A review by laurenreadsoccasionally
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

3.0

I really feel like this book could have been amazing with better editing. I found the writing to be really enjoyable to read, the characters were compelling, and the setting was vivid and beautiful (plus I'm a sucker for aquariums). The book had so much potential, which made the small errors (equating crochet to knitting - but as my mom is a knitter I realize this may be a personal grievance - and a sentence or two that didn't scan properly) and strange choices (Marcellus knows what a driver's license is but not a pacifier? Cameron can replace the serpentine belt - whatever that is - but can't come up with the name "washer fluid"? I'm sure these were meant as jokes but they didn't work for me) more noticeable and frustrating, but these are admittedly nitpicky. My main issue - and where I think an editor could have stepped in - is that the foreshadowing to

Cameron being Tova's grandson

was so incredibly heavy handed that it bordered on insulting the readers intelligence. I think 90% of the foreshadowing (if it can be called that since it continued after

Marcellus explicitly revealed it

) could have been dropped with no change to the story or how likely people were to get it. It's still 3 stars because it was beautiful but it's disappointing that it could easily have been better (in my opinion) with some small changes.