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Great Expectations
A historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black man’s life in the highly anticipated debut novel from one of The New Yorker ’s rising stars.
I’d seen the Senator speak a few times before my life got caught up, however distantly, with his, but the first time I can remember paying real attention was when he delivered the speech announcing his run for the Presidency.
When David first hears the Senator from Illinois speak, he feels deep ambivalence. Intrigued by the Senator’s idealistic rhetoric, David also wonders how he’ll balance the fervent belief and inevitable compromises it will take to become the United States’ first Black president.
Great Expectations is about David’s eighteen months working for the Senator's presidential campaign. Along the way David meets a myriad of people who raise a set of questions—questions of history, art, race, religion, and fatherhood—that force David to look at his own life anew and come to terms with his identity as a young Black man and father in America.
Meditating on politics and politicians, religion and preachers, fathers and family, Great Expectations is both an emotionally resonant coming-of-age story and a rich novel of ideas, marking the arrival of a major new writer.
I’d seen the Senator speak a few times before my life got caught up, however distantly, with his, but the first time I can remember paying real attention was when he delivered the speech announcing his run for the Presidency.
When David first hears the Senator from Illinois speak, he feels deep ambivalence. Intrigued by the Senator’s idealistic rhetoric, David also wonders how he’ll balance the fervent belief and inevitable compromises it will take to become the United States’ first Black president.
Great Expectations is about David’s eighteen months working for the Senator's presidential campaign. Along the way David meets a myriad of people who raise a set of questions—questions of history, art, race, religion, and fatherhood—that force David to look at his own life anew and come to terms with his identity as a young Black man and father in America.
Meditating on politics and politicians, religion and preachers, fathers and family, Great Expectations is both an emotionally resonant coming-of-age story and a rich novel of ideas, marking the arrival of a major new writer.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 12, 2024
About the author
Vinson Cunningham
5 books125 followersVinson Cunningham is a staff writer and a theatre critic at The New Yorker. His essays, reviews, and profiles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Fader, Vulture, The Awl, and McSweeney’s. A former staffer on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and in his White House, Cunningham has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the Yale School of Art, and Columbia University’s School of the Arts. He lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 477 reviews
September 4, 2024
i had great expectations...about this book!
but maybe i just liked the cover.
the marketing of this book that reached me was of the "a novel of our time from a refreshing new voice" variety, when what this actually is, as far as i can tell, is "autobiographical."
this is not just a work of fiction about working on the campaign of the first Black president, but more like a long essay from an author who worked on obama's first campaign about what that was like, with some thoughts on faith tossed in.
almost all of the identifiable details in this down to speech transcripts can be googled and determined to be true to life, and while some names have been changed, some haven't — cornel west is a character whose lengthy and frequent criticisms of the president are often dismissed because he wasn't invited to the inauguration. (wonder how he thought of that!)
i really love metafiction, and i enjoy the experience of wondering if something feels so vibrant and real because it is, a moment rendered from a life rather than one created from a thought.
but i didn't have those feelings here. i didn't find descriptions of emotion or lines of thinking that made me catch my breath.
i was mostly like, well, i guess the author did have this kind of awkward moment with obama in the street in new york. he did go to columbia, after all.
anyway. that's a lot of complaining about what wasn't the real problem anyway.
this book has a lot of threads — conversations on race, on politics, on education and wealth and class, and above all on faith — and very little interest in tying them up. these things never really come together to create any sort of consistent theme, let alone some kind of message. i read this whole book, and often didn't dislike doing so, and yet i came away like "okay. why did we do that?"
in other words, the problem here is not that this book is so true to life, but that that dedication to reality extends to its significance. this is as hard to find meaning in as any given 6 month period of human life...which does not make for a very fulfilling reading experience.
bottom line: bummer.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
but maybe i just liked the cover.
the marketing of this book that reached me was of the "a novel of our time from a refreshing new voice" variety, when what this actually is, as far as i can tell, is "autobiographical."
this is not just a work of fiction about working on the campaign of the first Black president, but more like a long essay from an author who worked on obama's first campaign about what that was like, with some thoughts on faith tossed in.
almost all of the identifiable details in this down to speech transcripts can be googled and determined to be true to life, and while some names have been changed, some haven't — cornel west is a character whose lengthy and frequent criticisms of the president are often dismissed because he wasn't invited to the inauguration. (wonder how he thought of that!)
i really love metafiction, and i enjoy the experience of wondering if something feels so vibrant and real because it is, a moment rendered from a life rather than one created from a thought.
but i didn't have those feelings here. i didn't find descriptions of emotion or lines of thinking that made me catch my breath.
i was mostly like, well, i guess the author did have this kind of awkward moment with obama in the street in new york. he did go to columbia, after all.
anyway. that's a lot of complaining about what wasn't the real problem anyway.
this book has a lot of threads — conversations on race, on politics, on education and wealth and class, and above all on faith — and very little interest in tying them up. these things never really come together to create any sort of consistent theme, let alone some kind of message. i read this whole book, and often didn't dislike doing so, and yet i came away like "okay. why did we do that?"
in other words, the problem here is not that this book is so true to life, but that that dedication to reality extends to its significance. this is as hard to find meaning in as any given 6 month period of human life...which does not make for a very fulfilling reading experience.
bottom line: bummer.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
January 24, 2025
Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction 2024
I applaud the ambition, alas, the novel doesn't really come together: Cunningham used to work on the first Obama campaign, and his debut is narrated by, well, a young staffer working on the first Obama campaign. But if you now think this is some kind of roman à clef, providing us with insight into the machinery of political fundraising etc., you're sorely mistaken, because these passages have nothing new or even interesting to say, and only serve as a starting ramp for cultural criticism that stylistically shifts between attempting to emulate Rachel Cusk's infamous annihilated perspective, Hanif Abdurraqib's lyrical ponderings, and bits of a very personal coming-of-age tale. I hate to say it, but Cusk or Abdurraqib this is not.
Our protagonist and narrator (and probably Cunningham's alter ego) is David, a young Black man who became a father at 19 and dropped out of college. We meet him at 22, when he joins the Obama campaign as an assistant fundraiser - Obama is annoyingly only called "the Senator" throughout the text, which does not give it a more poetic, but a more pretentious flair. David sits in offices, organizes events, and collects checks for the operation, he gets deployed on the front lines and meets a stressed out Obama, and it's exactly as you imagine such a strenuous occupation to be (don't get me wrong: I applaud everyone upholding democracy by joining parties and supporting candidates that aim to uphold the constitution, I myself was part of more than one of these rodeos, it's just not written in a particularly captivating way here).
But this is not the heart of the text anyway: Throughout, Obama's mantra of hope and empowerment is paralleled with religious ideas and imagery (fair enough), music, books, and visual art are referenced, plus, as mentioned, there are numerous vignettes of David reminiscing about his childhood and doing the most mundane things, described in very well-written detail, revealing the mores of the social circles presented (which is the only real connection to Victorian lit, never mind the book title). I think what makes the result feel so heavy is that while nothing terrible happens, David's exploits are heady and joyless -mind you, this is a man who lies in bed with a lover and laments the lack of theoretical text on the mysteries of sex, to which the lover replies: The point is that there is no manual that applies to everyone, you fool (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). At parties, David takes pills and drinks heavily, and it also reads like a chore. Everything reads like a chore. You're roaming the country with a bunch of other young people trying to get the first Black president elected, David, where is the excitement?!
And then there are the cultural references. Take the title, e.g.: In the novel, we get a direct mention of James' only political novel, The Bostonians, but Dickens' Great Expectations is just a flashy title, there to signal gravity. The same with the imagery: The cover shows a Black man overlooking the sea, the text gives us a vignette of some teacher declaring water to be a metaphor for Black oppression. That's it, that's the depth of it. It's just not enough. As a huge fan of Hanif Abdurraqib, I'm all here for making cultural criticism sound beautiful, and for connecting what, at first glance, might be unconnected, but Abdurraqib has the intellectual rigor to back it up, he has deep insights to share. Same with Rachel Cusk: To reveal consciousness through dialogue is her area of expertise, but there must be some meat on that bone. Just chatting with a descendant of Pilgrim John Howland is not cultural criticism, and as fiction, it's not engaging enough.
Ultimately, Cunningham aimed very high with this novel - and again, the ambition is great! -, but it does not work. In fact, I repeatedly asked myself why the author is telling me all this, why I should be interested in David, and what the merit of his not exactly cutting-edge observations is supposed to be. At the same time, this is prize bait, let's see whether some jury bites.
I applaud the ambition, alas, the novel doesn't really come together: Cunningham used to work on the first Obama campaign, and his debut is narrated by, well, a young staffer working on the first Obama campaign. But if you now think this is some kind of roman à clef, providing us with insight into the machinery of political fundraising etc., you're sorely mistaken, because these passages have nothing new or even interesting to say, and only serve as a starting ramp for cultural criticism that stylistically shifts between attempting to emulate Rachel Cusk's infamous annihilated perspective, Hanif Abdurraqib's lyrical ponderings, and bits of a very personal coming-of-age tale. I hate to say it, but Cusk or Abdurraqib this is not.
Our protagonist and narrator (and probably Cunningham's alter ego) is David, a young Black man who became a father at 19 and dropped out of college. We meet him at 22, when he joins the Obama campaign as an assistant fundraiser - Obama is annoyingly only called "the Senator" throughout the text, which does not give it a more poetic, but a more pretentious flair. David sits in offices, organizes events, and collects checks for the operation, he gets deployed on the front lines and meets a stressed out Obama, and it's exactly as you imagine such a strenuous occupation to be (don't get me wrong: I applaud everyone upholding democracy by joining parties and supporting candidates that aim to uphold the constitution, I myself was part of more than one of these rodeos, it's just not written in a particularly captivating way here).
But this is not the heart of the text anyway: Throughout, Obama's mantra of hope and empowerment is paralleled with religious ideas and imagery (fair enough), music, books, and visual art are referenced, plus, as mentioned, there are numerous vignettes of David reminiscing about his childhood and doing the most mundane things, described in very well-written detail, revealing the mores of the social circles presented (which is the only real connection to Victorian lit, never mind the book title). I think what makes the result feel so heavy is that while nothing terrible happens, David's exploits are heady and joyless -mind you, this is a man who lies in bed with a lover and laments the lack of theoretical text on the mysteries of sex, to which the lover replies: The point is that there is no manual that applies to everyone, you fool (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). At parties, David takes pills and drinks heavily, and it also reads like a chore. Everything reads like a chore. You're roaming the country with a bunch of other young people trying to get the first Black president elected, David, where is the excitement?!
And then there are the cultural references. Take the title, e.g.: In the novel, we get a direct mention of James' only political novel, The Bostonians, but Dickens' Great Expectations is just a flashy title, there to signal gravity. The same with the imagery: The cover shows a Black man overlooking the sea, the text gives us a vignette of some teacher declaring water to be a metaphor for Black oppression. That's it, that's the depth of it. It's just not enough. As a huge fan of Hanif Abdurraqib, I'm all here for making cultural criticism sound beautiful, and for connecting what, at first glance, might be unconnected, but Abdurraqib has the intellectual rigor to back it up, he has deep insights to share. Same with Rachel Cusk: To reveal consciousness through dialogue is her area of expertise, but there must be some meat on that bone. Just chatting with a descendant of Pilgrim John Howland is not cultural criticism, and as fiction, it's not engaging enough.
Ultimately, Cunningham aimed very high with this novel - and again, the ambition is great! -, but it does not work. In fact, I repeatedly asked myself why the author is telling me all this, why I should be interested in David, and what the merit of his not exactly cutting-edge observations is supposed to be. At the same time, this is prize bait, let's see whether some jury bites.
March 1, 2024
In a political roman à clef, anonymity can leave a lot to be desired. When “Primary Colors” appeared in 1996, the rabid quest to identify its author (Joe Klein) outshone the novel’s sharp satire of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. In 2011, when someone — reportedly John McCain’s speechwriter Mark Salter — published “O,” about Barack Obama, anonymity was its most exciting element.
Vinson Cunningham, a former assistant in the Obama White House, subverts that sly mystery. “Great Expectations,” his boldly titled debut novel about a presidential campaign, proclaims Cunningham’s name but never names the candidate. Considering how specifically Obama is described in these pages, readers may find that omission cute, but it’s more than that. There’s a prevailing sense in “Great Expectations” that the eloquent Black politician from Illinois, “projecting an intimacy that was more astral than real,” is too indeterminate to be named. He’s a Rorschach test for America.
The first time “the Senator” appears in these pages — in 2007 during “a reception at a music producer’s apartment” — the room reorients itself around the candidate’s magnetism. Cunningham, a drama critic at the New Yorker, immediately demonstrates how attentive he is to the mannered theatricality of politics and particularly to....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
Vinson Cunningham, a former assistant in the Obama White House, subverts that sly mystery. “Great Expectations,” his boldly titled debut novel about a presidential campaign, proclaims Cunningham’s name but never names the candidate. Considering how specifically Obama is described in these pages, readers may find that omission cute, but it’s more than that. There’s a prevailing sense in “Great Expectations” that the eloquent Black politician from Illinois, “projecting an intimacy that was more astral than real,” is too indeterminate to be named. He’s a Rorschach test for America.
The first time “the Senator” appears in these pages — in 2007 during “a reception at a music producer’s apartment” — the room reorients itself around the candidate’s magnetism. Cunningham, a drama critic at the New Yorker, immediately demonstrates how attentive he is to the mannered theatricality of politics and particularly to....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
January 2, 2024
I don't really know what to make of this book. I didn't dislike it... The writing is good, there are some great scenes, but good writers don't necessarily make good novelists. I kept asking myself: what is the overarching story the author really wants to tell me? Is there enough interesting material here?
The book tells the story of David, a young New Yorker who joins the Obama campaign in 2008, organising fundraising events. A great setting for a novel, but where I hoped for either plot or political insights, it turned out to be more of a (late) coming of age novel.
The start is promising but then it sort of keeps rippling along without much happening. I had also hoped to learn more about the importance and reality of 'campaigning' in American politics - which is very different from other countries.
David is a sympathetic enough guy, rather religious and likes to talk about it (I found him more convincing when he talked about basketball though). He has a small kid, which he never has to take care of and speaks of surprisingly little - he's basically always at work or talking to someone about religion...
I had the feeling this was more 'writing a book because I have talent and should do something with my Obama campaign experience' than that there was an urgent story to be told.
I can see other people like this more than me though.
Many thanks for the ARC to Netgalley and the publisher!
The book tells the story of David, a young New Yorker who joins the Obama campaign in 2008, organising fundraising events. A great setting for a novel, but where I hoped for either plot or political insights, it turned out to be more of a (late) coming of age novel.
The start is promising but then it sort of keeps rippling along without much happening. I had also hoped to learn more about the importance and reality of 'campaigning' in American politics - which is very different from other countries.
David is a sympathetic enough guy, rather religious and likes to talk about it (I found him more convincing when he talked about basketball though). He has a small kid, which he never has to take care of and speaks of surprisingly little - he's basically always at work or talking to someone about religion...
I had the feeling this was more 'writing a book because I have talent and should do something with my Obama campaign experience' than that there was an urgent story to be told.
I can see other people like this more than me though.
Many thanks for the ARC to Netgalley and the publisher!
June 14, 2024
“In my heart I know you didn’t just come here for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be.”
If this story resembles the campaign of a long-ago Senator Barack Obama running for President from a campaign staffer named David, you aren’t imagining it. Of course, there are no names given here. The author just refers to the candidate as Senator. But the references feel so familiar you can’t help but sense that this is who it is.
And, why would this be the case? Because, in many ways, the author is sharing his own story, even if this debut novel is fiction.
In 2008, Cunningham, who was in his 20’s at that time, worked on the Obama campaign and then, in his White House. So, it is only natural that he would want to write about his experience.
Still, as we readers sit in the background and read this book watching everything play out, we also can’t help but feel a bit detached from everything. Well, at least I did. It is like he wants us there, but we are so far in the distance, we don’t feel like we are really connected to the characters. Like I said, the candidate is just referred to as the Senator. Anything personable or relatable is felt at a distance.
And, even though we are immediately brought in to the campaign to meet all the various staffers and feel the flash and pull of what is involved to get a candidate elected, it moves at a frenetic pace without emotion.
As readers we can sense the campaign precision, perhaps even the humor, and even the expectations of behavior – i.e., “where do young staffers sleep when stationed in new cities?” (Trailer parks, highway motels – anywhere with a cheap and friendly bed.) Even how to behave towards the candidate – especially since he is Black. The author is Black, as well. And, I only mention that because he feels it is important that we know this through how he writes his character, David.
And, perhaps there is some meaning in the title of the book. How will this come into play? Were there some great expectations? And, if so, were they met?
Still, with everything we know that surrounded the true campaign, and eventual election of Obama, I would have greater expectations that would showcase the amazing energy and drive and charisma and Hope generated that drove this country to support Obama to a win.
And, even if this book was not “technically” about Obama, for me, it was missing a heart and a soul in its interpretation of that time in history. Otherwise, I believe its intention and potential as a story could have been great.
3.5 stars rounded down
If this story resembles the campaign of a long-ago Senator Barack Obama running for President from a campaign staffer named David, you aren’t imagining it. Of course, there are no names given here. The author just refers to the candidate as Senator. But the references feel so familiar you can’t help but sense that this is who it is.
And, why would this be the case? Because, in many ways, the author is sharing his own story, even if this debut novel is fiction.
In 2008, Cunningham, who was in his 20’s at that time, worked on the Obama campaign and then, in his White House. So, it is only natural that he would want to write about his experience.
Still, as we readers sit in the background and read this book watching everything play out, we also can’t help but feel a bit detached from everything. Well, at least I did. It is like he wants us there, but we are so far in the distance, we don’t feel like we are really connected to the characters. Like I said, the candidate is just referred to as the Senator. Anything personable or relatable is felt at a distance.
And, even though we are immediately brought in to the campaign to meet all the various staffers and feel the flash and pull of what is involved to get a candidate elected, it moves at a frenetic pace without emotion.
As readers we can sense the campaign precision, perhaps even the humor, and even the expectations of behavior – i.e., “where do young staffers sleep when stationed in new cities?” (Trailer parks, highway motels – anywhere with a cheap and friendly bed.) Even how to behave towards the candidate – especially since he is Black. The author is Black, as well. And, I only mention that because he feels it is important that we know this through how he writes his character, David.
And, perhaps there is some meaning in the title of the book. How will this come into play? Were there some great expectations? And, if so, were they met?
Still, with everything we know that surrounded the true campaign, and eventual election of Obama, I would have greater expectations that would showcase the amazing energy and drive and charisma and Hope generated that drove this country to support Obama to a win.
And, even if this book was not “technically” about Obama, for me, it was missing a heart and a soul in its interpretation of that time in history. Otherwise, I believe its intention and potential as a story could have been great.
3.5 stars rounded down
Shelved as 'dnf'
February 6, 2024DNF @ 25%
I gave this one a good try, reading about 65 pages, but it’s just not engaging me and I don’t feel like forcing myself to the end and potentially giving it a negative review.
The story follows a young Black man in the year or so leading up to the 2008 election as he works for “the Senator“(a.k.a. Obama). I really liked the sound of this premise, however, that’s only a small portion of what the book really is. There’s a lot of meditations on religion and education, as the main character, David, is discovering himself after failing out of college. His work on the campaign takes him to many different places, and he sees wealth And power exploited in the name of politics.
However, I can’t help but feel this would have been more interesting as a memoir or collection of essays from the author, as David, the main character is clearly a stand-in for the author himself. I think books, like this can work in terms of auto-fiction, with the author drawing clear parallels between their characters and their own experiences.
But I just didn’t feel the form of a novel was being utilized to its full capacity here. There was no deeper character exploration or through-line in terms of plot or themes (at least not by the end of Part 1, nearly a quarter of the way into the novel), that pulled me forward and made me want to read more. The author is clearly a skilled writer at a sentence level, but that wasn’t enough for me to stay engaged.
If readers can look past the issues I had with this novel (because I do acknowledge my ‘problems’ with it were just personal preferences), then I think there is a lot to enjoy here. It just wasn’t for me.
[Thanks to the publisher for sending me an early copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
I gave this one a good try, reading about 65 pages, but it’s just not engaging me and I don’t feel like forcing myself to the end and potentially giving it a negative review.
The story follows a young Black man in the year or so leading up to the 2008 election as he works for “the Senator“(a.k.a. Obama). I really liked the sound of this premise, however, that’s only a small portion of what the book really is. There’s a lot of meditations on religion and education, as the main character, David, is discovering himself after failing out of college. His work on the campaign takes him to many different places, and he sees wealth And power exploited in the name of politics.
However, I can’t help but feel this would have been more interesting as a memoir or collection of essays from the author, as David, the main character is clearly a stand-in for the author himself. I think books, like this can work in terms of auto-fiction, with the author drawing clear parallels between their characters and their own experiences.
But I just didn’t feel the form of a novel was being utilized to its full capacity here. There was no deeper character exploration or through-line in terms of plot or themes (at least not by the end of Part 1, nearly a quarter of the way into the novel), that pulled me forward and made me want to read more. The author is clearly a skilled writer at a sentence level, but that wasn’t enough for me to stay engaged.
If readers can look past the issues I had with this novel (because I do acknowledge my ‘problems’ with it were just personal preferences), then I think there is a lot to enjoy here. It just wasn’t for me.
[Thanks to the publisher for sending me an early copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
March 31, 2024
Great Expectation follows David, in his twenties and he recently started working for a Senator’s presidential campaign. We hear David’s thoughts on the Senator, the campaign and his feelings in general about what is happening around him.
Honestly, this book felt like a stream of consciousness and not in a good way. I kept wondering, “how is this moving the plot along?” I was bored mid way through to be honest.
Honestly, this book felt like a stream of consciousness and not in a good way. I kept wondering, “how is this moving the plot along?” I was bored mid way through to be honest.
March 23, 2024
This "memoir-esque novel," if I may call it that, was beautifully written, but that beauty seemed wasted on a plot that hovered in small bits of interactions and gradual successes (of a sort). I'd decided to read it because I was interested in the back story of Obama's appearance on the national political stage, but I think I would do better with a work of non-fiction.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
January 26, 2024
I am a sucker for first person narratives. I get caught up in their voice. Plus, I love a book about the pivotal experience in a person’s life, that moment in time when the world upends their youthful ideals and forces them to compromise or readjust or hold on to their values.
Great Expectations takes us into the life of a young black man who finds himself unexpectedly propelled into the exotic world of politics and money. David left college after his ex-girlfriend had his baby. He had lucked into a tutoring job before his student’s mother promoted his being hired to work for the presidential campaign of a senator who is loosely based on Barack Obama.
Over the next year and a half, David arranges fund raising for the senator’s presidential campaign, traveling from primary state to primary state. He makes friends with the other campaign workers, has romantic encounters, observes the senator’s wealthy backers.
This was politics to me now: not the speech but its harvest, not the spectacle of mass democracy on television but the mess behind the stage.
from Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
As David tells his story, he makes frequent diversions to his past, including his evangelical church background and struggles with faith. He thinks about many subjects–music, art, books, faith, fatherhood, being black.
David is a passive character, drifting through life. He loved music but didn’t have the courage to pursue it. He is drawn to the church’s idealism and ceremony but is without a certain faith. He quotes writers and hopes to be one but isn’t writing yet.
But he is observant and thoughtful. He realizes his ignorance as he learns about human nature and the gritty reality of politics. At a club he sees a man’s death and how people gave it little consideration. He sees how wealth and power is misused. He considers the kind of man and father he wants to be, uncertain yet how to get there.
Cunningham is a former campaign and White House staffer during the Obama presidency. His portrait of the Senator in the book is vivid and memorable, although we only see him in brief scenes. The candidate becomes tired and weary, pulling himself together to present his well-polished personae while campaigning.
The novel is subtle, introverted, and internalized. It takes us into the soul of a young man as he encounters the tawdry realities of the world that upend his youthful idealism.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book
Great Expectations takes us into the life of a young black man who finds himself unexpectedly propelled into the exotic world of politics and money. David left college after his ex-girlfriend had his baby. He had lucked into a tutoring job before his student’s mother promoted his being hired to work for the presidential campaign of a senator who is loosely based on Barack Obama.
Over the next year and a half, David arranges fund raising for the senator’s presidential campaign, traveling from primary state to primary state. He makes friends with the other campaign workers, has romantic encounters, observes the senator’s wealthy backers.
This was politics to me now: not the speech but its harvest, not the spectacle of mass democracy on television but the mess behind the stage.
from Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
As David tells his story, he makes frequent diversions to his past, including his evangelical church background and struggles with faith. He thinks about many subjects–music, art, books, faith, fatherhood, being black.
David is a passive character, drifting through life. He loved music but didn’t have the courage to pursue it. He is drawn to the church’s idealism and ceremony but is without a certain faith. He quotes writers and hopes to be one but isn’t writing yet.
But he is observant and thoughtful. He realizes his ignorance as he learns about human nature and the gritty reality of politics. At a club he sees a man’s death and how people gave it little consideration. He sees how wealth and power is misused. He considers the kind of man and father he wants to be, uncertain yet how to get there.
Cunningham is a former campaign and White House staffer during the Obama presidency. His portrait of the Senator in the book is vivid and memorable, although we only see him in brief scenes. The candidate becomes tired and weary, pulling himself together to present his well-polished personae while campaigning.
The novel is subtle, introverted, and internalized. It takes us into the soul of a young man as he encounters the tawdry realities of the world that upend his youthful idealism.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book
September 26, 2024
"But, oh!, to belong enough to a place to get so disillusioned by it. To feel so disappointed, when disappointment—reactionary ardor—comes from love"
I’m surprised by the mixed reviews here for Great Expectations. I agree the narrative is a little uneven. Its detours into the past could be better placed and can interrupt the flow of the narrative at times. But these are minor complaints compared to the incredibly sturdy and precise voice booming out of this novel. The confidence of the prose, the wide sea of experience from which it plunges, is incredible. The title is not just a nod to a well-known novel but a paying tribute to a mode of literature that isn’t as with us as it once was. The 19th-century English novel and the mid-20th-century American novel converge here and elevate Cunningham’s Great Expectations to one of my favorite reads this year and one of the best debuts I can remember.
How the reader feels about Cunningham referring to Obama only as “The Senator” and “The Candidate” is a kind of test. A lot of complaints here say it's cloying or too cute. Not meant to be timeless, Great Expectations is very much rooted in time. But the novel is, however, pointed toward eternity. Great Expectations is concerned with the succession of events in the most elemental way- the way events bend us into shape, and how we, in turn, shape our times. Cunningham finds the heady days of the 2008 campaign as the right meeting ground of theater, faith, history, and adulthood.
The plot is simple enough: David, a 22-year-old college dropout and father (later lead to the former) through chance and circumstance is thrown into a presidential campaign. David learns of the world of fundraising, the numbers and spreadsheets that fuel an inspirational campaign. In this nearly 2 year odyssey, David brushes against the candidate, never getting a real understanding but enough prolonged time to speak to each other in casual terms. He is thrust into the world of mid-level money. the newly well-off who are looking to reach that next level-proximity to power and even a minor role in a new administration. These heightened moments of historical import shine a light onto his past and in an attempt to sow these seemingly disparate elements not unlike the campaign of The Senator. Great Expectations is a panorama of a nation at the turn of the 21st century, ashamed of its present and unsure of both its future and past. David, The Senator, and America are making their way forward by looking back.
"...the candidate soon bounded onstage. He looked grave and classical, like some ancient ideal modernized and made to speak in preacherly tones. As I watched him give his acceptance speech, I found my mouth moving. I wasn’t echoing his words but looking for formations of my own, some music I could use. I was different now; I knew that. I’d learned at a distance from the candidate, but more closely from the likes of Earnest and Wilson, and dozens of others whose names couldn’t reach me then, a language of signs I hadn’t known of before"
This is how the things of the world work, and how you can use those things to build a life for yourself. This is the promise of every bildungsroman. Cunningham intuited that his experience was an experience of many, that the election of The Senator to the highest office was an education that took us out of childhood and into adulthood. The Senator is a symbol, and like all good symbols, it retains its powers in its ambiguity. Like the scarlet A that falls out of an old book into the Narrator's lap, it burns with intensity without any knowledge of its meaning or origins. Like The Letter, The Senator seems clear, but in closer proximity, complexifies. It teaches lessons, sometimes by design and othertimes despite its best efforts. Many were brought into America through this transformational moment. What that meant for America, and what that meant for us, has a great burning power but remains enigmatic, just beyond reach. Cunningham reached his hand out towards the flaming Aleph, and made a book of it.
I’m surprised by the mixed reviews here for Great Expectations. I agree the narrative is a little uneven. Its detours into the past could be better placed and can interrupt the flow of the narrative at times. But these are minor complaints compared to the incredibly sturdy and precise voice booming out of this novel. The confidence of the prose, the wide sea of experience from which it plunges, is incredible. The title is not just a nod to a well-known novel but a paying tribute to a mode of literature that isn’t as with us as it once was. The 19th-century English novel and the mid-20th-century American novel converge here and elevate Cunningham’s Great Expectations to one of my favorite reads this year and one of the best debuts I can remember.
How the reader feels about Cunningham referring to Obama only as “The Senator” and “The Candidate” is a kind of test. A lot of complaints here say it's cloying or too cute. Not meant to be timeless, Great Expectations is very much rooted in time. But the novel is, however, pointed toward eternity. Great Expectations is concerned with the succession of events in the most elemental way- the way events bend us into shape, and how we, in turn, shape our times. Cunningham finds the heady days of the 2008 campaign as the right meeting ground of theater, faith, history, and adulthood.
The plot is simple enough: David, a 22-year-old college dropout and father (later lead to the former) through chance and circumstance is thrown into a presidential campaign. David learns of the world of fundraising, the numbers and spreadsheets that fuel an inspirational campaign. In this nearly 2 year odyssey, David brushes against the candidate, never getting a real understanding but enough prolonged time to speak to each other in casual terms. He is thrust into the world of mid-level money. the newly well-off who are looking to reach that next level-proximity to power and even a minor role in a new administration. These heightened moments of historical import shine a light onto his past and in an attempt to sow these seemingly disparate elements not unlike the campaign of The Senator. Great Expectations is a panorama of a nation at the turn of the 21st century, ashamed of its present and unsure of both its future and past. David, The Senator, and America are making their way forward by looking back.
"...the candidate soon bounded onstage. He looked grave and classical, like some ancient ideal modernized and made to speak in preacherly tones. As I watched him give his acceptance speech, I found my mouth moving. I wasn’t echoing his words but looking for formations of my own, some music I could use. I was different now; I knew that. I’d learned at a distance from the candidate, but more closely from the likes of Earnest and Wilson, and dozens of others whose names couldn’t reach me then, a language of signs I hadn’t known of before"
This is how the things of the world work, and how you can use those things to build a life for yourself. This is the promise of every bildungsroman. Cunningham intuited that his experience was an experience of many, that the election of The Senator to the highest office was an education that took us out of childhood and into adulthood. The Senator is a symbol, and like all good symbols, it retains its powers in its ambiguity. Like the scarlet A that falls out of an old book into the Narrator's lap, it burns with intensity without any knowledge of its meaning or origins. Like The Letter, The Senator seems clear, but in closer proximity, complexifies. It teaches lessons, sometimes by design and othertimes despite its best efforts. Many were brought into America through this transformational moment. What that meant for America, and what that meant for us, has a great burning power but remains enigmatic, just beyond reach. Cunningham reached his hand out towards the flaming Aleph, and made a book of it.
December 7, 2024
Whew! I spent many years working as a political op-ed writer, reporter, and organizer, and this book gave me so many flashbacks; I remembered things I haven't thought about in well over a decade.
My biggest observation coming out of Great Expectations: It probably would've functioned better as a collection of essays from the campaign trail told from a number of different points of view. I would've loved reading passages from the perspectives of Regina, Beverly, ~the candidate~, and a few others in here; we barely scratched the surface with them, but Vinson Cunningham left me wanting more (in a good way!).
My biggest observation coming out of Great Expectations: It probably would've functioned better as a collection of essays from the campaign trail told from a number of different points of view. I would've loved reading passages from the perspectives of Regina, Beverly, ~the candidate~, and a few others in here; we barely scratched the surface with them, but Vinson Cunningham left me wanting more (in a good way!).
July 10, 2024
I didn’t dislike this book, but I don’t think I liked it either. There’s something that feels kind of aimless. Maybe I’m being too harsh. It’s just that if there is an aim, it was totally lost on me.
The author Vinson Cunningham was an assistant in the White House during the Obama administration. So, I’m guessing he wanted to write a book on that colorful experience (I don’t blame him). Instead of going the memoir or history book route, he chose fiction. The only problem is that I don’t feel there’s a story here.
I assume the protagonist, David, is a fill-in for Cunningham himself. The Senator is obviously Barack Obama (Cunningham isn’t trying to pretend it isn’t). I feel bad saying this, but the protagonist was a dud who ruminated on things that either didn’t interest me or gave observations that didn’t provide any further depth.
I think what it all boils down to is that this novel felt surface level. It didn’t provide anything insightful about politics, it didn’t give us anything scintillating about Obama or the administration; it did hardly anything. With a very stop-and-start structure, nothing really ever got off the ground. It felt like it had one vibe all of the time, instead of the rhythmic ebb and flow we’re used to in literature. There was no sense of conflict, no inner turmoils, no sense of purpose. I mean couldn’t Cunningham spice things up just a little?
The one positive, and it’s a major one, is that Cunningham is a damn good prose stylist. And considering, prose is a biggie for me, I should’ve been utterly seduced. But great prose can only take you so far. The writing was decadent, but leaving us with a lukewarm story.
Kinda hoping for a completely different subject matter/direction for Cunningham’s next one. I think he could do wonders if he allows his writing to go outside of himself. The power of reinventing oneself.
The author Vinson Cunningham was an assistant in the White House during the Obama administration. So, I’m guessing he wanted to write a book on that colorful experience (I don’t blame him). Instead of going the memoir or history book route, he chose fiction. The only problem is that I don’t feel there’s a story here.
I assume the protagonist, David, is a fill-in for Cunningham himself. The Senator is obviously Barack Obama (Cunningham isn’t trying to pretend it isn’t). I feel bad saying this, but the protagonist was a dud who ruminated on things that either didn’t interest me or gave observations that didn’t provide any further depth.
I think what it all boils down to is that this novel felt surface level. It didn’t provide anything insightful about politics, it didn’t give us anything scintillating about Obama or the administration; it did hardly anything. With a very stop-and-start structure, nothing really ever got off the ground. It felt like it had one vibe all of the time, instead of the rhythmic ebb and flow we’re used to in literature. There was no sense of conflict, no inner turmoils, no sense of purpose. I mean couldn’t Cunningham spice things up just a little?
The one positive, and it’s a major one, is that Cunningham is a damn good prose stylist. And considering, prose is a biggie for me, I should’ve been utterly seduced. But great prose can only take you so far. The writing was decadent, but leaving us with a lukewarm story.
Kinda hoping for a completely different subject matter/direction for Cunningham’s next one. I think he could do wonders if he allows his writing to go outside of himself. The power of reinventing oneself.
January 2, 2024
Great Expectations in a fictionalized account of Barack Obama's presidential campaign through the eyes of a young employee. David is quite young, merely 21 when he falls into his position. The story is a coming of age tale as he details his daily work and interactions with others on the campaign. The "Candidate" or "Senator" is the backdrop or foil that allows David to examine his own thoughts on religion, race and family.
It's an intelligent read and also a great reminder of what times were like only a few years ago. I was somewhat distraught by David's cavalier attitude towards his child though and family in general. It isn't until the end of the book that you maybe understand him a bit better and hear more about his family. David is almost a Nick Carraway character in the story and I think he would resonate better with me if he had less ties to a family. I enjoyed the book, but in my opinion, it could have had a stronger point of view.
This is a fun read for those wishing for Barack, or a new Barack, those interested in politics as a sport and of course coming of age for a young African American Man.
.#RandomHouse #GreatExpectations #VinsonCunninham
It's an intelligent read and also a great reminder of what times were like only a few years ago. I was somewhat distraught by David's cavalier attitude towards his child though and family in general. It isn't until the end of the book that you maybe understand him a bit better and hear more about his family. David is almost a Nick Carraway character in the story and I think he would resonate better with me if he had less ties to a family. I enjoyed the book, but in my opinion, it could have had a stronger point of view.
This is a fun read for those wishing for Barack, or a new Barack, those interested in politics as a sport and of course coming of age for a young African American Man.
.#RandomHouse #GreatExpectations #VinsonCunninham
January 31, 2025
Well written, but ultimately the attempt to marry the roman a clef about the 2008 Obama campaign to the Bildungsroman of a young Black man with deeply religious roots just didn’t quite work for me. There was potentially a powerful story about the many presences and absences of fatherhood in there but the many many digressions (art, music, basketball, etc etc) made it hard for me to stay engaged.
August 11, 2024
Autofiction novel that is not so subtly about working on the Obama campaign is '08, but is truly about art, life, coming of age. I enjoyed it.
April 10, 2024
When I finished Vinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations, I did something I don’t normally do when I finish a novel: I turned to podcasts, hoping to learn what exactly he was thinking when he wrote this book.
I quickly discovered that Cunningham is a staff writer for the New Yorker, and that the New Yorker put him on literally every podcast they have to promote the book.
On one of those podcasts they immediately began throwing around a term I’d never heard of. Even worse, they did it in a way that implied everyone knew what this term meant. It sounded like they were saying “buildens Roman.” One host said it, then the next host said it, then Cunningham said it. And then they went on to say, “Well, what’s your favorite bildens ramen?”
Pissed that I had no idea what a billdins roamin was, I went to Google and typed “what’s a bilduns ramin”.
It turns out I was kinda close. It’s actually bildungsroman. BILDUNGSROMAN. A German word that apparently means “education novel.” Or for the rest of us who are normal: a coming of age tale.
This where I say that I’m a complete sucker for the bildungsroman. Which makes complete sense why I was also a complete sucker for Vinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations.
I did not have great expectations going into this novel, based on the many DNFs or one- or two-star ratings it received on Goodreads. But I’m here to say…don’t listen to them. I don’t know if they came into it with the wrong expectations, but it seems they missed the point of the book completely.
They wanted a collection of essays about Cunningham’s experience on the ‘08 Obama campaign. Cunningham said, “Nah, losers. Not only am I going to give you a roman a clef, I’m gonna give you Bildungsroman a clef.”
In turn, we get the somewhat adrift, 22-year-old David, tossed into the very real, very cynical world of campaign fundraising. But we also get musical and literary meditations—quickly showing that Cunningham is on a different intellectual plane than all of us.
So let him cook, people. Let go of what you wanted this book to be and go for the ride. It’s like listening to jazz on a cool, spring night, windows open. Sit back. Enjoy.
I quickly discovered that Cunningham is a staff writer for the New Yorker, and that the New Yorker put him on literally every podcast they have to promote the book.
On one of those podcasts they immediately began throwing around a term I’d never heard of. Even worse, they did it in a way that implied everyone knew what this term meant. It sounded like they were saying “buildens Roman.” One host said it, then the next host said it, then Cunningham said it. And then they went on to say, “Well, what’s your favorite bildens ramen?”
Pissed that I had no idea what a billdins roamin was, I went to Google and typed “what’s a bilduns ramin”.
It turns out I was kinda close. It’s actually bildungsroman. BILDUNGSROMAN. A German word that apparently means “education novel.” Or for the rest of us who are normal: a coming of age tale.
This where I say that I’m a complete sucker for the bildungsroman. Which makes complete sense why I was also a complete sucker for Vinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations.
I did not have great expectations going into this novel, based on the many DNFs or one- or two-star ratings it received on Goodreads. But I’m here to say…don’t listen to them. I don’t know if they came into it with the wrong expectations, but it seems they missed the point of the book completely.
They wanted a collection of essays about Cunningham’s experience on the ‘08 Obama campaign. Cunningham said, “Nah, losers. Not only am I going to give you a roman a clef, I’m gonna give you Bildungsroman a clef.”
In turn, we get the somewhat adrift, 22-year-old David, tossed into the very real, very cynical world of campaign fundraising. But we also get musical and literary meditations—quickly showing that Cunningham is on a different intellectual plane than all of us.
So let him cook, people. Let go of what you wanted this book to be and go for the ride. It’s like listening to jazz on a cool, spring night, windows open. Sit back. Enjoy.
January 18, 2024
Oh I enjoyed this a lot!! The prose!!
February 22, 2025
Read as part of this year’s Tournament of Books I don’t think I was in the headspace for American politics at the moment so found this a bit of a chore. The audio was very much a monologue more than a story that I struggled to connect with. 3.5
August 16, 2024
I’m surprised this has such bad reviews. I really enjoyed it, but perhaps that is because I am so interested in political campaigning (if that isn’t of interest, this book may be a bit mundane).
August 12, 2024
I found this painful to read. Cringe descriptions of people and navel-gazing minutiae whenever it wandered away from the campaign story. Why not write a memoir and actually spill some tea about working on the Obama campaign? Or why not write a fictionalized version of a primary race in which something actually happens?
August 11, 2024
Beautiful writing but felt like I was always waiting for something to happen. If ur gonna write about the Obama campaign u should add something weird— maybe ghosts or robots??— otherwise it’s like yeah we were all there
July 25, 2024
Beautiful, empty sentences wrapped around a passive narrator (“Everything that happened in my life, good or bad, seemed to be an accident”) and insensible plot. The image that adorns the book’s cover art is a man adrift in a boat on the open sea, taken from a Winslow Homer painting. Like that man, David starts the book adrift and, as far as I can tell (contrary to many folks’ labeling this a “coming of age” story), ends it adrift as well.
Many times while reading this, I asked, “Why?”
Cunningham is good at describing art (or describing scenery as if it were a painting) and music (which is difficult to capture in words). But again, while I enjoyed a couple of these set pieces, I wondered, to what end are they included in the story?
Ron, oh Ron (Charles, of the WaPo Book World, whom I trust for simpatico reading recommendations): why has thou forsaken me with thy 5-star review?! I don’t see that this protagonist cares about learning how to be a good father (to a child whom David rarely mentions or sees) or how to grow into a thoughtful adult. If this is a “coming of age” story, then the age the protagonist has achieved by the end of the book must be about 14.
Many times while reading this, I asked, “Why?”
* Why is this character here? (Sadly, the question arose most often about female characters, most of whom, except Beverly, are quite flat, often unnamed, even those supposedly of importance to the narrator: “my mother,” “the baby,” “the dancer” [the mother of his child].)
* Why the coy refusal to give certain characters their real or fictional names? (The Senator, the music producer, the famous pop artist, etc.) This convention became very annoying.
* Why must we suffer through so many detailed pages about things that have little to no bearing on the plot, such as
--a basketball game described ad nauseum. (I was convinced this must be a recycled piece of writing he had already published in some form and just stuck in the middle of Chapter 8—part of an essay or short story or cultural piece. I actually looked in the usual places at the beginning and end of the book to see if there was an acknowledgment of that. Nope—guess I was wrong.)
--several old photos at a flea market that apparently have no relevance to the plot.
--a childhood story at the end of the book about boys being boys by fruit-bombing strangers from several stories above.
Cunningham is good at describing art (or describing scenery as if it were a painting) and music (which is difficult to capture in words). But again, while I enjoyed a couple of these set pieces, I wondered, to what end are they included in the story?
Ron, oh Ron (Charles, of the WaPo Book World, whom I trust for simpatico reading recommendations): why has thou forsaken me with thy 5-star review?! I don’t see that this protagonist cares about learning how to be a good father (to a child whom David rarely mentions or sees) or how to grow into a thoughtful adult. If this is a “coming of age” story, then the age the protagonist has achieved by the end of the book must be about 14.
Read
February 19, 2024There were some really standout moments in this novel and really insightful and thought provoking passages and scenes. Brilliantly written on a sentence level. Did it engage me the entire time? Not quite. There were moments where I felt a bit lost. However, it was a purposefully slow, meandering, and plotless novel, which did work for me for a lot of this particular reading experience.
A feeling of disillusionment and a certain reflective energy within the prose, along with really astute observations from David, the narrator, kept me reading and interested until the end. I really like that the novels descriptions were positioned as David’s older self reflecting on the person he used to be and how he thought of things at that moment of his life and being at the crux of a truly historical moment in American political history. It overall was a deep analysis of the many different aspects of how it felt for him to be within that realm of a political campaign and his relationships with the people around him.
I’d be so curious to see if Obama will read this and what he would think of it. I think this book really stood out when Cunningham made connections between the self and how we present and project ourselves to others. Reminded me a lot of Rachel Cusk’s work.
A feeling of disillusionment and a certain reflective energy within the prose, along with really astute observations from David, the narrator, kept me reading and interested until the end. I really like that the novels descriptions were positioned as David’s older self reflecting on the person he used to be and how he thought of things at that moment of his life and being at the crux of a truly historical moment in American political history. It overall was a deep analysis of the many different aspects of how it felt for him to be within that realm of a political campaign and his relationships with the people around him.
I’d be so curious to see if Obama will read this and what he would think of it. I think this book really stood out when Cunningham made connections between the self and how we present and project ourselves to others. Reminded me a lot of Rachel Cusk’s work.
May 27, 2024
I had high hopes for this one, but it never came together as a novel for me. It felt as though I was reading pages out of a journal, but nothing exciting happened.
This is David’s story. He’s a 22 year old black man from New York who organizes fundraising events during 2008 for the Obama (who is only referred to as “the Senator”) campaign. He had a child when he was younger, but he doesn’t take care of her and rarely speaks of her. This was a downer. He seems quite religious and talks about it a lot.
In my personal opinion, David was boring, which made this story boring. I just didn’t see the point of this book.
This is David’s story. He’s a 22 year old black man from New York who organizes fundraising events during 2008 for the Obama (who is only referred to as “the Senator”) campaign. He had a child when he was younger, but he doesn’t take care of her and rarely speaks of her. This was a downer. He seems quite religious and talks about it a lot.
In my personal opinion, David was boring, which made this story boring. I just didn’t see the point of this book.
April 26, 2024
Some of the scenes are well written but overall the book doesn’t come together nor is the protagonist growth evident in any profound way.
Maybe it’s better not to name a book after a classic without delivering a classic
Maybe it’s better not to name a book after a classic without delivering a classic
April 23, 2024
Well, it’s certainly a very brave (or egocentric?) move to name your book ‘Great Expectations’ -let alone the fact that your predecessor is a novel of epically renowned, legendary-literary proportions, but the sheer simple word association alone (for anyone not aware/read Dickens), leads one to draw very obvious (if mismatched -for me at least) “expectations”.
And yes, clearly as any reader of this here review will note by my star rating (though I’d probably give it at least 2.5 -max!) these “great expectations” were sadly NOT met.
When will you learn Dylan!!!
Anyway, though Cunningham is undeniably a wordsmith by nature, this book was a somewhat skilful -if seriously scattered (and that’s coming from me. Someone who loves to interject small addendums and -hopefully somewhat witty side notes into their reviews -but, and here’s the important thing, I’m NOT a writer or author -shocker I know, so these minor internal monologues if you will, merely serve to amuse and appease myself alone really) account, documenting a time (albeit loosely) inspired by Cunningham’s own experience working as a junior Staff writer on Obamas first political campaign (though here, our political magnate is never duly given his name, and is only ever referred to as “the candidate” throughout -oh Cunningham you tease!)
However, (for me at least) it is this “assumed” ambiguity (and even assumed naivety -I mean, it’s startling obvious) that greatly deterred my interest. As for a book that is supposedly toted to show an insight into such a fascinating moment in (political) time, very little (to hardly any) of the actual mechanical details of the running/working on a political campaign (or American politics in general) are referenced.
And instead, what we are given is a stream of conscious style monologue, documenting a very directionless and disillusioned David, as he embarks on a somewhat coming of age crisis -crossed between -a Bildungsroman style journey, searching for ….?
Anyone?
No?
My point exactly…who knows!
Though if I were to guess -and draw a very GCSEs/a level English “interpretation” if you will, I would perhaps suggest that David is clearly grasping for some sense of direction -maybe even seeking a type of “father figure”, to help guide him through his tumultuous early twenties. Whether that be from the big man himself -God, or the charismatically charming “candidate”, one (and indeed David himself) doesn’t ever really know, or find out!
I know there’s a well known saying out there, “never mix church and state” and I have to say, never has a phrase been more aptly suited.
2/2.5 stars
PS -thank you again for the publishers for sending me a copy to read and review!
And yes, clearly as any reader of this here review will note by my star rating (though I’d probably give it at least 2.5 -max!) these “great expectations” were sadly NOT met.
When will you learn Dylan!!!
Anyway, though Cunningham is undeniably a wordsmith by nature, this book was a somewhat skilful -if seriously scattered (and that’s coming from me. Someone who loves to interject small addendums and -hopefully somewhat witty side notes into their reviews -but, and here’s the important thing, I’m NOT a writer or author -shocker I know, so these minor internal monologues if you will, merely serve to amuse and appease myself alone really) account, documenting a time (albeit loosely) inspired by Cunningham’s own experience working as a junior Staff writer on Obamas first political campaign (though here, our political magnate is never duly given his name, and is only ever referred to as “the candidate” throughout -oh Cunningham you tease!)
However, (for me at least) it is this “assumed” ambiguity (and even assumed naivety -I mean, it’s startling obvious) that greatly deterred my interest. As for a book that is supposedly toted to show an insight into such a fascinating moment in (political) time, very little (to hardly any) of the actual mechanical details of the running/working on a political campaign (or American politics in general) are referenced.
And instead, what we are given is a stream of conscious style monologue, documenting a very directionless and disillusioned David, as he embarks on a somewhat coming of age crisis -crossed between -a Bildungsroman style journey, searching for ….?
Anyone?
No?
My point exactly…who knows!
Though if I were to guess -and draw a very GCSEs/a level English “interpretation” if you will, I would perhaps suggest that David is clearly grasping for some sense of direction -maybe even seeking a type of “father figure”, to help guide him through his tumultuous early twenties. Whether that be from the big man himself -God, or the charismatically charming “candidate”, one (and indeed David himself) doesn’t ever really know, or find out!
I know there’s a well known saying out there, “never mix church and state” and I have to say, never has a phrase been more aptly suited.
2/2.5 stars
PS -thank you again for the publishers for sending me a copy to read and review!
April 22, 2024
3.75 stars - thank you to hogarth for sending me a copy of this book!
great expectations is an autofictional account of a young black father working on a senator’s presidential campaign, presumably mirroring cunningham’s experience working on obama’s first presidential campaign. it grapples with race, religion, and fatherhood. throughout the novel, the differences in the lived experiences of david and the people he encounters while working on the campaign are continuously highlighted - he dropped out of college after learning he was going to become a father and was working as a tutor before he joined the campaign. as a fundraiser, he’s rubbing elbows with some incredibly wealthy, powerful people. david stood out as a refreshing source of innocence in the political world, which made it easy to root for him as he navigated unfamiliar situations.
this is a novel made up of every day moments. one of the most memorable scenes to me was david and his fellow staffers sitting in a dive bar watching basketball and befriending a young worker. cunningham really successfully evokes a feeling of time and place within the novel. the country’s spirit of hopefulness laced with skepticism at this turning point in US history is keenly observed through david’s interactions with people in the different states that he gets to travel to. we also get a lot of vivid descriptions of the church culture that david has been so heavily involved in throughout his life. a lot of the religious references went over my head but i appreciated the parallels between the institutions of religion and politics. i felt like the exploration of david’s experience with fatherhood was quite subtle and wished it had been more overt at times, since i don’t think the perspective of fatherhood is explored nearly as much as motherhood is in contemporary lit fic. quite a promising debut!
great expectations is an autofictional account of a young black father working on a senator’s presidential campaign, presumably mirroring cunningham’s experience working on obama’s first presidential campaign. it grapples with race, religion, and fatherhood. throughout the novel, the differences in the lived experiences of david and the people he encounters while working on the campaign are continuously highlighted - he dropped out of college after learning he was going to become a father and was working as a tutor before he joined the campaign. as a fundraiser, he’s rubbing elbows with some incredibly wealthy, powerful people. david stood out as a refreshing source of innocence in the political world, which made it easy to root for him as he navigated unfamiliar situations.
this is a novel made up of every day moments. one of the most memorable scenes to me was david and his fellow staffers sitting in a dive bar watching basketball and befriending a young worker. cunningham really successfully evokes a feeling of time and place within the novel. the country’s spirit of hopefulness laced with skepticism at this turning point in US history is keenly observed through david’s interactions with people in the different states that he gets to travel to. we also get a lot of vivid descriptions of the church culture that david has been so heavily involved in throughout his life. a lot of the religious references went over my head but i appreciated the parallels between the institutions of religion and politics. i felt like the exploration of david’s experience with fatherhood was quite subtle and wished it had been more overt at times, since i don’t think the perspective of fatherhood is explored nearly as much as motherhood is in contemporary lit fic. quite a promising debut!
June 16, 2024
No question at all that this will be my favorite book of the year
December 31, 2024
Rating: 2 Stars
First flop of 2025 Tournament of Books! Glad I got that out of the way.
I get what this book was trying to do, but it fell flat. I couldn't care about the protagonist, the only interesting parts were the parts where we saw "The Senator" (Obama), and it was just too meandering without showing depth. Bleh. Moving on.
First flop of 2025 Tournament of Books! Glad I got that out of the way.
I get what this book was trying to do, but it fell flat. I couldn't care about the protagonist, the only interesting parts were the parts where we saw "The Senator" (Obama), and it was just too meandering without showing depth. Bleh. Moving on.
December 14, 2024
“Great Expectations” contains capably written sentences and several engaging scenes but, in the end, I’m not sure it cohered into a novel.
The attempted narrative connection between the first presidential campaign of Obama (here coyly referred to only as “the Candidate”) and the protagonist’s coming of age did not work for me. It seemed instead to be a gimmick to get a novel published.
The author did work on the Obama campaign and perhaps thought about writing his experiences in memoir or personal essay form; but, given how long it’s been since that campaign ended, my guess is that the window of opportunity for that kind of book closed. So, we get a novelization of the experience instead. The trouble with that choice is that no one associated with the campaign — least of all “the Candidate” — is rendered here in any depth, and so it is hard to engage fully with any of the characters. (The less said about the author’s treatment of the protagonist’s campaign paramours, the better.)
When the focus of the novel departed from the campaign and centered on the protagonist’s own life experiences and interests, the novel fared much better. That had me wishing we’d gotten a novella either comprised solely of those (and more of them) or a deeper treatment of the experience of being on a campaign. Instead, this felt like a long form magazine piece interspersed with autobiographical pastiches. And that left me wistful for what might have been.
The attempted narrative connection between the first presidential campaign of Obama (here coyly referred to only as “the Candidate”) and the protagonist’s coming of age did not work for me. It seemed instead to be a gimmick to get a novel published.
The author did work on the Obama campaign and perhaps thought about writing his experiences in memoir or personal essay form; but, given how long it’s been since that campaign ended, my guess is that the window of opportunity for that kind of book closed. So, we get a novelization of the experience instead. The trouble with that choice is that no one associated with the campaign — least of all “the Candidate” — is rendered here in any depth, and so it is hard to engage fully with any of the characters. (The less said about the author’s treatment of the protagonist’s campaign paramours, the better.)
When the focus of the novel departed from the campaign and centered on the protagonist’s own life experiences and interests, the novel fared much better. That had me wishing we’d gotten a novella either comprised solely of those (and more of them) or a deeper treatment of the experience of being on a campaign. Instead, this felt like a long form magazine piece interspersed with autobiographical pastiches. And that left me wistful for what might have been.
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