ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
A new novel about a giant, glowing monster of a jellyfish off an island in Maine mixes marine biology with magic. If that sounds like a quirky combo, imagine how the residents of the imaginary island of Shattering Point feel. The monster jellyfish is killing their summer tourism season, and they quickly turn on each other. Their only hope is a prickly scientist, Josephine Ness, or Jo, who is brokenhearted in multiple ways when the book begins. I'm joined by Tessa Yang, who wrote the novel "The Jellyfish Problem." Hi, Tessa.
TESSA YANG: Hi, Elissa. Thanks so much for having me.
NADWORNY: Let's talk about the main character, Jo. You know, she gets this call from an old friend, an old crush maybe, about something that she can help with. I mean, what's the call about? Set that up for us.
YANG: Jo is a very introverted, know-it-all dork who, unsurprisingly, has a pretty difficult time making and holding on to friends. So the friends that she does have are really important to her. And then - yeah - out of the blue, she gets this phone call from her unrequited college crush, Nadia, telling Jo that Nadia now lives on this remote island off the coast of Maine, where they are having this jellyfish problem, and would Jo be able to help? Jo drops everything to go, partially because she's, you know, a little bit intrigued at the thought that there might be something scientifically for her to discover about this big jellyfish. But she's mostly going because she wants to reconnect with Nadia.
NADWORNY: What do we need to know about the jellyfish? What drew you to this creature?
YANG: You know, I didn't set out to write a book about a giant jellyfish.
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
YANG: I set out to write a book about a sea monster, but I knew that I wanted that monster to be based on a real-life animal. But what I loved about jellyfish is they kind of resist all efforts to see ourselves in them. You look at a jellyfish and have to ask yourself, where's its mouth? Where are its eyes? And I think that makes something a very good candidate for a monster, because what is a monster? It's something that we can't relate to and can't see ourselves in at all.
NADWORNY: Jo, she's similar to the jellyfish that she studies and loves so deeply in the sense that she's not the easiest character to love. Are there parallels in Clementine - you know, the massive glowing, mysterious jellyfish - are there parallels in Clementine's story, her fate and Jo's?
YANG: I think Clementine is profoundly misunderstood. And I think Jo is someone who herself has been misunderstood her whole life. So I think that journey toward being understood is one that Jo and, you know, hopefully, Clementine get to be on. And throughout the book, Jo is kind of forced to grow, particularly in the wake of the loss of her best friend, Aldo.
NADWORNY: Yeah. Let's talk about that. 'Cause she's going through kind of a tough time. I mean, her best friend and research partner, Aldo, recently drowned, and Jo kind of believes it was her fault.
YANG: Aldo plays a really significant role in the story, despite not being physically present in it because he passes away before it starts. He's constantly on Jo's mind. She's often thinking, what would Aldo do in this scenario, especially when she gets to the island and is confronted by things that make no sense. Because Aldo was a scientist like Jo, but he was open-minded in a way that she wasn't. So she kind of finds herself reaching for his personality and trying to think about what his approach to the jellyfish problem might be.
NADWORNY: Yeah. There's a passage in the book. It's on the top of page 189, and I wonder if you could read it for us.
YANG: (Reading) Was Shattering Point's giant jellyfish an ancient and invincible monster that had been stalking these shores for decades, one that had already taken a human life and was poised now to take 47 more? Or was she an animal like any other struggling to adapt to a degraded ocean? Her pulsating light less a signpost of danger than a cry for help.
NADWORNY: What is Jo pondering there?
YANG: Jo's trying to figure out to what extent Clementine conforms to her understanding of jellyfish and to what extent she radically departs from it. Jo's kind of a know-it-all, and she really identifies a lot with being this scientist and this jellyfish expert. And then she's getting some evidence - anecdotal evidence - that this is a jellyfish that's breaking all the rules.
NADWORNY: Tessa, would you recommend reading this book when you're at the beach?
YANG: (Laughter) Well, now that it's appeared on a few beach read lists for summer, I feel like I kind of have to say, yes. Yeah. I think you should totally read it...
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
YANG: ...At the beach. Why not? I don't know if you should read it and go scuba diving, but...
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
YANG: If you want to read it and then splash around in the shallow water, sure. You might just want to, like, keep your eye out for jellyfish if you get in the water right after reading it.
NADWORNY: (Laughter) I love it. Tessa Yang's debut novel is called "The Jellyfish Problem." Thanks so much for being with us, Tessa.
YANG: Thank you for having me. It's a fun conversation. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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