Sky Full of Elephants

English language

Published 2024 by Simon & Schuster.

ISBN:: 978-1-6680-3492-7

(2 reviews)

In a world without white people, what does it mean to be Black?

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.

Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America …

In a world without white people, what does it mean to be Black?

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.

Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search for answers. But neither of them are prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.

Heading south toward what is now called the Kingdom of Alabama, everything Charlie and Sidney thought they knew about themselves, and the world, will be turned upside down. Brimming with heart and humor, Cebo Campbell’s astonishing debut novel is about the power of community and connection, about healing and self-actualization, and a reckoning with what it means to be Black in America, in both their world and ours.

2 editions

Andy P. reviewed Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Great book, Weak ending

4 stars

My thoughts on this are probably too specific to my own upbringing to be much of a helpful review. Let me say, the first 60% of this book is 5 stars, just exceptional storytelling.

However, I grew up in a community of thousands of diverse do-gooders in the South. And I have strong opinions on how communes like the one in this book actually function in reality, the human frailty of leadership, and how spirituality can be used to smother descent and growth. That said, I am white and probably don’t have the experience to feel it.

Again, most of this book is terrific. Unfortunately the ending struck too close to home on certain topics (utopian societies) that I can’t easily suspend my disbelief.

KnitAFett reviewed Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

A hard-hitter for me.

5 stars

As a white female in the USA, this book hit me in all of the uncomfortable ways. But that's how I should feel when reading books where I am not the target audience, and that is the whole reason that I have been working to diversify my reading more.

Sidney is a biracial girl who has been raised by her white family while her actual father has spent her whole life in jail after wrongly being accused and convicted of a crime. Their struggles to face their new realities and find themselves in this new America where Black people are able to dance in the streets, celebrate holidays as they please, and just to finally feel like they can breathe without offending someone at the risk of their lives.

I knew the general grasp of what had caused the event by the time they arrived to Alabama. I was really …

As a white female in the USA, this book hit me in all of the uncomfortable ways. But that's how I should feel when reading books where I am not the target audience, and that is the whole reason that I have been working to diversify my reading more.

Sidney is a biracial girl who has been raised by her white family while her actual father has spent her whole life in jail after wrongly being accused and convicted of a crime. Their struggles to face their new realities and find themselves in this new America where Black people are able to dance in the streets, celebrate holidays as they please, and just to finally feel like they can breathe without offending someone at the risk of their lives.

I knew the general grasp of what had caused the event by the time they arrived to Alabama. I was really surprised but happy that we were going to find out what caused it. But it also lead to some massive discomfort that I've been sitting with and thinking on.

This is not a cut-and-dry book. There are so many emotions, thoughts and uncertainties that it honestly got a little overwhelming at times. The MCs bounce back and forth between their beliefs and thoughts as they are attempting to find out who they are. That provides a lot of information to chew on and attempt to process in a fairly short span of time.

I have a lot of feelings that I need to work through on this one. I recommend it, but just know that it's not a light read by any means.