The Sky Was Ours by Joe Fassler continuously juggles the real with the surreal by grounding its characters in universal human experience. It’s a difficult balancing act, but the beginning of the novel delivers this masterfully, relating the experience of a dream straining against the confines of reality. It’s difficult to tear our gazes away from the protagonist Jane, who reluctantly pivots to programming after a heartbreaking failure to gain admission to grad school for English. Jane, unmoored and entirely lacking any sort of passion for computer science, manages to adhere to the rigors of her program for a few months before spectacularly—and quite literally—burning out. After accidentally setting fire to her kitchen in an exhaustion-induced haze, Jane packs up her life and disappears.
The first third of the novel shines. Fassler does a fantastic job of allowing us to connect with his protagonist even as the gripping, incendiary start of the narrative tapers into an account of Jane’s days on the road. Soon enough, however, Jane’s wanderings culminate in a run-in with Barry, an off-the-grid recluse brimming with passion for his pet project: granting humans the power of flight. Worriedly observing Barry, but never mustering the nerve to intervene, is his son Ike.
Although beautifully written, the novel markedly slows as Jane folds herself into Barry and Ike’s lives and work. Fassler uses this lull in momentum to explore the bonds that tie these characters to one another and to the rest of the world, diving into Jane’s familial relationships, Ike’s desire to experience a normal life, and the ways each of them respond to Barry’s vision. It is at this point that Jane’s relatability begins to waver. Her desire for purpose and the allure of flight do not fully justify how rarely she thinks about what she has committed to; nor do they justify her rather quick willingness to trust the strange men she’s fallen in with, especially as a young woman.
Despite this, Jane’s interactions with Barry and Ike are compelling and complex, with tension building as the novel increases in pace. The story banks in a macabre fashion and plunges into horror genre territory but becomes all the better for it. There is a rewarding payoff foreshadowed from the beginning, and Fassler plays up the consequences of his characters’ actions in a commentary on unchecked individualism and the cost of the breakdown of social ties. Not much is left up to interpretation. The final act and coda are neatly resolved, with takeaways summed up in Jane’s reflections. The ending may have been stronger if some inferring was left to the reader, but it is overall a satisfying resolution after 400+ pages.
Though The Sky Was Ours is marketed as a retelling of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, it is only loosely based on the original tale and stands on its own as a thoughtful commentary on human desire, the need to drive change, and what it means to belong to a society. Evocative and largely propelled by character studies, it will appeal to those who enjoy a slower pace and well-crafted writing.