In June, we met at Laura's home where Linda hosted. Linda had prepared
for the discussion and being a retired Literature teacher she did a fantastic job in
leading. This was also the author's debut novel and she grew up in the Pacific
Northwest where the novel is set. She was inspired to write this novel when she
saw a video of an Octopus opening a locked box in order to get a treat, The idea
of Marcellus the main character who is a remarkably bright creature came to her,
The story is about an Octopus who is captured and lives in an aquarium but
he is bored and makes nightly excursions out of his tank to get more delectable
food items from the other tanks as well as some Chinese food he happens upon.
Marcellus observes humans everyday and has many wry observations of their
behavior,
He forms a relationship with Tova, a grieving cleaner who has lost her son,
husband and brother. She has no family left and is an inscrutable, strong Swedish
lady who is in her 70's, Marcellus helps solve the mystery of her son's death.
He also connects her with her grandson Cameron who is searching for his
unknown father, Cameron is a hapless young man who up to this point has not
been very responsible in life. With the help of Ethan, a gregarious local store keeper
and Tova who both show him kindness and love he is learning to do things right.
You have to love this book and the Giant Pacific Octopus who risks his short
life to help all these humans some of which he says are remarkably bright creatures.
Linda had a variety of salads such as chicken, eggs, grapes, and broccoli. She ended
with a wonderful pie and fudge. This was all accompanied by wine while we sat at
Laura's beautifully set table. The dynamic duo of Linda and Laura set the
bar high for Donna who is our next hostess. She chose a book called The
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins.
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