🐘 Wow, this book is special. Thanks so much to @simonandschuster for the gifted ARC. This is out today!

🐘 This book is brilliant in its premise. And pretty darn good in its execution. It explores a post-apocalyptic, post-racial world in which one day all the white people are gone. Gone. And if people can get past that sentence and give this book a try I think they’ll find it to be very eye-opening, smart, and a conversation starter for sure!

🐘 I love the people the author chose to follow on this journey forward. The feelings they were wrestling with created such depth and intrigue to this story. I’m probably not the best person to go into the intricacies of this one; in fact I probably didn’t even pick up on all of them. But I still found it to be spectacular.

🐘 My one complaint would be that I actually wanted more. I loved the themes, the characters, the backstory— all of it, but I think this book could have actually been a bit longer and explored everything a little more, and done a little deeper! That said, maybe it was purposely made to be quick and palatable so more people would pick it up, which in its own way likely serves a bigger purpose.

🐘 This book may not be perfect, but it’s certainly one worth reading, and one that will stick with me and have me thinking long before I closed the back cover. I wish it all the success!

4.5 rounded up.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to really put into words the energy that this book contains. To state simply, this book could read as one of discovery, found family, and even adventure. But honestly, Sky Full of Elephants is so much more. After an unforeseen event in which white people have all drowned themselves, Sidney finds herself even more lost and unknown than she ever felt before. We then enter a journey of a once imprisoned man, now a Howard University professor named Charlie, as he ventures out for redemption and purpose after being contacted by Sidney, his biracial daughter, who only sees him as her last resort.

Sidney aches for what she’s lost, as her connection to whiteness has been gravely severed. Charlie craves a purpose outside of himself, and in Sidney, he sees both hope and pain. This book will definitely ruffle some feathers, but it’s a conversation that’s necessary. It’s not only a book of pride and resilience but also one of sacrifice and community. It presents the toll and weight of years of misinformation and lies on not only an individual, but on a culture, a people.

Sky Full of Elephants is a story that should be read by everyone. It will spark conversations that are hard to have. Campbell dissects so much of mixed identity and experience. Every character has such depth that makes them feel both firm and unique while yet so connected. And as a Black woman, reading about Sidney’s experiences and tone irritated me—intentionally so. I wanted to shake her and hold her. From her teen angst, disillusion, loss of identity—I was frustrated because we all know a Sidney. Though painful and hurtful, I grieved for her. I grieved her loss of self, her loss of security, her mistaken identity, and the shame that she’s carried. And through that grief, I was able to enjoy every moment of connection and pride Sidney discovered along the way.

While Charlie’s path at times felt a little more predictable, his passion and heart shone through. Campbell’s prose captivates and urges you to push forward. It’s one of grief, anger, understanding, and identity. It’s magnetic and powerful in every moment of vibrancy that Campbell has captured. The narrative and scenes are rich in culture, determination, and care. To say I loved this book down would be an understatement.

One thing I can say about this book, it is not boring! I could definitely see why there would be some folks that would be extremely uncomfortable with this kind of a story. Its supposed to be uncomfortable and make you think. I feel it was very well written and put together.

3 ☆
-
One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. Honestly it wasn't keeping my attention.
-
Thank you, Netgalley, and Simon & Schuster for the eBook in exchange for my honest review.

If you are a fan of Octavia Butler's novels, you will love Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell. This book is hard to read, in particular if you are white. It's a gut punch and at times I could feel myself start to feel quite uncomfortable. But sometimes a person needs to sit with that feeling and dissect why. There is so much to digest and this would make a great novel for a book club. Beautiful writing with complex characters. My only complaint was the ending. It felt anti-climatic and if I'll honest a little confusing. Maybe that is a me thing. Highly recommend

I read and reviewed an advanced digital copy made available through netgalley and the publisher.

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell was such a unique and incredible story.
This literary fiction novel will suck the reader in and you’ll feel every single emotion written here.
The storytelling is phenomenal and engaging from the very beginning.

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
Race • Speculative Fiction • Litfic
Pub Date • 10 September 2024

Thank you to @simonbooks for the advance reader copy. #simonbooksbuddy

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America perish. A year later, Charles Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful rape 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 who watched her white mother and step-family drown themselves in the lake behind their house.

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 America headed for Alabama, where Sidney believes she may still have some family left.

This book will definitely make you think. I’ve been sitting with it for the last week. I know I am not the primary audience so I will recommend this if you’re someone who likes to read books that make you feel uncomfortable. If you enjoy grappling with morality and how racism has many layers, and how the hurt and pain that has been caused over centuries may never heal.

This was such an interesting and very different book.

One day, without warning, all of the white people walk to the nearest body of water and drown. Everyone who remains has to pick up the pieces, and figure out how to live in this new world. We follow Charlie, who becomes as university professor after being in prison for a crime he didn't commit. A year after the 'event', he hears from his daughter Sidney, who needs him to take her to Alabama. Charlie hadn't ever been in Sidney's life, and Sidney grew up with her white mother and step family, very much in a white world. Having watched her family drown, she is traumatized, and afraid of the world. She believes that some of her white family may have survived down in Alabama.

Charlie agrees to take her, and so they set out on a journey across the country. Along the way they travel through places that have dealt with the 'event' in very different ways, and meet many people who broaden their understanding of the world, how it is, and how it can be. They slowly figure each other out, and work on understanding their Blackness, and what it means to each of them.

It was of course, for me an uncomfortable read, as many other white people have indicated. And it needed to be. Before I read this book, I followed the news stories detailing the racism still suffered today, the assumptions that a Black person driving a nice car didn't own it, that Black people living in nice neighborhoods didn't belong, the police shootings, the stop and search and so much more, and raged at all of these and how we still live in a society where these things happen. But this book opened up my eyes to so much more. The deep ingrained generational trauma. The long standing assumptions and the societal systems that continue to cause harm. So I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book.

I think I'm an outlier, in that I really didn't enjoy the style of the prose. I found it slowed down the way I read the book, and so it took me a longer time to read than I expected. I also wasn't a big fan of the ending. That affected my rating of the book too.

But it was certainly a book that I will remember reading for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Cebo Campbell, and Simon & Schuster for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This review is not going to be too long because I think I am going to need a bit to process my full thoughts on Sky Full of Elephants. I have truly never read anything like this book, and I commend Campbell for writing such a thought-provoking, original story! There are a LOT of nuances within this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed Campbell's writing and world-building. The conflicting feelings of self-identity found in both Charlie and Sidney were masterfully handled, and I think Campbell truly identified on the page what both Black joy and Black sorrow look like. This book was a bit confusing for me to follow at times, mainly with the logistics of the "radio" and the connection of Hosea and Vivian. I also would have liked to see more of Sailor and Zu once they were in Mobile because they felt forgotten by the end and were both extremely interesting characters. I haven't read speculative fiction in a while, and I did ultimately enjoy this installment in the genre.

The concept is one that makes you think, however the writing style distracted me from the plot itself. I felt there was an opportunity here for deeper editing

3 ⭐️ I enjoyed this speculative fiction story. The world is turned upside down when mysteriously all white people walk into the nearest body of water and drown. Told from the POV of Sidney, a biracial teen, left alone after her whole family disappears, and Charlie, a wrongfully imprisoned man and Sidney’s father, freed in the aftermath.

Both set out to find a hold out of leftovers where Sidney’s Aunt may be. On their journey they discover the Kingdom of Alabama, and an upcoming Mardi Gras in Mobile. Do King Hosea and Queen Vivian hold the key to what happened to all the white people?

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing in this book. The writer used beautiful prose, and deeply nuanced characters. The author did a great job delving into black tragedy and generational trauma. I just felt something was missing explaining how the giant radio tower was able to tap into white consciousness, causing everyone to walk into the water. Where did this tower come from? Who built it etc. The ending was a little ambiguous and I would’ve liked it more if Charlie and Sidney had reconnected at the end.

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

I enjoyed this book, that centers around what happens after all the white people walk into the water and disappear. The world after is more peaceful and freer for those left behind, as they work to rebuild the world into a better place. While a lot of this book was hopeful, there was some that I found profoundly sad - a glimpse into what "could have been". I thought that all of the characters were interesting and well-written, with lots of nuance and depth.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑀𝑈𝑆𝑇 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛. 𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙!

𝑀𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠: 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑑. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 “𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒’𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦”. 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑠𝑎𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦, 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠. 𝐼𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑗𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒.

Sky Full of Elephants is a MUST READ!

Cebo Campbell has created a speculative novel that pushes boundaries in writing and will force the reader to confront injustices that have long been ingrained in our society. Yes, this book will make readers uncomfortable, especially white Americans, but it is also thought provoking and essential to pointing out problems in our world by using fiction to force people to see the world from a different POV.

One of my favorite reads of the year! I will be talking about this book for a long time.

For a plot summary, I’d encourage you to go check it out on Simon & Schuster's website. I won’t focus on that, they do a nice job over there. Long story short: All white people across America drown themselves. The two main characters in this book (a father and daughter) couldn’t be dealing with it any more differently.

NO SECRET - my favorite genre is speculative fiction. And if you’ve been hanging around you’ll note that I read books by authors and about characters that aren’t just like me. I am attracted to books by BIPOC authors and explore their stories & books exploring LGBTQA accounts. Sure, I’ll read the Frieda so I don’t get FOMO, but the characters always seem to be the same. Stories that offer a wider-world perspective have opened my eyes, educated me and also entertained me along the way. This book has hit that sweet spot for me. I also took a lot away from this story.

Let’s get this out here too - Cebo Campbell is a fantastic writer. I’m talking about a high level of beauty here! He developed well-crafted characters, laid out an interesting plot and challenges and painted a fascinating utopian world. Campbell writes with love and laughter - this is a book that has the power to make you both smile, chuckle but also feel crushed and cry. He tells the story of a father and daughter who meet for the first time about a year after the event. They embark on a journey into the south where they have no idea what they’ll meet.

This book is an exceptional work of literary fiction that sucks the reader in and you’ll feel the world that Campbell has built. His descriptions are really elegant.

I’ll close with this. For any idiots calling this book racist or giving it low ratings due to its plot: you quickly show your ignorance and obviously haven’t read it.

Thank you to Cebo Campbell, Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book.

Campbell is a poet and that lyricism flows throughout the prose of this book. I wish I had a physical copy because I wanted to underline so many beautiful, powerful lines -- "the magic of the night became the consequences of the day", "when she woke, all the stars consolidated into the lone, hot Texas sun at her feet", "she buried herself in the refuge of her glass house." It's gorgeous.

I couldn't put this book down. The premise that all white people have died and Black and Brown folx finally have the liberty to explore, recover, and heal their own identities, history, and society is fascinating. And, honestly, the results that Campbell shows make me appreciate (and also want?) the fantasy of destroying white patriarchy. That deep, deep desire to be healed but not being able to go back in time to right the wrongs, so you can be a happier, healthy person and people...I get that. And am saddened that there's isn't some magical radiowave machine in existence to heal that but appreciate this book's "...what if?" exploration of what that could look like and I hope writing and reading this book brings a sense of healing.

There also is well-illustrated, heavy guilt in wanting a freedom that hinges on the deaths of so many. Sydney's struggles -- growing up white and being disconnected from her Black roots -- was well done, as is her growth through all that is thrown at her. I wanted to give her a hug by the end and I hope she's found peace.

I hope this book survives the racist, what-about-me, this-doesn't-make-sense haters. While the book relies on speculative scifi to tell the true story and message, the science isn't strong, it's only there as a magic realism to enable the real story happen.

An unusual and interesting premise. What would life be like if all white people drowned in water. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

Sky Full of Elephants, Cebo Campbell’s debut novel, has been marketed almost entirely outside of genre spaces, but an audacious speculative premise and a family story at the core had me intrigued, and after a terrific experience with my last debut-marketed-outside-genre-spaces (Chain-Gang All-Stars), I decided to give it a try and see what it was all about. 

Sky Full of Elephants pulls no punches with an eye-catching opening that features the mass suicide of white people across America. The lead, an engineering whiz fresh off decades spent imprisoned on false charges, is trying to help those who remain to build a better and more sustainable society when he’s contacted by an estranged, biracial daughter who needs help navigating a dangerous journey to a part of the country that had gone totally silent. What follows is part road trip and part reckoning with past trauma, a tale about finding a way forward, both personally and in society. 

I promised an honest review of this book, and while I’m here doing my best, I really don’t think I’m the right person to review this book. I don’t necessarily object to a premise in which I would be among the dead—otherwise, I wouldn’t have requested the book in the first place—but this feels less like a story that uses the premise to make a point for a general audience (as, for example, Chain-Gang All-Stars talks about the prison system with an audience that very much includes those outside that system) and more like a mix of encouragement and discussion fodder for Black audiences. I can say what worked and didn’t work for me, but I’m saying that as someone outside the target audience. 

Though the story gestures a few times at the difficulties that come from suddenly losing a massive portion of your population, the world of Sky Full of Elephants has generally gotten better for the people in the story. One of the main characters is no longer imprisoned on a false accusation, and the other must slowly unravel all the ways in which her white family had raised her to hate that part of herself that came from her father. Meanwhile, on a broader societal level, the collapse of the existing systems has given those who remain an opportunity to build better ones, more sustainable and with less focus on profit. There’s certainly plenty of trauma to work through, but the trauma was largely caused by the old world, and the new one gives people a chance to recover. 

Campbell could’ve easily chosen more complicated storylines—characters whose past problems had been self-inflicted, or systems lost that had had genuine value—and for a good chunk of the novel, I was wishing he’d done just that. But as the story progressed, it became clear that the obvious improvement of the world was necessary to set up the book’s big question: is it right to pursue healing for your people in a way that will irrevocably harm those whose families have hurt you? It’s a heavy topic, and it only makes sense to ask in a world where such harm to one group genuinely does lead to another’s healing; that is to say, the world of Sky Full of Elephants had to a better one to really investigate the theme. 

And while I’m not sure I’m completely sold on the way the novel answers the question, I appreciate the careful meditation on a difficult question and the genuine searching for a healthy way forward. I still prefer my characters a bit on the messier side, but Sky Full of Elephants is written in an engaging style and digs into difficult themes, and that’s enough to come together for a good read. 

On a more negative note, as a Christian reader with a healthy appreciation for the way that the Black church in America has persisted through oppression and led some of the most pivotal movements in the nation’s history,  I was disappointed to see the way in which it was pushed to the side in Sky Full of Elephants. The conversation was driven primarily by characters steeped in the spirituality of Africa-via-Haiti, with Christianity reduced to little more than white evangelicalism. This isn’t a simplification that will bother every reader, but unlike the straightforward healing for the people and systems, it’s not a simplification that meaningfully strengthens the theme. 

But on the whole, Sky Full of Elephants is a pretty good book. The prose is engaging, and there’s enough interpersonal conflict and worldbuilding mystery to hold a reader’s attention. It does feel like a book that’s written as part of a long-running conversation in Black American culture, so other readers may get the feeling of looking in on a book written for someone else, but there’s still something to like for readers outside the target audience, and I imagine it’s a fascinating read for those inside it. 

Overall rating: 15 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

I read an excerpt of this book that captured my attention, and the book did not disappoint! The premise is fascinating--when the book opens, all white people in the US have died by suicide--drowning themselves. We meet Charlie, who was formerly incarcerated and is now a professor in this new world. When he receives a call from the biracial daughter he never met, he rushes to her aid, and they embark upon a journey to Alabama to search for her family.

All of the characters in this book are so beautifully drawn, and through their eyes we can see what it would be like to live in a literally postracial world. This book gave me so much to think about, in a totally different and unique way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cebo Campbell starts SKY FULL OF ELEPHANTS with a fascinating premise: "What if all the white people in America walked into the nearest body of water and drowned?"

That premise, that "what if", leads to deep real-world inquiries in the tradition of all the greatest science fiction. What racist and classist structures and ideas still stay in place even after their architects and main beneficiaries are gone? What can we replace them with? What traumas linger? What traumas heal? What parts of the country are still only open to certain people, in our real world and in his fictional world? Campbell explores all of these questions and more with tenderness and nuance.

He even applies this careful (in the sense of "full-of-care") examination to the complex questions his fictional premise leaves behind: Why did this happen? Was it a good thing, and for whom? Was it a bad thing, and for whom?

This narrative is full of curiosity and love in the form of restorative justice. It is a deep examination of the USA as both a state and a nation. Read this.