Remarkably Bright Creatures

Cameron is a 30-year-old man, who both acts and looks young for his age—several characters mistake him for being no older than 25. Initially, he finds himself in an unflattering juxtaposition against his friends Brad and Elizabeth, a mature married couple welcoming their first child. He has a strong inclination to blame others for his problems, including his girlfriend Katie, his employers, his friends, and—predominantly—his estranged mother. He goes to Sowell Bay on a get-rich-quick scheme where he manipulates Jessica into helping him find Simon Brinks, intending to manipulate him as well. However, the small town brings him an unexpected family network in Ethan, Tova, and Avery.

Cameron undergoes more personal growth than any other character in the novel, beginning in a place of stark flaws that he must overcome to earn what he needs most. Working beside Tova and cohabitating with Ethan helps him feel at home in a way he hadn’t before. However, the novel’s climax sees him slipping back into his habit of blaming everyone around him and running away when repairing his relationships becomes too challenging. It’s important that during this period no one goes after him and tries to bring him home; he comes to the decision to return on his own, displaying the way he’s grown and can no longer sustain the blameless image he once had of himself. It’s this choice that finally brings Tova and Cameron together as a family and opens up a possible future with Avery.

Marcellus is the most intimate narrator of the novel, acting as a liaison between the story and the audience. By the standards of his species, he is an old man reaching the end of his natural life cycle. When the novel opens, he is deeply under-stimulated and utterly bored by everything and everyone around him. Although he presents himself in a lofty, arrogant manner, he suffers from a constant debilitating loneliness. In Tova he finds a companion who treats him as a friend rather than an attraction. He recognizes the same loneliness in her, and together they form a unique friendship of two people coming to the end of their lives.

As someone who had only limited space and stimulation over the past three years—three quarters of his life—Marcellus rejoices at the opportunity to attain a sense of purpose and do right by a person he has come to love. Thus, his journey and Tova’s (and, by extension, Cameron’s) all become symbiotic; for any one of them to fulfill their deepest need, all three need to do so consecutively. Marcellus has knowledge that none of the others have but is hampered by his inability to share that knowledge. Within the limited physical space he has available to him, he needs to confront his greatest past mistake to bring his two new friends together and die knowing his time was worthwhile.

The novel comes to a close alongside Marcellus’s life, and by the end of it he has achieved both his ultimate goal and his internal need; as a reward for the choices he made for his loved ones, he is given the opportunity to return home before he dies.