A Review: REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURE BY Shelby Van Pelt

 I read a very good book! I usually tell you about what I am reading after a few pages. I wanted to tell you about it but I couldn't quite decide it I liked it or not...not at first. I took me 100 pages to get a handle on what it was all about. So here I am, better late than never!

Remarkable Bright Creatures was a puzzle to me. In fact I almost quit reading it because I didn't particularly like one of the main characters. He annoyed me no end and seemed to be shallow and dishonest. I have quit reading books for less than that. I gave a book to a friend that she refused to read after a few pages because "it had no redeeming characters." That was how I felt.

And yet, after 100 pages I began to get what the author was after. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures  is going to be made into a Netflix movies, was on the NYT bestseller list and has rave reviews. Then there was me, not in love at first sight.

A book written with an octopus as a main character is just weird and yet wonderful. The main character, Nova, is Swedish by dissent and so am I. She drank coffee, loved to clean and treasured beautiful things. Her house was built by her grandfather. He had carved the rafters in the attic and left carved creatures on the shelved. I felt very much at home with this family.

But the young man, well 30 years old, was angry, lost and up until he found this genes in Nova not a good person. But the story evolves and, trust me, you will love it. 

4.5 stars from me!!!

So, what have you been reading lately.

b+

; On Identifiers or Are You Green

Drag Queen
Charity event, Nob Hill,
Portland, 
Oregon
and me!

   

Amanda and I were talking about the need to describe EVERYONE that is new to us with an identifier. She had hired a dog sitter and the young person was "they, them". Discripters are those words we use to tell of people...how they look, who they are or even what their importance is. Why do we do that? Logic would tell us that saying someone is "the/them" doesn't really tell you anything unless you have a fixed notion of what a "they/them" is. But doesn't that play into prejudice?

Those of you that are younger probably have not have been raised in an isolated community like I was. My mother took great pride in telling me that she went to school with a black boy and his family were really nice. This was in the 1950's. She had been sent to board in Baker, Oregon to attend high school. Back in the day eastern Oregon was disconnected from the outside world. Provincial would be the word to describe it I think. She was raised in Lime, Oregon. Population 17 on a good day. I was raise 5 miles east of Lime in Huntington, Oregon. Population 500?

The boy I am speaking of was called Claudie Tebo. The Tebo family was revered in Baker because Claudie was a very good athlete. I think that, for them, that was what was expected. It helped identify the family's place in the community. 

The question is "Would Claudie and his family have been any less respected if he were a non-colored person?" I think he would have been not treated right in that era. But he really doesn't  need to be identified other than to mention his athletic prowess in context in 2026. And yet, even to this day, I tend to use that identifier because that is what my generation did. Not good but there you have it.

So, if you are a new friend, what do you want to know about the other people in my circle: height, width, intellect, ethnicity, education, occupation, sexual orientation, success, wealth, political ideals? 

I personally want to know what book they are reading. Well, politics would be important or I might offend someone.

Really...let me know.

b+

In the picture above I was with my daughter at a drag queen event that benefited homeless mothers with children. It was fun and all new to me.