Stefanie's Reviews > Sky Full of Elephants

It's a ballsy move to write a book where all the white people die, and I applaud it. I just wish the annihilation of my people gave rise to a better story.

First, a disclaimer: imo this book is very much written for black people (I am choosing to keep "black" lowercase in this review, as the author does in the book). Which is awesome, and their reviews of this book should always be at the top of the GR page, if that were possible. But nonetheless, I offer some thoughts anyway. (You already knew I would, right? I hope I don't regret this.)

One major thing: I made the mistake of treating this book more like SFF than literary fiction, and it led to a lot of frustration and distress. I kept waiting for a cogent exploration of how this mass death worked, precisely. (Which is only offered at the very end of the book.) How everyone left made decisions about how to move on and recreate society. (Which we only understand in one area, Alabama.) This "worldbuilding" is very much not the point of the novel, which spends most of its page count on developing the two main characters, Charlie, and his biracial daughter Sidney, and their relationship.

The book is at its best when it's exploring the deep pain that Charlie carries as a wrongfully formerly incarcerated man. Even though the scenario that got him imprisoned seems REALLY egregious, I won't comment on that. Regardless of the circumstances Campbell chose in his book, I think Charlie's anger, self-doubt, sadness and struggle to fully heal are well described and probably relatable for a lot of black men (formerly incarcerated or not).

I struggled with Sidney's character journey. Abandoned by her father (she believes) and raised in a white family around mostly white people, she is devastated that she didn't walk into water also. The depth of her denial of her black heritage struck me as extreme, but I'd rather hear if it resonates from other black biracial readers.

Another thing I'd like some black readers - specifically black women readers - to weigh in on is the perception of femininity in this book. Black womanhood is placed on a kind of mythic pedestal. Black women in this story seem to exist as tools of inspiration and guidance to the men in their lives. They are very positively portrayed, but nonetheless still passive: the male characters do things. E.g. a queen rules Alabama, but she gives the climactic choice to Charlie.

I know to some extent the whole exercise of this book is to paint the utopian society that would emerge without the heaviness of discrimination and abuse ("the sky full of elephants") over black people's heads, but I do think it's a pretty big leap to assume that capitalism ends without the presence of white people.

I also could not help but wonder over and over what happened to allllllll the other races of people after this death?? That question is ultimately answered - again, towards the end of the book - but I found the take simplistic. It makes me wonder what other non-black people of color think of this book.

So that is a WHOLE LOT that kept me from enjoying this book more. Because there's definitely stuff in there to enjoy. Campbell shines (and revels) in the descriptions of black communities just doing their thing and being joyful. This is wonderful to read. And there's a lot of page count of it. So I think for other readers that gave this book higher marks, that good feeling must have been stronger.

But alas, I was full of nitpicks. Perhaps I do belong under the nearest body of water. At the very least, the spiky experience of reading this book (and wanting more from it) made me more sympathetic to any men who read classic SFF envisioning whole worlds without men.