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Synopsis:
In this exquisite speculative novel set in a world where white people no longer exist, college professor Charlie Brunton receives a call from his estranged daughter Sidney, setting off a chain of events as they journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search of answers.
One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charles 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 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. But neither Sidney or Charlie is prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.
When they enter 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.
Review:
Sky Full of Elephants starts with a college professor, Charles Brunton, getting a call from his daughter, whom he had not talked to his entire life. The novel also starts a year earlier when all of the white people in America walk into bodies of water and drown themselves. Since then America has changed, with most parts of the country surviving being the large cities. Charlie’s daughter, Sidney, lives in Wisconsin, alone, in a neighborhood that had pretty much drown themselves. She is angry at her mother, stepfather, and brothers drowning themselves in the lake behind their house, and mad at her father for never being part of her life. When she gets a message taped to the front gate of her house from her white aunt, Agnes, saying that some white people are still alive and in Orange Beach, Alabama, she knows that Charlie is the only person left who can help her get there.
Part road trip novel, part story of family, and part story about learning about one’s own identity, Sky Full of Elephants starts very compelling. The tension in what America is like at this time, how people travel, what areas are more dangerous than others and which areas are just abandoned, really drives the first half of this novel. Not only do we learn about the tensions between Charles and Sidney and the reason why they have no relationship, we are also learning about different ways America has changed. Electricity is still everywhere, but pumping for oil is something that nobody seems interested in doing. Traveling and hospitality have become more about helping one another than gaining a profit. Adding to the struggle of getting out of Wisconsin, Charles and Sidney are also going to Alabama, a place where rumor is that it is ran by a king, and airplanes do not even fly there anymore. This road trip and world building half of the novel keeps the tension high, and we can sense the danger that the two characters travel into. The second half of the book is a different type of good. Most of it is learning about identity and who black people have been in their history in America versus their history in the world. Sidney being half white and raised by white people knows very little about the history of black people in the world, so she really struggles with some of the ideas and feelings that she is shown. She knows that the identity of America has changed, and she does not know where she fits anymore. The changing America has given black people the opportunity to incorporate attitudes from countries where black people have always been in leadership. I do like the feeling of togetherness and community that this brings, the sense that everyone who shows up is welcomed and treated like family.
I wish there was more world building like in the beginning, with more interesting things that have happened in America since there are no white people left. Also the ending really did not resonate as much as it was trying to resonate, but Sky Full of Elephants is a really interesting book with some interesting concepts. I really enjoyed the first half and wish to visit there again soon.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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