by Shelby Van Pelt

Happy New Year, my friends! This is my first review of 2025 and was my first read of the year and it did not disappoint. I bought this book months ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf collecting dust (and probably dog hair) and it’s beautifully bright cover kept catching my eye so I decided it was time. I’ve heard such good things and I’m glad I finally picked it up and pushed through the slow start. For me, it was a little difficult to get into but once I got about a third of the way in, I didn’t want to put it down. There was an unlikeable character that left me wanting to put the book down, but I’m very glad I didn’t!

The book’s main character, Tova, is a widowed woman in her seventies and is a part-time cleaner at a fictional aquarium Sowell’s Bay (a fictional town) north of Seattle. It’s hinted at, but not confirmed until a bit later, that Tova’s only son and child, drowned when he was eighteen, but it’s never explained what or how it happened. Tova, a Swedish immigrant, lives alone in a beautiful home but her age is catching up with her and she’s realizing that with no family or children, she has no one to take care of her in her older years. Throughout the book, we see how being childless in your older years can be sobering, heart-breaking and lonely. It was very depressing hearing her thoughts when she was going through her precious family heirlooms and knowing there was no one to give them to and when she was gone, they’d just be donated or thrown away.

One night, while cleaning at the aquarium, Tova finds Marcellus, the aquarium’s Pacific Giant Octopus, out of his tank and tangled in wires. She gets him free of the wires and helps him back to his tank, and the two develop a friendship. He shows affection toward her by letting her pet him, by wrapping a tentacle around her arm, and by giving her trinkets that he’s collected on the nights when he’s escaped his tank.

The book also has small chapters from Marcellus’ point of view, which were some of my favorite parts. Marcellus, through is inner-monologue, is extremely smart, sarcastic, and mischievous. It’s clear that Marcellus likes and trusts Tova and as he is reaching his final months of life, he makes it his mission to help her with her loneliness. Marcellus was my very favorite part of this book, and his story through out the book made me chuckle and at the end, made me tear up. (It’s not what you think!)

We also are introduced to Cameron, a thirty year old with no direction, no drive, and no job. After his girlfriend kicks him out for being fired (again), he stays with his aunt and learns a bit more about the mother who abandoned him when he was nine. He gets an idea of who his biological father might be, and makes a plan to extort him for the money he should’ve provided him and his mother during his childhood. He was an extremely spoiled, unaware, and unlikeable character throughout the first part of the book (he’s the aforementioned unlikeable character above that made me want to put the book down.) Cameron’s suspected father is a rich man in the Seattle area who grew up in Sowell’s Bay (Tova’s small town) so Cameron decides to move there so he can find the man and try to threaten him with a scandal unless he pays him off. Cameron has a horrible attitude with a victim mentality, and takes advantage of everyone he knows. He blames his mother abandoning him for all of his poor behavior and how he treats people. He’s basically the worst.

When Cameron ends up in Sowell’s Bay, he meets Ethan, a kind small grocer that helps him get a job in maintenance at the aquarium. When working, Cameron comes across Marcellus out of his tank and when Tova steps into help get Marcellus back into the tank, the real story begins and beautifully intertwines the three of them. At this point, Cameron starts to become more likeable and becomes more responsible, and just a better person.

I will stop here to avoid spoilers, but I will say that the story ended beautifully, even though I knew almost immediately how it would end, I still loved how it was written. Having Marcellus’ point of view and his little chapters made it so wonderful and I definitely cried in the end.

I do wish Cameron’s mom would’ve shown up to give us more answers and closure and wrapped up that part of the story a little bit more. It still remains a mystery, at the end, how Tova’s son ended up drowning, which was a little disappointing because I think we had all the components in the book to wrap that up. However, I still fully recommend this book to anyone who loves heart-warming, and a little heart-breaking book. Also, I will never look at an octopus the same and I love that.

Final rating: 8/10 brilliant octopi.