Trauma’s Unsettling Terrain: “Sky City” and the Haunting of Reality

Jacqueline Crooks’ second novel, “Sky City”, is a deeply unsettling portrayal of trauma that defies easy narratives or resolutions. On its surface, it’s a story about Jaycee, a young woman whose childhood was marred by abuse and neglect in 1990s London. But beneath the faintly surreal surface of Crooks’ prose lies a complex exploration of how trauma warps our perceptions of reality.

The novel depicts the world as a fluid, ever-shifting terrain, where the mundane and uncanny coexist. The narrative careens between Jaycee’s daily life in a council estate and the ghostly presence of her past, with voices bleeding through pirate radio like an eerie echo. This liminal space is where trauma resides, twisting the ordinary into something grotesque.

Crooks’ portrayal of families as “dangerous places… like nests of poisonous spiders” underscores the insidious nature of trauma. The cruelty that festers within these households can rot the body from within, leaving survivors like Jaycee and her friend Ella-G to forge a fragile bond amidst institutional brutality. This is no simplistic tale of good vs. evil; instead, it’s a nuanced exploration of how trauma seeps into every corner of our lives.

In its portrayal of trauma, “Sky City” recalls the work of writers like Chris Kraus and Claudia Rankine, who unflinchingly confront the ways in which trauma distorts our perceptions. However, Crooks’ novel differs in its use of language as a form of resistance. Her prose is lyrical yet bleak, reflecting the world she’s created – one that’s both deeply personal and profoundly unsettling.

To read “Sky City” means engaging with a narrative that refuses to offer easy answers or resolutions. This is not a book about overcoming trauma but rather living through it, finding ways to survive in a world determined to break you. It’s a powerful reminder of the dual role of language: both healing and harming, as writers like Crooks use their craft to resist the traumas they portray.

“Sky City” is also a commentary on our era’s precarious relationship with truth. In Crooks’ world, the boundaries between past and present blur, memories and fantasies bleeding into each other. This distortion of reality serves as a timely reminder that even in our own time, social media and fake news can warp our perceptions.

Ultimately, “Sky City” is not just a novel about trauma but also one about language – how we use words to make sense of our world. It’s a deeply unsettling book, yet it offers a glimmer of hope in its portrayal of the human spirit’s capacity for survival, even in the face of unimaginable cruelty.