Green

Why people recommend it

Green by Sam Graham-Felsen is a compelling debut novel that explores race, friendship, and politics through the eyes of a young campaign volunteer in 2008. On The Book Review podcast in July 2018, during the episodes "What to Read About North Korea" and "'Off the Charts'," Alexandra Alter and Gilbert Cruz both discussed the timely release. Alexandra Alter introduced the fresh literary work in her preview of new books, noting that it was written by a former campaign blog director for Barack Obama and was already attracting considerable attention. Gilbert Cruz subsequently welcomed the author to the program, announcing that Sam Graham-Felsen would appear on the show to discuss his debut novel, while Alexandra Alter would provide listeners with an insightful update from the broader literary world. These conversations situated the novel within the cultural conversation surrounding political fiction, highlighting the unique insider perspective that the author brought to his exploration of race and youthful idealism during a transformative presidential election cycle.