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In 1810, a sister and brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. With its long snout and prominent teeth, it might be a crocodile – except that it has a huge, bulbous eye. Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world. Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, however, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. In danger of being an outcast in her community, she takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils. The strong bond between Mary and Elizabeth sees them through struggles with poverty, rivalry and ostracism, as well as the physical dangers of their chosen obsession. It reminds us that friendship can outlast storms and landslides, anger and jealousy.
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- a long ambling book. The narrator did well, it was fun to hear the accents
- Elizabeth was annoying and uptight, she stuck her nose in when unwanted and did not help when needed! She was rude to her sister too, and used rudeness and harshness and called it practicality
- Elizabeth and Mary both refer to the other as friends but there is a significant age, class, and education discrepancy, and we never see on-page time together that is a real connection as people, as women with personalities
- I felt like this was a topic that was interesting to the author, she spotted one or two female names and then tried to come up with entire personalities while also covering a significant course of time
- because of her research she tried to include as much of that as possible and still tried to be true to the dates as to when meetings happened, theories were published, and papers were written Etc
- overall this just did not have any heart for me. Too much time was covered and it felt impersonal and I felt removed from the characters. and I felt that it lacked a human element
- One reviewer states the book was "not as deep or fascinating or insightful as I would have liked" which just about sums it up
- I did like that we get to see some historical women who were not 100% focused on securing a husband, but they still seemed to be like 50% concerned...
- the book's idea and premise was definitely interesting and different, yet the book was dull and a letdown
- one review: "for a book that starts with a lightning strike, remarkable creatures has surprisingly little spark... Even a life-threatening experience on the beach passes by quickly and offhandedly."
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