Sky Full of Elephants

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Cebo Campbell: Sky Full of Elephants (2024, Simon & Schuster)

English language

Published 2024 by Simon & Schuster.

ISBN:
978-1-6680-3494-1
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(2 reviews)

2 editions

reviewed Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Great book, Weak ending

My thoughts on this are probably too specific to my own upbringing to be much of a helpful review. Let me say, the first 60% of this book is 5 stars, just exceptional storytelling.

However, I grew up in a community of thousands of diverse do-gooders in the South. And I have strong opinions on how communes like the one in this book actually function in reality, the human frailty of leadership, and how spirituality can be used to smother descent and growth. That said, I am white and probably don’t have the experience to feel it.

Again, most of this book is terrific. Unfortunately the ending struck too close to home on certain topics (utopian societies) that I can’t easily suspend my disbelief.

reviewed Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

A hard-hitter for me.

As a white female in the USA, this book hit me in all of the uncomfortable ways. But that's how I should feel when reading books where I am not the target audience, and that is the whole reason that I have been working to diversify my reading more.

Sidney is a biracial girl who has been raised by her white family while her actual father has spent her whole life in jail after wrongly being accused and convicted of a crime. Their struggles to face their new realities and find themselves in this new America where Black people are able to dance in the streets, celebrate holidays as they please, and just to finally feel like they can breathe without offending someone at the risk of their lives.

I knew the general grasp of what had caused the event by the time they arrived to Alabama. I …