In the case of Vinson Cunningham’s Obama-era bildungsroman, expect greatness.

On this week’s Fully Booked podcast, Vinson Cunningham discusses Great Expectations (Hogarth, March 12). Kirkus calls this highly anticipated debut novel from Cunningham, a New Yorker staff writer and theater critic, “a top-shelf intellectual bildungsroman.” The story is narrated by David Hammond, a young Black man who lands a fundraising job for a U.S. senator and eventual presidential candidate (who closely resembles Barack Obama).

Here’s a bit more from our starred review: “David needs something to believe in: A young father, he’s flunked out of college and is making ends meet by tutoring. Even so, the campaign’s high-flown hope-and-change rhetoric is a world removed from his job greeting wealthy donors, accepting checks, and helping to arrange more meet-and-greets. So he contemplates how he fits in as he scrutinizes the backgrounds of the high-dollar donors and celebrity boosters, particularly the Black ones. (Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and André Leon Talley have brief cameos.) The campaign’s conclusion is no surprise, of course, but the book is alive in its intellectual detours, with Cunningham considering religion, race, sex, film, politics, fatherhood, and more.…Cunningham’s choice of title is nervy, but though the story only vaguely echoes Dickens, it perfectly encapsulates the kinds of anxiety that follow a smart young man still coming into being.”

Cunningham and I begin by discussing the considerable merits of the title Great Expectations. He tells me about the portion of the Winslow Homer painting that comprises the cover art—and how the cover, dedication, epigraph, and title prime readers for the story they’re about to encounter. We talk about political campaigns as great big machines, and the difficulties of beholding the entire apparatus from within. We then cover the novel-writing process; the importance of physical description in fiction, even of minor characters; some of the novelists who’ve influenced Cunningham, including Saul Bellow; how much of David’s story was taken from real life; whether this is a comic novel; and much more.

Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, and Eric Liebetrau share their top picks in books for the week.

EDITORS’ PICKS:

The Fox Maidens by Robin Ha (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)

Unicorn Boy by Dave Roman (First Second)

The After: A Veteran’s Notes on Coming Home by Michael Ramos (Univ. of North Carolina)

ALSO MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE:

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

Cook Korean! by Robin Ha

Kirkus’ interview with Robin Ha

Guts by Raina Telgemeier

Sistersby Raina Telgemeier

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

Muse of Fire: World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets by Michael Korda

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

The Healer by John Thomas Tuft

Mystery Force: Volume 2 by Ted Neill, illus. by Suzi Spooner

The Wrong Side of the Flame by Renaii West

Belonging Matters by Julie Ryan McGue

The Legacy by James Gilbert

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.