Remarkably Bright Creatures Octopus Quotes

Marcellus was, in fact, an exceptional octopus.

If I had a clam for every time I heard someone call them [wolf eels] hideous or ugly, I would be a very plump octopus indeed.

Marcellus, it’s me.” The octopus shifts slightly out of its corner and peers at her, blinking its creepy eye. Who is this lady? And how did she get in here, anyway? She nods, encouraging. “It’s okay.” She holds out her hand, and to Cameron’s shock the creature extends one of its arms and winds it around her wrist. She repeats, “It’s okay. I’m going to help you down now, all right?” The octopus nods. Wait, no. It did not. Did it? He rubs his eyes. Are they pumping hallucinogens through the ductwork here?

Sy Montgomery for writing the wonderful nonfiction book The Soul of an Octopus, which follows her engrossing (and heartwarming, and frequently hilarious) journey as she shadows octopus keepers at the New England Aquarium.

Day 1,309 of My Captivity YOU HUMANS LOVE COOKIES. I ASSUME YOU KNOW WHICH food I mean? Circular, about the size of a common clamshell. Some are flecked with dark bits, others are painted or dusted with powder. Cookies can be soft and quiet, moving soundlessly on their journey through human jaws. Cookies can be loud and messy, bits breaking off at the bite, crumbs tumbling down a chin, adding to the flotsam on the floor that the elderly female called Tova must sweep. I have observed many cookies during my captivity here. They are sold in the packaged food machine near the front entrance. Imagine my confusion, then, at the remark made by Dr. Santiago earlier this evening. “What can I say, Terry?” Dr. Santiago raised her shoulders and held her hands up. “I’ve seen a lot of octopuses, but you’ve got a smart cookie here.

When I wrote the first draft of this book’s opening scene, years ago, it was in response to a workshop prompt about writing from an unexpected point of view. I had recently watched a YouTube video in which a captive octopus picked open a locked box with a treat inside, so that’s where my mind went, and I invented this curmudgeonly octopus who was bored and exasperated with humans

How can she explain to Terry that she doesn’t particularly care about this new octopus? That as far as she’s concerned, there will never be another Marcellus?

If it weren’t for him, they’d be replacing their octopus, after all. How much does a giant Pacific octopus cost? They’re probably not cheap.

Octopuses are remarkably bright creatures, it says.

Octopuses are remarkably bright creatures,

When they circle back to the pier, Tova slips away and stands at the railing, alone. To the somber bay that took them both, a cherished son and an exceptional octopus, she whispers inscrutably: “I miss you. Both of you.” She taps her heart.

She hasn’t a clue, so she sits on her bench, staring at the water for some length of time that’s amorphous, immune to ordinary laws of the world, like a huge octopus reshaping its body to slip through a tiny crack. At some point, she checks her watch. It must be very late by now. Quarter to midnight.