different, I loved seeing how Tova and Cameron help each other find reasons to get out of bed over the course of the story (with help from Marcellus the octopus).

I think anyone who enjoys fiction would enjoy this book, but it’s a must-read for people who grew up in Western Washington like I did. The novel takes place in Sowell Bay, a fictional coastal town that will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time around Puget Sound. Van Pelt captures the specific feeling of weathered charm you get when you visit places like Hood Canal or Anacortes.

I usually read non-fiction books, but Remarkably Bright Creatures gave me exactly what I want whenever I pick up a novel. It transported me to a different world, and it illuminated something new for me—in this case, about relationships and getting older. Reading Tova and Marcellus’s story was the perfect way to start my next decade of life.