Inaugural Holliday Farms Book Club (HFBC) Discussion

Holliday Farms Book Club (HFBC) Inaugural Meeting:

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Hosted by HF Stroll Magazine and Rafael S. Garcia-Cortes

Tuesday, July 1, 2025 @ AR Model Home (10600 Holliday Farms Blvd)

1. Do octopuses talk in real life?

What did you know about how intelligent or expressive they actually were, before reading this book?

2. What did you think of Marcellus as a narrator?

Did the idea of an octopus telling part of the story work for you? Was he believable or too far-fetched?

3. Are you familiar with the term magical realism in fiction?

It’s when something magical or surreal happens in an otherwise realistic world, and no one in the story finds it strange.

Some well-known examples include:
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- Only Murders in the Building (quirky, heightened realism)
- The Good Place (a playful mix of magical world-building and real human emotion)

-Everything Everywhere All at Once (Oscar winning movie about alternate realities)

4. Would you say Remarkably Bright Creatures fits into this category? Why or why not? Hint: it probably is if we spent part of the discussion introducing the term 😉.

5. Who did you connect with the most: Tova, Cameron, or Marcellus?

Each of them is working through grief, loss, or identity in their own way. Whose journey felt the most relatable or meaningful to you?

6. The book ends with a sense of resolution, but also quiet open-endedness:

What do you imagine happens to these characters after the final chapter? Would you read a sequel or recommend this book to a friend?