Jem Calder

Stories

Reward System

Julia has landed a fresh start—at a “pan-European” restaurant. “Imagine that,” says her mother. “I’m imagining.” Nick is flirting with sobriety and nobody else. Did you know adults his age are now more likely to live with their parents than with a romantic partner? Life should have started to take shape by now—but instead we’re trying on new versions of ourselves, swiping left and right, searching for a convincing answer to that question: “What do you do?” Jem Calder’s Reward System is a set of ultra-contemporary and electrifyingly fresh fictions about work, relationships, and the strange loop of technology and the self. They are about a generation on the cusp: the story of two people enmeshed in Zooms and lockdowns, loneliness and love, devices and desires. Hyperaware but also deeply confused about who they are, Julia and Nick reveal the way we live now in a startling new light.

Inga Pellisa Díaz

Sistema de recompensa

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian ● Esquire ● The White Review ● NPR Jem Calder's Reward System is a set of ultra-contemporary and electrifyingly fresh fictions about a generation on the cusp, enmeshed in Zooms and lockdowns, loneliness and love. Audacious fictions for a generation wondering: What now? Julia has landed a fresh start at an up-and-coming city restaurant. "Imagine that," says her mother. "I’m imagining." Her ex-boyfriend Nick is flirting with sobriety and nobody else. Did you know that adults his age are more likely to live with their parents than with a romantic partner? Life should have started to take shape by now—but instead we’re trying on new versions of ourselves, swiping left and right, searching for a good answer to the question "What do you do?"

Jem Calder

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