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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
This book was not for me. I generally dislike politics and campaign politics even more so. And coming at the end of an exhausting election year- I just do not have the emotional and mental strength to care about the topics, characters and plot in this book.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a tough one to review. This book had an identity crisis. It had the feeling of wanting to be either a memoir or literary nonfiction, and yet it was neither. It read like a series of personal essays shoehorned into a historical fiction narrative, but it wasn't really fiction (apparently this type of fiction-but-not-really-fiction is called roman à clef, so at least I learned something new). Anyway, I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more as either a collection of essays or straight-up nonfiction. Being caught between genres left me feeling meandering and unmoored. Frankly, I was often bored, which is disappointing because Cunningham has a lot to say, and many of his "essays" were wonderfully insightful, philosophical, and reflective in the way you would expect from a coming-of-age memoir.
And I have to add - I wanted to enjoy Cunningham's prose, and there was certainly beauty in many of his passages, but the egregious overuse of em dashes tainted the experience for me. Just about every other sentence used dashes to veer off into a long-winded aside. You know the feeling of listening to someone tell a story, and in their own eagerness to tell it right, they keep interrupting themselves to add details and introduce side plots? That's what it felt like reading this book. I felt like the asides were knocking me off the course of the narrative and it was at times taxing on my brain to follow along with the text.
And I have to add - I wanted to enjoy Cunningham's prose, and there was certainly beauty in many of his passages, but the egregious overuse of em dashes tainted the experience for me. Just about every other sentence used dashes to veer off into a long-winded aside. You know the feeling of listening to someone tell a story, and in their own eagerness to tell it right, they keep interrupting themselves to add details and introduce side plots? That's what it felt like reading this book. I felt like the asides were knocking me off the course of the narrative and it was at times taxing on my brain to follow along with the text.
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
David Hammon is working as a low-level political intern in New York hosting and overseeing fundraising events during the 2008 presidential campaign for Barak Obama. He follows the candidate from events in the swanky brownstones of Manhattan to an elite property on Martha's Vineyard owned by an affluent, Black power couple. Later, he and another staffer are sent to Manchester, New Hampshire to work in the rental, campaign office before voting begins. The hours are long, the office is spare, and their temporary living quarters are crude. After this appointment, he's off to Nevada, then California, New York, and Chicago. David's story is drawn from Cunningham's full-time position working on the campaign for eighteen months. The writing is a peculiar mix of arresting prose, straight-up reporting, and deep, self-reflection, as the story flip-flops between memoir sections that are artful and literary, and flat, essay writing. My only difficulty in rating this book is this that it's the first sample of autofiction I've read, and the first time I've heard the term.
In addition to being extremely well-read, Cunningham weaves sentences together with arresting imagery and diaphanous language. He also has a spot-on talent for writing character descriptions, presenting them with such unexpected ease, each becomes instantly recognizable -- and knowable. That's quite a feat, when the majority of the characters in this memoir/novel/essay collection are low-level political interns or guests at events whose appearances are both brief and abrupt.
Meeting Senator Obama for the First Time
"His height was helped by an incredibly erect posture that looked almost practiced, the kind of talismanic maneuver meant to send forth subliminal messages about confidence and power. In the same way, and engendering the same effect, he held his chin at a high angle, aimed not directly ahead but at a point on the ceiling several yards ahead. Proximity to the senator made me feel slightly shabby," (14).
Meeting the Senator's Donors at His First Private Event
The men at the gathering (I watched them closely, searching for a way to be) had dutifully brushed hair and, I noticed, startingly well-maintained cuticles. Understated pinky rings abounded.... Their suits were deep gray and midnight blue; cufflinks peeked out over the rims of their sleeves.... The women wore efficient cocktail dresses that cut closely under the folds of their armpits and tended to fall just above the darkening mounds of their knees. Their calves shone glossily.... Everybody looked less fancy than I expected, and somehow this made them seem -- to me, at least --more impressively rich," (16).
Meeting Cornel West
"He wore a dully black three-piece suit, and an irregular Afro reached up and outward from his grey temples. Warmth radiated from the large gap between his front teeth," (25)
Regina, Another Campaign Worked Deployed to Manchester, NH
"She was tall and substantial, with dark, enthusiastic eyes, a negligible forehead, and a low hairline that sprouted handfuls of thick, near-black hair. A birthmark floated between her verdant eyebrows. Her face was plump and heart-shaped, interrupted in its edgelessness only by a sharp and subtly rippled chin, and the size of her calves pulled smooth the lower quadrant of her jeans," (93).
Meeting a Famous TV Preacher in the Backyard of Entertainment Producer Ron Clarence's Los Angeles Estate where the Senator is Speaking and will Soon Be Eating with 1,200 Guests in His Backyard. VIPs have paid $4,600 to attend the event.
"Sitting alone for now, dressed in black with big rings on the fingers of his right hand and a white collar at his throat, was a preacher I'd watched on television.... I always liked him because he was a good singer; the hooping final sections of his sermon were always wonderfully tuned, and he had a bandleader's rapport with the organist, who sat on the far stage-left of his huge pulpit. He was a baritone, and he reveled in the lower end of his register, which was rare for a preacher. He'd looked old for my entire life, and here, in front of me in the flesh, he looked even older, and sort of papery in the skin. His skin was dotted with moles, and seemed to sprout new ones as he sat there is the sun," (185).
I love hearing Vinson guest on the occasional episode of the Slate sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, and was interested to check out his debut novel. First off, the prose is excellent. This book is filled with lines that make you (me) stop to utter a 'wow' or 'yeah' in agreement with the beauty of the sentiment and how it was expressed. The characters here, on the other hand, leave something to be desired. It's an intriguing premise - a college drop out gets connected to a job in a presidential campaign for an Obama-like candidate - but the results weren't too rewarding. It was entertaining enough most of the time, though I didn't feel like it paid off. But also maybe just depressing to listen to in an election year where the politics are nearly unrecognizable to this period just 15 years ago.
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Interesting read.
A memoir in thinly veiled fiction. Not clear why it’s not just a memoir. Totally self-indulgent and overly verbose. Edges up to a plot maybe twice and then rapidly backs away. Nothing much happens. Had to speed read the last third of it to get through it. Steals a title from a famous novel that it shares nothing in common with other than being a coming of age story.