This book was interesting but really read like a nonfiction book. It is a “fictional” portrayal of a campaign worker who works to get the first black president into office. It doesn’t hide the fact that it is obviously referring to President Obama (term “the candidate” is substituted for Obama’s name) and the author’s true job during Obama’s campaign. I would have preferred, however, having it be a nonfiction read. There may be many good reasons, including national security, for fictionalizing these accounts, but I feel it made the book disingenuous. It was so clearly about the author’s life, including his very religious background (which I wasn’t really interested in reading about) and his role in the campaign. What I really liked about this book was learning how a campaign is (fictionally, of course) run. I found that very interesting and would recommend it based on that.
Thank you NetGalley for proving an ARC.

I was exited to read this book based on the description and the writer's background. The writing was very good, and the premise was intriguing, but I struggled with the story.

Initially, I thought it would be primarily about the MC's experience working with 'the candidate's' campaign, and how being in the Senator's orbit would impact his own life, perspective and aspirations (referencing the title for both the MC and the candidate). But the author's attempt to give equal time to the campaign machinations, the MC's personal life and those who were already in the Senator's circle meant we never got too deep into any one's true experience. As a result, the book felt like a mashup of non-fiction, memoir and a novel, like it didn't know what it wanted to be. So the tension felt flat, and I couldn't get fully invested in the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free e-copy of this book.

I liked this alright. I felt it could have been a short story collection. But I learned some things.

A young campaign worker for the Senator running for president. The fictional story is about President Obama's campaign. The first person narrative makes me feel like I am in the story. He works for 18 months on the presidential campaign. He travels across country to the primaries and helps with the fundraising events. David is very low profile and passive. It gives an inside view of campaigning and what might go on. It is an interesting story. It took me longer then expected to read because I researched didn't situation as they arise in the story.

This highly introspective coming-of-age novel about a young black man who spends 18 months working on the Obama campaign (Obama’s name is never mentioned — it is always “the young senator from Illinois” or just “the senator”) is beautifully put together. Reaching out broadly to include meditations on philosophy, religion, art, politics, and identity, the author lets us live deeply inside the brain of madly whirling, deeply intelligent protagonist on his voyage of discovery — about the world and about himself.

Surprisingly, this book just did not work for me and I wasn’t able to finish it, although I expect it will do very well in literary circles. I have no real complaints — the language is beautiful with an astonishing vocabulary which I always appreciate and the musings are rational, detailed, and well-informed. However, I found the style tedious — long, run-on paragraphs composed of short sentences describing every aspect of the paragraph’s point: sensory observations about the scene coupled with an often Proustian trigger of memories as he develops his own thoughts and conclusions on the topic. It’s quite possible that I just don’t like the main topics — politics and fundraising (the job our narrator takes on at least at the beginning) don’t interest me at all. But it’s also possible that I just didn’t find anything that kept up my interest. There were some fantastic lines, but I’ve never read a book just for the language — I need some element of story or character development to keep me interested and I just didn’t find enough of this, at least in the first 20% of the book.

As I did not finish it, I won’t post my review beyond NetGalley. I'm giving it a 4 rating because I think it is very good for what it is -- it just isn't something I enjoy.

DNF at 61%. I've tried to engage with this book long enough. There's just so much writing for the sake of writing and no discernible plot to pull me in. Instead of "making" myself keep reading, I finally threw in the towel.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Though it came highly recommended, I picked up this book without remembering much about it, and I found myself totally transported to 2007, a time that somehow feels both recent and like a distant past vaguely related to our current reality. As Cunningham spins the narrative of his protagonist's unlikely ascent to the middle ranks of a campaign that became a movement, he expertly weaves in various threads of identity and power to create a tapestry that is sometimes magnificent, sometimes hard to process as a whole. On the whole, it's a fascinating story that vividly recreates one version of events we all remember, but also a group of recollections and tangents that don't always hang together.

Firstly, I want to thank Netgalley and Random House/Hogarth for letting me read an eARC of Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham. Great Expectations was an absolutely stellar and engaging read that seemed almost like a memoir in how introspective David's, the main character's, thoughts were about his journey into politics. I loved how the character growth was constructed over the course of the novel, and it really fulfilled the coming-of-age label given to it. Along with the just-mentioned growth, the reflections and connections David makes between politics and religion make the novel.

“A national campaign was a great unfathomable whale, with all kinds of subsidiary life flourishing on its skin and between its strands of baleen,” writes Cunningham in an impressive debut chronicling a young volunteer’s growth through the Obama Presidential campaign. The novel has a Gatsbyesque touch in its evocation of fundraising parties and the milieu of the hopeful times. The story shines when the narrator frames the story from his own experiences, a memoir of sorts. At times the story gets a little too ornate. Nevertheless, a different twist to the coming-of-age story told from a ringside seat of history.

This is a story about the personal and public creation of identities.  David is a bit aimless when he gets a job on the campaign of an Obama-like figure in the early days of his first presidential campaign.  He is assigned to the finance team and soon finds himself with multiple opportunities to observe the candidate up close.  David sees the ways that the candidate pitches himself and his campaign to donors, the way that donors' relationships to the candidate evolves as his likelihood of success grows, and the small moments between official events when David sees the very human like reaction of someone under tremendous pressure who both sees the absurdities of what he needs to do but also excels at it.  

Over the next eighteen months, David rides the wave of the campaign through ups and downs, largely at a distance but with periodic occasions where he is at its center with the candidate.  As he learns more about politics, from fundraisers in the swankiest apartments in Manhattan to field work through New Hampshire, he also comes to know his fellow campaign workers, who have a range of backgrounds and motivations for working on the campaign.  In this journey, David grapples with his own faith and fatherhood, different from so many of his fellow campaign workers but which the campaign, and the candidate, both speak to and raise questions about -- and what path he wants to pursue after the campaign is over.  

I really enjoyed this book.  Like other great political novels, it is both about the main character learning the truth about how politics works while also coming-of-age in important respects.  Unlike other political novels, it is not primarily about disillusionment.  Rather, it is a more complex story about how politics, at least as practiced by the candidate at the heart of this novel, is a means to shape a national identity and, in the course of doing so, can reshape the candidate and also those working on a campaign.  David comes to see the candidate is both an individual and an idea, and, as the campaign moves toward the election, the distance between the two increases.  And he over time realizes that the idea evolves to have its own language, with both obvious meanings and meanings understood only by insiders, which creates further distance with the candidate as an individual all while giving the idea greater power.  

Strongly recommended!

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

This book tells the story of David from NY. He joins a democratic campaign(Obama) organizing fundraisers. It dives in some about his past and growing up unrelated to politics. He does have a religious side and talks about that.

I normally don’t read this type of book, but was curious how that sort of life went. Well written.

Thanks for the ARC #Netgalley and publisher!

Beautifully written, if occasionally discursive to the point of losing momentum. I do wish some of the key plot points hit a bit harder instead of registering as little blips. But I can't fault the prose. An immensely pleasurable reading experience for those interested in cruising on words for a few hours.

Thank you to Random House/Hogarth and NetGalley for this ARC of 'Great Expectations' by Vinson Cunningham.

This is an impressive, fictionalized account of the 2007/2008 primary and presidential campaign of Barack Obama through the eyes and experiences of a lax but popular young Black staffer.

Although the campaign and its machinations is the thread that ties it all together there are examinations of religion, love, family. parenthood, civil rights, music, and art as experienced and learned by the staffer, David Hammond.

David is an interesting character in the context of 'the candidate/senator' - it seemed to me that unlike many of the people who worked on the campaign and many of the voters/supporters he wasn't terribly evangelical about Obama. He was somewhat lackadaisical about his job - often skating by on personality - and less than idolizing about the candidate. Maybe he's a step short of being cynical about the candidate and the campaign but it felt like a short step. And he seemed to become more clear-eyed. verging on disillusioned as the campaign neared its end. It was refreshing in that respect. I found the whole inside view of the campaign fascinating and am now on the lookout for a good non-fiction account of that period.

This is a low key book - no big exposés or drama but the writing is really wonderful with some fine turns of phrase - one in particular sticks with me, 'Pentecostalism is a contact sport' while describing a service of at his local church.

Recommended.

Our story is told in the first person by David Hammond, a young man who dropped out of college when he became a father. Tutoring kids he meets a mother of his student who is a big supporter of the Senator from Illinois who has just declared his candidacy for president. She is very well connected and helps David get a position on the presidential campaign staff. Although the “Senator” and the “candidate” are never actually named, the year is 2007 and it is clear that the person is Barack Obama. David is very impressed as he watches the Senator declares his candidacy on the television, even more so when he meets him in person.

A coming-of-age story in which a young black man who dropped out of college is hired as a staffer for a presidential campaign of a relatively unknown black man. Highly educated and very successful this candidate is married and the father of two little girls. As David looks upon the candidate he carefully listens to his words and observes his actions and his physical presence. Through him David learns more of what he needs to do for himself in order to become a successful man and father.

I really enjoyed the parts of the book that involved the campaign - and, the candidate. Other than the campaign and an occasional minor reference to his daughter, the book is mostly filled with David’s thoughts on basketball, religion, life. Things he was clearly interested in but as a reader I did not need 10-15 pages of discussion on the pros and cons of players in professional basketball.

This book is difficult for me to review. I loved parts of it - I wanted to love all of it. Unfortunately, parts of it rambled on so much that I fell asleep on three separate occasions trying to read it. I’m very sad about that. Is it too late to push back the release date and rework it? The book has such a great promise, the premise is great and the bones were great; sadly, the fill in felt like exactly that - fill in. ⭐️⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley, Hogarth Publishing and Vinson Cunningham for an advanced copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: March 12, 2024

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Great Expectations covers one young man's experience working for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign (the book never explicitly states it's Obama, instead referring to him as The Candidate or The Senator). From the early days of his announcement to his acceptance speech, we get a detailed look at the whirlwind of a historic campaign.

The writer is clearly very talented, although I struggled at times to latch on to "important" story beats. The book was more of an account with tangents every so often and lacked the standard rising action, climax, and resolution. While I don't mind a format change-up, it did cause me to wonder where this was all going.

Even so, this reminded me of my years in DC and the frenzied chaos during campaign season. I'll look forward to other works by the author.

The writing is exquisite. The story familiar but also very different point of view from my own. Fascinating look at what I thought I knew.

I liked this book but it felt more like a talky description of one man's year in the life, instead of a story with a beginning, middle and end. It was very well written. Typically with books like these, I don't finish, but with this one, I kept going, interested to see if something would happen. I guess something did - Obama got elected - but, we knew that already. This is a good book for people who like stories written in the first person. I appreciate the advance copy. I know this author has written a lot before and I look forward to his next novel.

In 1988, Charles Johnson, National Book Award winner, argued in an essay in his book Being and Race that Black fiction had become rigid with a set number of racial tropes and symbols representing black life and that Black writers needed to open up the exploration of Black identity. Less than twenty years later, the inquiry of Black identity morphed into the concept of post-racialism, a term that further entered a cultural and political conversation as a Black man was elected president of the United States, we had entered the beginning of a post-racial society.

Cunningham begins his novel with a nameless Black senator campaigning for the presidential nomination. If it isn’t clear to anyone who that nameless runner is, Cunningham seasons his story with names of real people and factual events in writing his roman a clef. There is a narrator of the story, a young rudderless black man, David Hammond, not, Hammond constantly shares when being introduced, to be confused with the installation artist, David Hammon, given the opportunity to work on the campaign of the man who is running for president. The story of the candidate is well known and there’s nothing Hammond shares of interest on the senator in his time working on the campaign.

David’s own story is a glimpse into the world of political fundraising across the eastern section of the United States should be of interest. But David is a narrator typical to rarified upper echelons of commerce and politics, young, often innocent, equally often idealistic, and more self-conscious than an apt observer of his environment.

Some of David’s reflections on the arts and religion start out as interesting, but they go nowhere. In quiet moments, Mr Hammond reflects on famous paintings, the conservative canvas stuff, not the performance pieces by Hammon. His theological reflections suggest a guiding Protestantism founded on the beliefs of the founding fathers of the faith. His personal Black worship began with either a Pentecostal preaching or a Baptist preaching and later a racially reformed Catholicism to fit the worship of Blacks.

On race, David is consciously aware of events when he, save for some other Black person, is not the only Black person in the room. When in Maine, he meets another Black man, a Haitian, working as a waiter in a diner, David strikes up a conversation, which begins as racial isolation of two Black men in white environments and bonding pass nationality differences to talk about basketball and New York City.

These three Black men, the candidate for president, one of his fundraisers, and a Haitian in snowbound Maine, if they have escaped the chains of Black stereotypes prevalent in media representations and the Black fiction of which Charles Johnson wrote and, in one’s new identity, is troubled by ghosts, as a way of purging one’s own past of stereotypes one might look for them in novels by a racial other, say Saul Bellow who David recalls as depicting in one of his novels the characters of a Black pimp and his Black prostitute.

So who is David? Just another young Black pilgrim, a baby mama left behind, finding his way.
Although Cunningham shows influences by James Baldwin and Saul Bellow, readers of Teju Cole, Darryl Pinckney, and Caryl Philips should find some affinity in his prose.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy.

A nice set although at times it came out as fairly weak. Still the good points were semi sufficient enough to carry the plot through. Thanks for the arc 3.5