Book · 2022
Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt
A widowed janitor and a giant Pacific octopus solve a decades-old disappearance neither of them meant to get involved in.
What does Reddit think of Remarkably Bright Creatures?
353 mentions, virtually all of them, 350, from r/suggestmeabook; printSF logs just 3, so there's no genre-forum footprint to speak of. What's consistent is the context it gets recommended in: this is the book people reach for during a hard stretch, one reader (↑114) saying it "brightened my view of the world during a dark period," another (↑94) recommending it specifically to someone struggling and adding "I am rooting for you." The recurring compliment is a balance most comfort reads don't strike, "sad but hopeful" (↑94) and "sweet without being cloying or preachy" (↑69). The pitch nearly always leads with the gimmick, a 70-year-old widow and a giant Pacific octopus sharing the narration (↑311), though nobody in the sample treats that premise as a punchline. Mentions have grown every year since publication, from 31 in 2022 to 117 in 2024, holding at 114 in 2025.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · dual human-and-octopus narration
- · grief processed through found family
- · comfort read for hard times
- · sentiment without cloying
Common praise
- + One reader says it 'brightened my view of the world during a dark period,' recommending it as a comfort read rather than pure entertainment (↑114).
- + It gets praised for being 'sweet without being cloying or preachy,' a balance the commenter treats as rare (↑69).
- + A commenter recommending it to someone struggling adds 'I am rooting for you,' treating the book itself as an act of care (↑94).
Common criticism
- − It has no presence outside r/suggestmeabook beyond 3 stray mentions on printSF, so there's no genre-forum debate to weigh against the comfort-read consensus.
- − Most citations lead with the octopus-narrator gimmick rather than plot or prose, which risks the book being remembered as a premise more than a story (↑311, ↑88).
Who it's for
Reach for this specifically when you want a book that's sad but hopeful rather than just sad, per the recurring description in the sample. You'll get more out of it if a dual narrator, one human and one octopus, sounds charming rather than gimmicky. People recommend it to friends going through something, so it works as that kind of gift. Don't expect genre-forum chatter to weigh in; this lives almost entirely on r/suggestmeabook, 350 of 353 mentions.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Remarkably Bright Creatures?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures has two protagonists: One is a 70-year-old widow; the other is a giant Pacific octopus. It was long but a quick read.
“I'm so sorry you're having a hard time. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt brightened my view of the world during a dark period. Hope things get better for you soon.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
“I would recommend Remarkably Bright Creatures. It’s sad but hopeful, and as someone who understands depression it helped me quite a bit. I am rooting for you.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (told from two different POVs, one being a giant Pacific octopus)
“Hands down, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. LOVED it, and it was something different. ❤️
“Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt
“For what it's worth, Remarkably Bright Creatures is sweet without being cloying or preachy.
Convinced? Pick up Remarkably Bright Creatures
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
Circe
Madeline Miller
An exiled witch on a deserted island turns men into pigs and spends three thousand years deciding what she actually wants.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
Martha Wells
A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
East of Eden
John Steinbeck
Two families retrace Cain and Abel across three generations in California's Salinas Valley, and one brother begs God to make him good.
Piranesi
Susanna Clarke
A man alone in an endless house of statues and tides slowly realizes he isn't who the House says he is.
The Martian
Andy Weir
A botanist gets left for dead on Mars and has to grow food on a planet that wants him gone, one duct-taped fix at a time.
Remarkably Bright Creatures — frequently asked
Is Remarkably Bright Creatures a sad book?+
It's sad but not bleak, per the sample. One reader (↑94) calls it 'sad but hopeful,' and another (↑114) says it 'brightened my view of the world during a dark period,' which is the consistent read across the 353 mentions here.
What does Reddit think of Remarkably Bright Creatures?+
Warmly and almost entirely through r/suggestmeabook, which drives 350 of 353 mentions. It's repeatedly recommended to people going through a hard time rather than discussed as craft or plot.
Is Remarkably Bright Creatures worth reading if the octopus narrator sounds gimmicky?+
The sample suggests yes; nobody treats the dual narration as a punchline, even though most pitches lead with it, '70-year-old widow, giant Pacific octopus' (↑311). One reader calls the tone 'sweet without being cloying or preachy' (↑69), which is the actual selling point past the premise.
Is Remarkably Bright Creatures a good book to recommend to someone going through a hard time?+
Yes, and Reddit already uses it that way. One commenter (↑94) recommends it directly to someone struggling, adding 'I am rooting for you,' while another (↑114) credits it with brightening a dark period in their own life.