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.
"Brilliantly written, piercingly smart, quietly subversive, Great Expectations will be one of the talked-about novels of the year.”—Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin, winner of the National Book Award
“Cunningham’s remarkable first novel matches the scale of its namesake.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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.
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"The aptly titled Great Expectations announces Vinson Cunningham as a novelist of singular style, wit, and ambition. Focused on one young man’s experience working on a historic presidential campaign, the novel is both a coming-of-age story for its narrator and—just as powerfully—a coming-of-age tale for the nation writ large. Cunningham has an uncanny ability to access the thoughts undergirding our thoughts, and his narrator is one that readers will wish they could keep by their sides to make sense of the world after the book’s final pages. Read Great Expectations and see our recent past, our present, and even our future anew."
— Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, finalist for the National Book Award
The aptly-titled Great Expectations announces Vinson Cunningham as a novelist of singular style, wit and ambition. Focused on one young man’s experience working on a historic presidential campaign, the novel is both a coming-of-age story for its narrator and—just as powerfully—a coming-of-age tale for the nation writ large. Cunningham has an uncanny ability to access the thoughts undergirding our thoughts, and his narrator is one that readers will wish they could keep by their sides to make sense of the world after the book’s final pages. Read Great Expectations and see our recent past, our present, and even our future anew.
— Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, finalist for the National Book AwardIn Great Expectations, gospel is both a formative rhythm and a means of seduction. Cunningham writes thoughtfully about aspiration, fatalism, and the complexity of bearing witness to the creation of a mythology. I always look forward to reading his work.
— Raven Leilani, New York Times bestselling author of LusterThis is a novel of so many things—love and pride and pity and politics and sex and God and fatherhood—but, ultimately, it is about the human ambition to make sense of the troubled waters of our times. Brilliantly written, piercingly smart, quietly subversive, Great Expectations will be one of the talked-about novels of the year. I couldn't help thinking that there was a touch of Fitzgerald in Cunningham's words, borne back not just ceaselessly, but also gracefully, into the too-recent past.
— Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin, winner of the National Book AwardRecent history becomes both thrillingly vivid again and achingly past in Vinson Cunningham’s spellbinding debut novel, Great Expectations. A coming-of-age novel of the richest, most expansive kind, it’s a rare debut, one that feels both intimate and revelatory.
— Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The TurnoutThe aptly-titled Great Expectations announces Vinson Cunningham as a novelist of singular style, wit and ambition. Focused on one young man’s experience working on a historic presidential campaign, the novel is both a coming-of-age story for its narrator and—just as powerfully—a coming-of-age tale for the nation writ large. Cunningham has an uncanny ability to access the thoughts undergirding our thoughts, and his narrator is one that readers will wish they could keep by their sides to make sense of the world after the book’s final pages. Read Great Expectations and see our recent past, our present, and even our future anew.
— Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, finalist for the National Book AwardVinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations is epic, intimate, and brimming with brilliance. Cunningham’s prose both soothes and scalds, crafting a bildungsroman, a tragicomedy, and the panorama of an entire nation, juggling humor and sensitivity and honesty with ease. Great Expectations is a phenomenal, transfixing work; Cunningham is a singular, dazzling writer.
— Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal and MemorialThis is a novel of so many things—love and pride and pity and politics and sex and God and fatherhood—but, ultimately, it is about the human ambition to make sense of the troubled waters of our times. Brilliantly written, piercingly smart, quietly subversive, Great Expectations will be one of the talked-about novels of the year. I couldn’t help thinking that there was a touch of Fitzgerald in Cunningham’s words, borne back not just ceaselessly but also gracefully into the too-recent past.
— Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin, winner of the National Book AwardRecent history becomes both thrillingly vivid and achingly past in Vinson Cunningham’s spellbinding debut novel, Great Expectations. A coming-of-age novel of the richest, most expansive kind, it’s a rare debut, one that feels both intimate and revelatory.
— Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The TurnoutThis is a novel of so many things—love and pride and pity and politics and sex and God and fatherhood—but, ultimately, it is about the human ambition to make sense of the troubled waters of our times. Brilliantly written, piercingly smart, quietly subversive, Great Expectations will be one of the talked-about novels of the year. I couldn’t help thinking that there was a touch of Fitzgerald in Cunningham’s words, borne back not just ceaselessly but also gracefully into the too-recent past.
— Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin, winner of the National Book AwardThe aptly titled Great Expectations announces Vinson Cunningham as a novelist of singular style, wit, and ambition. Focused on one young man’s experience working on a historic presidential campaign, the novel is both a coming-of-age story for its narrator and—just as powerfully—a coming-of-age tale for the nation writ large. Cunningham has an uncanny ability to access the thoughts undergirding our thoughts, and his narrator is one that readers will wish they could keep by their sides to make sense of the world after the book’s final pages. Read Great Expectations and see our recent past, our present, and even our future anew.
— Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, finalist for the National Book AwardIn Great Expectations, gospel is both a formative rhythm and a means of seduction. Cunningham writes thoughtfully about aspiration, fatalism, and the complexity of bearing witness to the creation of a mythology. I always look forward to reading his work.
— Raven Leilani, New York Times bestselling author of LusterRecent history becomes both thrillingly vivid and achingly past in Vinson Cunningham’s spellbinding debut novel, Great Expectations. A coming-of-age novel of the richest, most expansive kind, it’s a rare debut, one that feels both intimate and revelatory.
— Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The TurnoutVinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations is epic, intimate, and brimming with brilliance. Cunningham’s prose both soothes and scalds; he crafts a bildungsroman, a tragicomedy, and the panorama of an entire nation, juggling humor and sensitivity and honesty with ease. Great Expectations is a phenomenal, transfixing work, and Cunningham is a singular, dazzling writer.
— Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal and MemorialVinson Cunningham is a brilliant culture writer and theater critic whose New Yorker pieces have made him one of the magazine’s rising stars, so I was delighted to see that the 2020 National Magazine Award finalist has now written a novel.
— Lit HubA theater critic at the New Yorker, Cunningham is one of my favorite writers working today, so I was thrilled to learn of his debut novel, which cheekily steals its title from the Dickens classic. Following a young Black man as he works on a historic presidential campaign, Great Expectations tackles questions of politics, race, religion, and family with Cunningham’s characteristic poise and insight.
— The MillionsThe aptly titled Great Expectations announces Vinson Cunningham as a novelist of singular style, wit, and ambition. Read Great Expectations and see our recent past, our present, and even our future anew.
— Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, finalist for the National Book AwardA theater critic at The New Yorker, Cunningham is one of my favorite writers working today, so I was thrilled to learn of his debut novel, which cheekily steals its title from the Dickens classic. Following a young Black man as he works on a historic presidential campaign, Great Expectations tackles questions of politics, race, religion, and family with Cunningham’s characteristic poise and insight.
— The MillionsCunningham, a writer for The New Yorker and former staffer on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and in the White House, has written an electrifying first novel and bildungsroman of consummate artistry and sensitivity, honed vision and wit.
— Booklist (starred review)Cunningham, a writer for the New Yorker and former staffer on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and in the White House, has written an electrifying first novel and bildungsroman of consummate artistry and sensitivity, honed vision and wit.
— Booklist (starred review). . . an electrifying first novel and bildungsroman of consummate artistry and sensitivity, honed vision and wit.
— Booklist (starred review)Alive in its intellectual detours, with Cunningham considering religion, race, sex, film, politics, fatherhood, and more . . . A top-shelf intellectual bildungsroman.
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)A theater critic at The New Yorker, Cunningham is one of my favorite writers working today, so I was thrilled to learn of his debut novel, which cheekily steals its title from the Dickens classic. . . . Great Expectations tackles questions of politics, race, religion, and family with Cunningham’s characteristic poise and insight.
— The MillionsAn electrifying first novel and bildungsroman of consummate artistry and sensitivity, honed vision and wit.
— Booklist (starred review)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Shayna Small is an actress, singer, and educator based in New York, where she received her BFA in Drama from the Juilliard School. She has worked across a variety of media including theater, film and tv, music and voice-over.