INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
Publication date : September 2025
Format: Hardcover, audiobook, and ebook
Print length : 304 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “SKY FULL OF ELEPHANTS”
From my experience, books written by black authors are usually top reads for me. This book pretty much cemented this notion. This book was a mix of emotions bundled up together into a beautiful, sad, and incredibly brutal reality. The narrative alone was sublime. It felt like eye candy with how beautifully and tactfully the words were chosen, building a story (a horrific story from all angles) that spoke to the strength the author wanted to convey through its characters.
The storyline follows the aftermath of “The Event”, which is a moment in which ALL white people suddenly walk towards the water, never to come back. The story centers on two main characters: Charlie Brunto, who was in prison for over 20 years when “The Event” happened, and is now a professor at Howard University. And Sidney, his daughter, who called me unexpectedly, asking him to take her from her home in Wisconsin to Orange Beach, Alabama. Sidney’s mother was white, and her mom, together with her stepdad and twin brothers, died in the lake behind her house.
As they find their way to each other and to Orange Beach, we are thrown into a journey of discovery, forgiveness, anger, sadness, and belonging. This book felt like a love letter to resilience and forgiveness; it was a magnificent read from beginning to end.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book.
PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:
Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served his 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, “this stunning allegory will spark much discussion” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) 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.
MY RATING: 4.5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CEBO CAMPBELL IS an award-winning, multi-hyphenate creative based in New York and London. He is a winner of the Stories Award for Poetry, and his writings are featured in numerous publications. As co-founder and CCO of the renowned NYC creative agency Spherical, Cebo leads teams of creatives in shaping the best hotel brands in the world. His range of talents as a creative director have sent him all over the globe infusing creativity, from working with The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in the UK, to concepting the Million Miracles humanitarian campaign throughout Africa and India, to writing and directing the VR short film Refuge: Triumph in Tulsa, based on the famed Black Wall Street in Oklahoma. Cebo’s expansive work as a writer, designer, and director are powered by a singular mindset: contribute meaningfully to the culture. And he does. With everything he touches.
Bibliography:
- Wells Without Water: a Novel
- Violet in Some Places
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