Q&A – Per Jacobsen talks about the sea turtle in DRY

It’s time for Per Jacobsen to answer another question. This time a great one from Betty Chilton Holeman :-).

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read DRY yet, please don’t read this Q&A, as it contains spoilers.

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QUESTION:

In the book Dry, was the sea turtle real or a hallucination?

ANSWER:

Excellent question. The boring answer is that it’s really up to the reader.

However, I’ve always been fond of hiding small hints at my own ideas in the text when it comes to the more open questions. And let’s just say that it’s no coincidence that Nathan isn’t able to see the turtle until his gaze goes for “a brief visit to the blue sky” where Jessie and him usually spot figures and animals in their “airy tales” game.

So yeah, in my opinion, the sea turtle is Jessie’s hallucination, and Nathan plays along. It’s real to her, though, and I guess that’s what matters most.

– Per Jacobsen