Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Tova wonders sometimes if it’s better that way, to have one’s tragedies clustered together, to make good use of the existing rawness. Get it over with in one shot. Tova knew there was a bottom to those depths of despair. Once your soul was soaked through with grief, any more simply ran off, overflowed, the way maple syrup on Saturday-morning pancakes always cascaded onto the table whenever Erik was allowed to pour it himself.”

One of the major themes of the novel is the effects of Unresolved Grief. Tova and her friends in the Knit-Wits are of an age where grieving has become an inescapable part of life; however, Tova has never been able to fully overcome the loss of her son because of the mystery surrounding his death. Here she examines her loss through the filter of a happy memory, showing how prevalent her son still is in her everyday life.

“Once I am out of my tank, I must resubmerge within eighteen minutes or I will experience The Consequences. Eighteen minutes, I can survive out of water. This fact is nowhere to be found on the plaque by my tank, of course. I have determined this myself.”

Here the author effectively creates foreshadowing by using specificity and stylistic grammar. The reference to “eighteen minutes” as well as the emphatic use of capital letters show the reader that these details will later become essential to the story. By using an imposed time constraint, they’re able to build tension and suspense.

“Cameron, Brad, and Elizabeth were best friends growing up: the three musketeers. Now, somehow, the other two are married and having a baby. It’s not lost on Cameron that the tot’s going to take his place as Brad and Elizabeth’s third wheel.”

At 30, Cameron is still struggling with the gap between childhood and adulthood. His story arc largely deals with coming into his own maturity. By highlighting this divide between him and his childhood friends, the author creates a decisive need to be filled by the end of the novel.

“After that fizzled New Year’s, there was a skipped Easter luncheon, a canceled birthday party, a Christmas gathering that never made it past the we should get together state of planning. The years stretched into decades, turning siblings into strangers.”

One of the central themes of the novel is Blood Family versus Found Family. This moment introduces the idea that blood is not enough to bind a family together, and the risk of relying on it is losing someone you love. Even though Tova and Cameron come together as blood family, their shared experience is what builds their relationship.

“‘And I don’t care for those homes, either. Retirement homes, nursing homes . . . all the same, aren’t they? Always smell like sick people.’”

Tova allows herself to speak freely to Marcellus without fearing judgement. In this safe space, she admits her dislike of homes like the one Lars belonged to. This is in contrast to later in the novel when she attempts to keep her move a secret. Here we see how Marcellus’s presence allows Tova to be her most honest and authentic self.

“Most are monogrammed. Elizabeth and Bradley Burnett: EBB. Like an ebb tide. As if the two of them are headed right on out to sea, waving to him as he’s left alone on the shore.”

The author often uses motifs of the ocean to enhance the setting and overall mood of the story. This moment plays with the imagery of the sea but also foreshadows the similar acronym EELS. By drawing a parallel between these two oceanic words, the author gives the plot device a sense of balance: In the earlier case, his understanding of the initials came first followed by a comparison to their acronym; in the latter, Cameron first sees the acronym and doesn’t understand its significance until later.

“It was Lars who taught Erik to sail. Showed him every trick in the book, a solution to every improbable nautical scenario. Such as, how to leave an anchor rope cut clean.”

Tova reflects on a time when her blood family was complete; both her brother and her son, together with Tova and her husband, comprised a loving family unit. However, this moment of foreshadowing suggests Tova has some unresolved anger toward her estranged brother for the small, unwitting role he played in Erik’s death. Two of the novel’s major themes—Unresolved Grief and the dynamics of family—come together.

“Tova hesitates. Should she bring up the fried rice cartons in the break room? Her eyes fall to the clamp, which is now resting on top of the paperwork mess on Terry’s desk again. Finally, she says, ‘I don’t know how an octopus could leave a closed tank.’”

Although Tova and Marcellus’s unique relationship begins with a moment of misfortune, their lasting connection is built on the choices they make for each other. Here the reader sees Tova making a conscious choice to protect him, thus putting her on a path that will continue through to the end of their novel. At each major turning point in both their stories, they are making choices to protect the other.

“Such are the secrets the sea holds. What I would not give to explore them again. If I could go back in time, I would collect all of it—the sneaker sole, the shoelace, the buttons, and the twin key. I would give it all to her.”

Throughout the story, Marcellus voices his longing for the sea. However, he has given up any hope of ever seeing it again. There is an unspoken irony in this moment, as in the end it’s the act of returning Tova’s past to her that allows him to return to his home. Additionally, as succinctly summarized here, it’s their relationship that’s at the heart of the closure of both arcs.

“The image of Cat where she’d left him on her way out, curled up on her davenport, flashes through her mind. Without really intending it, she arrives at a decision not to repair the screen, at least for now.”

Animals are a regular motif throughout the novel. This moment parallels the choice Tova made to throw away the clamp for Marcellus’s tank; both cases are examples of the contrast between Freedom vs Captivity. Tova recognizes the value of freedom, even on a subconscious level, and knows that both animals need it to be true to their natures.

“Has Marcellus ever hoisted himself up there and peered out? Would the sight of the sea be a comfort to him? Or would it be a slap in the face, seeing his natural habitat, so close, yet so far?”

This moment again explores the boundary between Freedom versus Captivity and the idea that the two can be so close as to almost be interconnected. Marcellus’s relationship with his space parallels Tova’s journey to and back out of the retirement home, her own self-imposed captivity.

“Everything is so green here. And the forest, the enormous evergreen trees crammed so tightly together, looking at them makes Cameron almost uncomfortable, as if he’s claustrophobic on their behalf.”

The author effectively uses the powerful Pacific Northwest setting to enhance the narrative and give the reader a more immersive experience. Although this part of the world is usually associated with astonishing beauty, here we see it presented in a new light from the point of view of an outsider. This discordant relationship with the novel’s setting makes Cameron’s character feel even more “other” and at odds with the world.

“Humans sometime say my heart skipped a beat to convey surprise, shock, terror. This confused me at first because my organ heart skips beats, many of them, every time I swim. But when the cleaning woman fell from the stool, I was not swimming. And yet it stuttered.”

This moment highlights Marcellus as something other than human while at the same time contrasting that against his very human qualities. This new experience shows not only his growing connection to Tova and his care for her, but also the way those feelings are bringing him closer to an inner sense of humanity.

“And at any point since, she could’ve reached out to him. At least made an attempt to repair the mess she made. At least been available for Cameron to ask the question. So, yes, this is true. Like so many other things, this is his mother’s fault.”

Cameron’s character arc focuses on a shift from heaping responsibility on others to owning his own mistakes. This moment early in his story highlights his tendency to blame others, in particular his mother, while avoiding his own failings. Here is he manipulating Jessica into helping him and deflecting blame so as to justify his lies to himself.

“Terry had forbidden her from coming to clean, naturally, but he hadn’t expressly instructed her not to use her key for a social call. In fact, when she’d tried to give the key back, he’d insisted she hang on to it, which she’d taken not only as an affirmation of her trustworthiness but also as a vow of confidence in her resilience. You’ll be back before you know it, Terry had said.”

Although Terry is referring to Tova’s injury, the wider plot gives this moment a double meaning: It parallels her decision to leave and move to the retirement home. Terry sees her as trustworthy and resilient, traits Tova loses sight of in herself. It’s this loss of self that inspires her to give up her life and move and the rediscovery of it that reminds her where she needs to be.

“But Cameron has clean fingernails and nice, white teeth. And he’s well versed in the works of Shakespeare, apparently. He has promised to keep her secret, and for some reason she can’t quite identify, she likes him. She might even trust him.”

This moment draws attention to the similarities between Cameron and Tova and their growing understanding of each other. Although Cameron is a young man who doesn’t quite have his life together, he prioritizes hygiene in the same way Tova does and seeks out knowledge the way Erik does. On an unconscious level, Tova begins to recognize the same traits she saw in her son and in herself.

“Moments later, the child’s mother joins them, and the three of them shuffle along to stare at the sharp-nosed sculpin exhibit next door, unaware of the treason that will one day cleave their family.”

This scene is an example of the divide between Blood Family versus Found Family. While the unnamed man and his son may, unknowingly, be separated by blood, they still exist as a harmonious family unit in this moment. Marcellus alludes to the mother’s betrayal of the father, which has the potential to break the family apart, but here we see that a blood connection is not necessary to build a life together.

“Cameron still can’t seem to wrap his head around the shape of the sea here. It’s like a monster with hundreds of long fingers is gripping the edge of the continent, tendrils of deep blue cutting channels through the dark green countryside in every unexpected way.”

This is another example of using setting to enhance the overall narrative as well as the dual identity of the sea. For Marcellus, the sea represents home and freedom; for Tova, however, it represents the wild natural force that took her son. Even though Cameron is presented as an outsider, his perspective reminds us that the sea can be a powerful force of destruction as well as beautiful.

“Humans are the only species who subvert truth for their own entertainment. They call them jokes. Sometimes puns. Say one thing when you mean another. Laugh, or fein laughter out of politeness.”

Marcellus makes a study of human nature and discovers fundamental truths that humans might choose to overlook, such as the artifice of sharing jokes. An underlying irony here is that fiction is also a subversion of truth for entertainment. This idea of subversion also applies to subtext and the way humans communicate using implication to indicate a larger truth.

“But the family tree stopped growing long ago, its canopy thinned and frayed, not a single sap springing from the old rotting trunk. Some trees aren’t meant to sprout tender new branches, but to stand stoically on the forest floor, silently decaying.”

Tova uses Pacific Northwestern imagery to explore her loneliness and despair at her own fractured family. She reflects on the future she lost when her son died, not knowing that her grandson is alive and nearby. This comparison of a “family tree” to a literal forest typical of this particular ecosystem heightens the reader’s immersion and the characters’ connection with the land.

“Some humans require this for their own good, to be challenged. I can relate. My brain is a powerful device, but it is hampered by my circumstances, and he is much the same.”

Marcellus is able to see the potential in Cameron even as others around him can’t. Here he acknowledges how Cameron has been raised in an environment that is not for fostering his true potential. In this way, Cameron is subjected to another kind of captivity that restrains the mind rather than the body. By building a healthier family around himself, he’s able to free himself from those constraints.

“He curls his arm around her wrist in a gesture that’s well beyond familiar by now, and there’s something almost instinctive about it, like the way a newborn baby will clutch at its mother’s finger.”

Although Marcellus is far from a newborn, this instinct illustrates how closely entwined he and Tova have become as a family. The words “beyond familiar” show that on Tova’s part, their connection has become something deeper than habit as well; each has developed a heightened awareness of the other and an instinct to find them when they’re nearby.

“She can’t help but notice that his T-shirt appears to be stained and smells oddly like motor oil. Perhaps that’s intentional? Never again will Tova make assumptions about a T-shirt.”

While this moment is lighthearted and humorous, it also shows how Tova has grown over the course of the novel. She has learned to see the world through perspectives other than her own, overcoming some of the habits and stigmas she carried at the opening of her story.