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"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's 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, all of which 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"--… (more)
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Great Expectations
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
The novel is loosely based on Obama’s run for president. However, it shows the seldom-seen inner workings of a campaign: the phone calls, money-seeking, travel, and setting up appearances for the candidate, which gain him more money.
While the writing is superb, and I loved every bit of the book, it felt as if the author was trying to throw a bit of everything into his work. I have seen reviews that suggest it would have fared better as a book of short stories, and yes, I can see how that would be a spectacular work. In my opinion, the novel would reach a wider audience if it had fewer selections of prolonged contemplation or those totally off the tenor of the story. Stellar work, though!
Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book provided by the publisher, Annick Press, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.