Sky Daddy

Kate Folk

Hardcover

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Do you recommend this book?

Yes!

Reader Score

84%

84% of readers

recommend this book

Critic Reviews

Great

Based on 7 reviews on

"[A] bizarre and endearing debut . . . We can't remember the last time we met a character this singular or read a book this funny."--Oprah Daily (Best New Books to Read This Spring)

"Sleek and darkly comical . . . with the melancholic wit and whimsy of Miranda July."--The Boston Globe

Cross the jet bridge with Linda, a frequent flyer with an unusual obsession, in this "audaciously imagined and surprisingly tender" (Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch) debut novel by the acclaimed author of Out There.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, Oprah Daily, Vulture, Publishers Weekly, Electric Lit, Debutiful, Book Riot - LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

Linda is doing her best to lead a life that would appear normal to the casual observer. Weekdays, she earns $20 an hour moderating comments for a video-sharing platform, then rides the bus home to the windowless garage she rents on the outskirts of San Francisco. But on the last Friday of each month, she indulges her true passion, taking BART to SFO for a round-trip flight to a regional hub. The destination is irrelevant, because each trip means a new date with a handsome stranger--a stranger whose intelligent windscreens, sleek fuselages, and powerful engines make Linda feel a way that no human ever could. . . .

Linda knows that she can't tell anyone she's sexually obsessed with planes. Nor can she reveal her belief that it's her destiny to "marry" one of her suitors, uniting with her soulmate plane for eternity. But when an opportunity arises to hasten her dream of eternal partnership, and the carefully balanced elements of her life begin to spin out of control, she must choose between maintaining the trappings of normalcy and launching herself headlong toward the love she's always dreamed of.

Both subversive and unexpectedly heartwarming, Sky Daddy hijacks the classic love story, exploring desire, fate, and the longing to be accepted for who we truly are.

Book Details

Publisher: Random House
Publish Date: Apr 8th, 2025
Pages: 368
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 8.60in - 5.83in - 1.35in - 0.93lb
EAN: 9780593231494
Categories: • Literary• Women• Humorous - Dark Humor

About the Author

Kate Folk is the author of the short story collection Out There. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and Zyzzyva. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she's also received support from the Headlands Center for the Arts, MacDowell, and Willapa Bay AiR. She lives in San Francisco.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"This is the craziest, funniest book I've read in a while. And I read a lot of crazy, funny books. Get your boarding pass out and get ready for some turbulence. Sky Daddy is insane."--Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends

"Audaciously imagined. Slyly executed. Surprisingly tender. Deliciously weird."--Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch

"Sky Daddy is outrageously funny and smartly unsettling, as if J. G. Ballard did a story arc for New Girl. It's an audacious comic novel about the love that really dare not say its name--also probably the worst (or . . . best?) book to read on a plane."--Ed Park, author of Same Bed Different Dreams

"Delightfully weird and totally electric. . . . A captivatingly original and uproarious love letter to the strange forces of desire and destiny that drive and connect all of us."--Gina Chung, author of Sea Change and Green Frog

"Breathtakingly audacious, Sky Daddy lifts off and swiftly accelerates, breaking the barrier of your preconceptions and disbelief, taking you to utterly new places and insights. . . . A beauteous, drolly funny joy ride."--Ling Ma, author of Bliss Montage

"Hilarious, refreshing, and perverse, Sky Daddy is a soaring portrait of modern obsession, of knowing exactly what you want and trying to wrestle it from the jaws of our ridiculous world. Kate Folk's sharp sentences and sidesplitting characters sparkle with glorious cringe. Do not miss this flight."--Henry Hoke, author of Open Throat

"Get on board already! Sky Daddy is absurd and poignant, hilarious and gruesome, razor-sharp and tenderhearted. From here on out, I'm reading anything and everything with Kate Folk's name on it."--Lily Brooks-Dalton, author of The Light Pirate

"With wit and humor, Kate Folk gives us an unsettling but fascinating look at the complicated ways humans relate to technology."--Weike Wang, author of Rental House

"Powerful and wise, Sky Daddy also manages to be the funniest book about sexual obsession that I have ever read."--Colin Winnette, author of Users and The Job of the Wasp

"Innovative, daring, and (very) fun, Kate Folk's eccentrically smart novel of outward, and inward, love effortlessly blends humor and heart. It's impossible to forget."--Iain Reid, author of We Spread

"This book is a dog whistle for the true freaks--never have I felt so seen! I loved it."--Rita Bullwinkel, author of Headshot

"I found myself breathless, shocked, and wonderstruck. Kate Folk is a singular talent, soaring in a brilliant universe all her own."--Emily Habeck, author of Shark Heart

"With this brilliant deep dive into the irrational abyss of obsession, Kate Folk proves herself to be a truly original new voice in fiction."--Mat Johnson, author of Pym

"Sky Daddy is a voyeuristic masterpiece--you'll never look at a contrail (or an airplane blanket) the same way again."--Kimberly King Parsons, author of We Were the Universe