Kate Folk’s sophomore novel “Sky Daddy” soars into uncharted literary territory with the audacity of a plane breaking through the clouds—and much like her protagonist Linda’s obsession, it’s impossible to look away from this brilliant, bewildering, and deeply unsettling exploration of desire, destiny, and the human need for connection.
Following her acclaimed short story collection “Out There,” Folk has crafted a full-length narrative that reads like a fever dream conceived at 30,000 feet. The novel opens with its unforgettable first line—”Call me Linda”—immediately signaling Folk’s debt to Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” though instead of a white whale, our narrator pursues aluminum-bodied aircraft with the same manic devotion that consumed Captain Ahab.
The Architecture of Obsession
Folk’s narrative architecture mirrors the careful engineering of the aircraft Linda adores. The story unfolds in three parts, chronicling Linda’s journey from content moderator to aviation enthusiast to something far more dangerous and sublime. Linda works at Acuity, moderating videos for a platform while harboring her secret passion for planes—not just any planes, but specific aircraft she’s tracked and catalogued with the obsessive precision of a plane-spotter.
The genius of Folk’s character construction lies in how she makes Linda simultaneously sympathetic and deeply concerning. Linda’s loneliness feels authentic and heartbreaking; her desire for connection resonates universally. Yet her specific method of seeking that connection—through what she euphemistically calls “marriage” to an aircraft via a fatal crash—transforms the familiar into something startlingly original.
Linda’s World: Isolation and Digital Connection
Folk excels at capturing the peculiar loneliness of modern life. Linda’s existence feels suffocating in its mundane details: her windowless garage rental, her $20-an-hour job, her monthly flight dates that serve as both romantic encounters and research missions. The author’s background in content moderation shows in her authentic portrayal of digital-age labor, where workers like Linda and her friend Karina spend their days consuming the internet’s darkest corners.
The relationship between Linda and Karina forms the novel’s emotional center. Karina’s aviation phobia perfectly complements Linda’s aviation obsession, creating a yin-yang dynamic that Folk exploits for both comedic and tragic effect. Their friendship develops through shared work trauma and mutual recognition of outsider status, making Karina’s eventual discovery of Linda’s true nature all the more devastating.
Folk’s Distinctive Voice: Deadpan Surrealism
Folk writes with a distinctive deadpan style that makes the absurd feel inevitable. Her prose maintains Linda’s matter-of-fact tone even when describing the most outrageous scenarios, creating a cognitive dissonance that keeps readers constantly off-balance. Consider this description of Linda’s vision board:
“Dreamliners and 737s pitched downward, flames rising from their engines. A plane flying inverted. Mangled debris, charred plane parts lying in a field.”
The clinical precision of Linda’s language when describing crashes mirrors how she discusses her job or her daily routine, suggesting a mind that has normalized the abnormal through sheer force of obsession.
Technical Authenticity Meets Emotional Truth
Folk’s research pays dividends in the novel’s technical authenticity. Her use of actual aircraft registration numbers (like N92823), flight tracking websites, and aviation terminology creates a convincing framework for Linda’s expertise. This attention to detail serves the larger purpose of making Linda’s obsession feel real and researched rather than merely quirky or absurd.
The author’s acknowledgments reveal extensive research using NTSB databases and flight tracking apps, and this thoroughness grounds the novel’s more fantastical elements in recognizable reality. When Linda describes feeling an “electric pulse” upon boarding certain aircraft, the specificity of her aviation knowledge makes her supernatural beliefs more credible within the story’s logic.
Thematic Depth: Fate, Agency, and Modern Romance
“Sky Daddy” functions as both a darkly comic romance and a meditation on fate versus agency. Linda believes passionately in predestination—that the universe has scripted her death in a specific way with a specific aircraft. This fatalistic worldview provides comfort in a life otherwise marked by powerlessness and isolation.
Folk uses Linda’s beliefs to examine how people construct meaning from chaos. Linda’s elaborate system of signs and omens—tracking flights, collecting plane fragments, interpreting turbulence as communication—mirrors how many people seek patterns in randomness to feel less alone in an indifferent universe.
The Vision Board as Metaphor
The vision board sequence serves as the novel’s metaphorical centerpiece. While Linda’s friends create conventional manifestation boards featuring career goals and relationship aspirations, Linda’s board features crashed planes and death imagery. Folk uses this scene to highlight how Linda’s desires exist outside societal norms, but also to question whether her honesty makes her more authentic than friends who pursue socially acceptable dreams that may be equally hollow.
Character Development and Psychological Complexity
Linda emerges as one of literature’s most complex unreliable narrators. Folk avoids both demonizing and romanticizing her protagonist’s mental state. Linda’s aviation obsession clearly represents a form of self-harm, yet Folk presents it through Linda’s own framework of romantic destiny, creating sympathy for a character whose actions become increasingly dangerous.
The supporting characters feel fully realized rather than merely functional. Karina’s own guilt and death anxiety create genuine chemistry with Linda’s death wish. Dave (initially Stewart) provides grounding as a character pursuing healing and growth, contrasting with Linda’s embrace of destruction.
The Evolution of Karina
Karina’s character arc deserves particular recognition. Beginning as Linda’s friend and potential romantic partner, she evolves into something like Linda’s conscience. Her aviation phobia initially seems like mere quirk, but Folk gradually reveals deeper psychological wounds that make her final choice both shocking and inevitable.
Literary Influences and Contemporary Context
Folk’s debt to “Moby-Dick” extends beyond the opening line. Like Melville’s narrator Ishmael, Linda observes obsession from both inside and outside, serving as both participant and chronicler of her own monomania. The whale-plane comparison in the novel’s epigraph—”Planes are the whales of the sky”—establishes this connection explicitly.
Yet “Sky Daddy” also functions as distinctly contemporary literature. Linda’s digital-age isolation, her gig economy employment, and her relationship with technology feel urgently current. Folk captures how social media and dating apps promise connection while often delivering further alienation.
Comparisons to Contemporary Literature
The novel shares DNA with other recent literary works exploring female obsession and unconventional desire. Readers might find echoes of Ottessa Moshfegh’s psychological portraits or the dark humor of writers like Samantha Irby, though Folk’s voice remains distinctly her own.
The book also resonates with contemporary discussions of neurodivergence and mental health, though Folk wisely avoids diagnostic language that might reduce Linda’s complexity to clinical terms.
Critical Analysis: Strengths and Limitations
Folk’s greatest strength lies in her commitment to Linda’s perspective. The author never breaks character to wink at readers or suggest Linda’s beliefs are simply delusion. This consistency creates genuine pathos and prevents the novel from feeling merely satirical.
The technical aspects of Linda’s obsession receive meticulous attention, while the emotional mechanics feel equally authentic. Folk understands that obsession often provides structure and meaning that ordinary life lacks, making Linda’s choices comprehensible even when horrifying.
Areas for Critical Consideration
Some readers may find Linda’s ultimate actions difficult to accept, even within the novel’s established framework. The ending requires considerable suspension of disbelief, and Folk’s commitment to Linda’s worldview sometimes challenges narrative plausibility.
Additionally, the novel’s dark humor occasionally risks feeling glib about serious issues including mental health and aviation safety. While Folk generally navigates these concerns skillfully, certain moments may feel tone-deaf to readers with personal connections to aviation disasters.
The pacing occasionally falters in the middle section as Linda’s daily routines become repetitive. While this repetition serves thematic purposes—illustrating the grinding nature of Linda’s existence—it sometimes slows narrative momentum.
Literary Merit and Cultural Impact
“Sky Daddy” succeeds brilliantly as both entertainment and serious literature. Folk has created a genuinely original work that expands the possibilities of contemporary fiction. The novel’s exploration of female desire, particularly desire that exists outside conventional frameworks, feels both timely and timeless.
The book’s dark humor provides accessibility without sacrificing depth. Folk demonstrates that literary fiction can be simultaneously funny, disturbing, and profound—a combination that feels particularly relevant in our current cultural moment.
Technical Craft
Folk’s prose demonstrates remarkable control throughout the novel’s 300 pages. She maintains Linda’s voice consistently while allowing for significant character development and tonal shifts. The dialogue feels natural and distinctive for each character, and Folk shows particular skill in depicting the awkward intimacies of modern friendship.
The structure serves the story well, with each section representing a different stage of Linda’s journey toward her ultimate goal. Folk builds tension expertly while allowing for moments of genuine human connection that make the eventual tragedy more powerful.
Conclusion: A Singular Achievement
“Sky Daddy” represents a remarkable achievement in contemporary literary fiction. Folk has created a genuinely original work that defies easy categorization while delivering emotional truth through the most unusual of circumstances. The novel succeeds as dark comedy, psychological study, and meditation on fate and desire.
While not every reader will appreciate Linda’s particular brand of obsession, most will recognize the universal human needs that drive her actions. Folk has written a book that lingers in memory long after the final page, marking her as one of contemporary literature’s most distinctive voices.
This is bold, uncompromising fiction that trusts readers to follow its narrator into the darkest skies. For those willing to take flight with Linda, “Sky Daddy” offers rewards as substantial as its risks.
Similar Books Worth Exploring
For readers who enjoyed “Sky Daddy,” consider these complementary works:
- “Out There: Stories” by Kate Folk – Folk’s debut collection establishes many themes explored in “Sky Daddy”
- “Flashlight” by Susan Choi – Another exploration of obsessive desire outside conventional boundaries
- “Bunny” by Mona Awad – Features similarly unreliable narration and dark academic humor
- “The Power” by Naomi Alderman – Examines how people respond when given agency over their previously powerless situations
- “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn – For those drawn to psychologically complex female protagonists with unusual moral frameworks
- “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel – Explores fate, connection, and meaning-making in unusual circumstances
