• Published: 2022
• Completed: 03/06/2026
• Pages: 360

Okay…before we even talk about the content of this novel, I have to address this edition’s beautiful and tactile visual design. The cover features a bright and colourful illustration of a giant orange octopus standing before a blue haired woman. The paper has a lovely texture, and the title and author’s name are foiled in a chiselled silver typeface that makes the novel seem more like a beauty or lifestyle product. Inside, the parts from the perspective of the pivotal octopus character, Marcellus, are visually demarcated with a murky and inky illustration of some tentacles. The edges of novel are also printed with a bright yellow, overlaid with a motif of fish and coral – very cute and spiffy! Overall, it’s pretty nice and I have certainly not seen this much effort put into the visual design of novel before. 

Story wise however, I found it to be a bit pedestrian unfortunately. Tova, a widowed woman who has tragically lost her only teenage son mysteriously several years ago, struggles to find meaning in her life. Afterhours, she cleans an aquarium complex and it is through her interactions with an octopus there, that she comes to learn of an unforeseen shoot of her family tree she previously thought doomed to end with her. 

This book was incredibly slow – and that is considering I read it very quickly in about a week. Slow books aren’t inherently bad, but in this instance, I didn’t feel the slowness contributed to any deeper understanding of the human characters. We just got more descriptions about them cleaning, driving or packing. Also, it becomes very evident to the reader what happened to Tova’s son about half way through the novel. This is due to Marcellus’ intelligent observation and investigation and so we spend a lot of time sharing his frustration at how thick the humans are. 

The parts from Marcellus’ point of view were enjoyable, but probably only represent about 10% of the novel. I wish there had been more from him, but appreciate this could have been potentially very boring given that he confined mostly to the aquarium complex. Despite his very small part in the narrative, I felt more compassion towards him than towards any of the human characters. Strange that.

New Words

• Pinniped
• Dala horse

Restaurant

Seacliff Hotel (because of the aquatic theme)