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Tova Sullivan spends her nights cleaning the local aquarium, despite all her friends encouraging her to finally retire at the age of 70. She feels the need to keep busy however, her son’s death at the age of 18 leaving her with a lingering grief, the recent loss of her husband to cancer, and even more recent, the loss of her estranged brother, has left her feeling more alone than ever. She enjoys her work at the aquarium and talks to the creatures in their tanks as she makes her way around the building. One night, however, she gets a surprise when she discovers Marcellus, the Giant Pacific Octopus that resides there, out of his tank and tangled in cables. She helps him back to his tank and thus begins a friendship that will have major impacts for both of them. Marcellus is not merely a side character, he narrates parts of the novel, counting his days of captivity, aware that the end of his life is drawing near. He observes the humans who come to see him and marvels at the things they miss that seem so obvious to him. The third main focus of the novel is 30 year old Cameron Cassmore, recently fired, again, and newly single after his girlfriend unceremoniously kicks him out. He finds himself back on the couch of his two childhood best friends, now married and expecting their first child, there is a sense that he has been left behind. His aunt Jeanne gives him a box of items from his mother, who he hasn’t seen since he was nine. He plans to pawn anything of value, but an old class ring and photograph leads him to believe he might finally be able to track down his father. When Cameron and Tova’s paths cross they have the opportunity to find what’s missing for them both, but will they see it before it’s too late, and can Marcellus help reveal what remains hidden to them?
Sowell Bay is a small community and everyone knows everyone else’s business, in no small part thanks to Ethan, the owner of the local grocery store. He may like to gossip, but his heart is in the right place. When Cameron turns up in a falling apart camper he helps him fix it up, and lets him park on his drive, offering him a sense of home in a strange town. Tova is quite private and doesn’t appreciate her business being shared, especially when it encourages others to think she needs to take life slower. She’s very conscious of the town knowing about her personal tragedies and not really knowing how to be around her. At a large gathering we see first hand how awkward conversations quickly become with a thoughtless comment. She’ll always be the woman who lost her teenage son, and although it’s painful, she would actually like people to talk to her about their memories of Erik, something they’re generally reluctant to do.
Cameron is introduced to us in a way that makes him seem irresponsible and a bit of a liability, but as we get to know him we see that he really does want to do the best he can but struggles to get past a low sense of self worth. Life in Sowell Bay seems to agree with him however, he manages to hold down a job at the aquarium for longer than any other job he’s had, and he even meets someone. Finding his father proves difficult however, and when he finally does meet the man he’s looking for things don’t fall into place as easily as he’d hoped. He almost lets his anger and disappointment get the better of him, but the people he has met in the Bay have taught him about responsibility. Tova spends time at the aquarium while he is there, and although he finds her very particular way of doing things somewhat frustrating to begin with, they form a friendship, and share the secret of Marcellus’s night-time wanderings.
Marcellus himself is an interesting character, causing slight chaos on his wanders, eating the other exhibits, although he thinks he’s careful never to eat too many. His narrative is amusing and very interesting as an alternative viewpoint. When we finally learn of how he came into captivity it also makes you question whether being ‘rescued’ is really the best outcome. He was injured and no doubt benefited from the opportunity to recuperate in the safety of the aquarium, but in doing so he was condemned to spend the rest of his life in captivity. We see the arrival of a new octopus toward the end of the novel, also injured and afraid, the owner excited to have a replacement for Marcellus when his inevitable end arrives. Throughout, the owner is shown to be knowledgable about the lives under his care, and that he genuinely wants to do his best for them, but it is important to think about how the living exhibits really feel.
This is a warm book, with characters that you fall for. Central characters such as Erik and Cameron’s mum never appear directly but we see much of them through the recollections of others. They are important characters despite, or perhaps because of, their absence. It will make you think about family and friends and how easy it is to lose important connections in life, encouraging you to make the effort. You see the full range of life, from absent parents to loss, and concerns about what the end of your life will look like. Despite this, it doesn’t feel like a heavy book at all, but is emotional at times. A warm hug of a book, with a wonderful, unusual narrator.
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