Great Expectations

A Novel

By: Vinson Cunningham

Narrated by: Aaron Goodson

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black man’s life in this “coming of age story that captures the soul of America” (The Washington Post), the debut novel from The New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Vinson Cunningham.

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD/JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK

“One of the smartest and most involving political novels I’ve read in ages.”—The Wall Street Journal

ONE OF SLATE’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Town & Country, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Electric Lit, Current, WBEZ

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.

©2024 Vinson Cunningham (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Rarer is a debut that announces a talent like Cunningham’s.”—The New York Times

“Vinson Cunningham’s sparkling debut novel, set during the Obama campaign, earns its comparisons to Henry James.”—Slate

“Expertly captures a distinct moment in American history.”—Town & Country

Portrait of an Artist as a Black Man

Aaron Goodson does a magnificent job bringing David Hammond's story to life while narrating Vinson Cunningham's polished & poised debut, Great Expectations.

I'll go out on a limb and assume that no familiarity with Charles Dickens classic novel of the same name is needed based on my not feeling left out reading the text & I'll also go out on a limb and suggest that after one novel its safe to say that Vinson Cunningham is one of our best Prose stylists.

Cunnigham's prose, & I hope he would appreciate this since it's evident he is a basketball fan based on the time David spent waxing poetic about the merits of Paul Pierce (!) (I must say, I was elated while listening to thoughts on Paul Pierce in a novel. There is a mythological leap - it could just be me here - that people, places & things take when they are centered, if even for the briefest of moments in a novel, & the fact that Paul Pierce was given a decent amount of runway is something I am grateful for as an enormous basketball fan & something that inspires me & ways that I hope to display in the future. Anyway), is so very poised. His Prose is like Dame Lillard in the meme where his teammates are mobbing him and he just calmly stares into the camera, as if he didn't just seal the deal in the Blazers first round series against OKC with one of the most memorable buzzer beaters we've seen. That poise & polish is enough to carry just about any story that Cunningham wanted to tell.

Whether it's brief thoughts on basketball or more lengthy ruminations on religion, belief, influence, power, money, status, art, race, fatherhood. There's something here for all of us & that something, whatever it is, is written in one of the best prose styles available to us.

Invisible Man vibes

The author’s rich use of language and his vibrant narrative style gave me the feeling I was reading Ellison’s Invincible set in our time. Wonderful work.

nicely done

novelization of a staffer in obama campaign. audiobook a good match of narrator to material

Enjoyable, Insightful, & Smart

I enjoyed this coming of age story that shares an interesting purview of working on a political campaign while navigating early adulthood. I delighted in the insightful dialogue and reflective observations. The narration aptly included witty word play and rhythmic appreciation of poetry, literature, music, and art.

Beautifully written, deeply engaging memoir / fiction

Beautifully written, personal account of a young man's experience as an insider in an icon's presidential campaign. Part coming of age memoir, part moral, spiritual and political exploration. This is a good read; I sped through it. High marks for the narrator.

References to real people

Never felt really drawn to the primary character. Irritated that you require 15 words. I didn’t enjoy the book for 15 minutes.

This was one of the worst books I ever read. I struggled through it. What a waste of time.

The stream of consciousness had no meaning even though I too lived in Chicago at the time of the campaign.

Not the political story I expected

I really thought this was going to be an account of the Obama campaign (albeit fictionalized) from an insider's perspective, interestingly that of a relatively low-level staffer. What I got instead was at best a coming of age story about how the protagonist matured through the process (not much). There was actually very little about the campaign itself, nothing about high-minded policy discussions, and lots of side stories about religion, slums, sex (not at all explicit, however), drugs, etc., totally unrelated. There was some good explanation about how fund raising works and organizing of events for donors, as well as some of the less savory financial shenanigans near the end. So all in all, I was very disappointed by the story itself.

I also did not like the narration at all. Far too many unnecessary pauses or hesitations within sentences that should have just flowed smoothly.