Octopus Ex Machina

                                             

As with many very popular books, I resisted reading Remarkably Bright Creatures, expecting that it would be a tad too sweet and predictable for my taste. But I kept hearing about it and when the Kindle edition showed up on BookBub for a couple of bucks, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Well, it is pretty sweet and somewhat predictable but, in my current frame of mind, with the political situation ongoing. it was just the escape I needed. I gulped it down like a comforting cup of coffee (with cream and sugar.)

I liked all the characters but who I really liked was Marcellus, the octopus. Marcellus who narrates short bits of the story; Marcellus who (unaccountably but who cares) knows a lot more about humans than they know about him; Marcellus who, like the deus ex machina of Greek classical theater, is the one to resolve some difficult kinks in the plot. 

Marcellus is charming and he lifts the story out of the humdrum into something strange and wonderful.