Sky Full of Elephants: A Novel

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.
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Readers say *Sky Full of Elephants* is a bold, lyrical speculative novel exploring Black identity, trauma, and healing after a world-altering event wi...
Intrigued by the premise, I was drawn into the story due to Mr. Campbell’s lyrical writing style. The narrative had a rhythmical flow to it that supported the world building and characterizations. I found Charlie to be a very sympathetic character, rebuilding a life shattered by lies in a new world and confronted with the daughter he never had a chance to know. Sydney, Charlie’s daughter, was more of a struggle to empathize with. While her feelings were justified and understandable, her growth throughout the novel was erratic. As the story has an ambiguous ending, perhaps her character will continue to improve. For supporting cast, the grumpy pilot Sailor and his nonbinary child, Zu, offer a counterpoint to Charlie and Sidney’s emerging relationship. The king and queen of Alabama and the thriving town of Mobile were well fleshed out. The Walkers and Sidney’s Aunt Agatha in Orange Beach represented those who were lost in their own way, either due to clinging to their former proximity to whiteness or to the religious biases they were raised with. I found the Walkers to be the most tragic of all.
The questions of identity throughout the story are what kept be invested throughout. Are we defined by the color of our skin, our behaviors, the groups we belong to, the choices we make? Are others more valuable or worthy who don’t suffer the same things we do? Does there have to be those that are “lesser” to make us feel whole? As a trauma survivor with C-PTSD, I struggle with my own issues of identity and worthiness, and as a former Special Education teacher, I’ve been witness to that struggle in others. I have never understood or accepted the idea of White Supremacy or Christian Supremacy or any of the myriad ways that humanity continues to other each of us. In reality, there is no “us” or “them” only”we”. Charlie questions who he is as a Black man in the US, a convict, a teacher, a father, and ultimately a fixer and healer. Sidney grapples with her biracial otherness, her wealthy upbringing and sheltered life, the trauma of abandonment, and the lies that her life was built on.
The ethical question of the machine at the epicenter of the event adds another layer to the story. While the effects of the first usage were unintended, once they were known is it right to continue to fix it and use it again? Can healing a part of collectiveness that harms or destroys another part ultimately be worth the cost? The world and its people are broken and desperately need healing. But just like the question of eugenics, what of value is lost when specific traits are universally stripped away? And who gets the to decide what is of value anyway? The ambiguity of the ending doesn’t answer the question entirely of what happens when the machine is repaired, but Charlie’s ability to fix things leads me hopeful. Personally, I cared enough about these characters to be interested in a sequel.
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