Reward System
- Downloads：7373
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-05-28 09:51:59
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Jem Calder
- ISBN：0571363784
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
For fans of Patricia Lockwood and Ben Lerner， audacious fictions of a generation wondering: what now？
'Reward System is an exhilarating and beautiful book by an extraordinarily gifted writer。 Reading these stories， I found myself thinking newly and differently about contemporary life。' SALLY ROONEY
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 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？'
Reward System is a set of ultra-contemporary and electrifyingly fresh fictions about a generation of the cusp; the story of two people enmeshed in Zooms and lockdowns， loneliness and love。
'Reward System is an exhilarating and beautiful book by an extraordinarily gifted writer。 Reading these stories， I found myself thinking newly and differently about contemporary life。' SALLY ROONEY
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 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？'
Reward System is a set of ultra-contemporary and electrifyingly fresh fictions about a generation of the cusp; the story of two people enmeshed in Zooms and lockdowns， loneliness and love。
Reviews
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer
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This is an entertaining if perhaps lightweight （*） series of interlocking short stories （one almost a novella） – with the stories differing in their main focus and style， but featuring a core of the same two characters – which look primarily at the lives of a group of 20 somethings who live in an unspecified large City （**） and work in the restaurant or advertising industries and whose lives are dopamine-dominated via the media of their smartphones and browsers， as well as by the financial tyran This is an entertaining if perhaps lightweight （*） series of interlocking short stories （one almost a novella） – with the stories differing in their main focus and style， but featuring a core of the same two characters – which look primarily at the lives of a group of 20 somethings who live in an unspecified large City （**） and work in the restaurant or advertising industries and whose lives are dopamine-dominated via the media of their smartphones and browsers， as well as by the financial tyranny of the intersection of high rent and low pay/long hour jobs and the pressure to resist the failure of being bailed out by the bank （and moving back to the home） of Mum （and Dad – although mainly Mum in this book）。 （*） The author has said that the book is deliberately set in a blurred every place global city – but the characters are noticeably English， London the only such English town and the author lived and worked in London – so its easier just to assume its London（**） It is very possible this is just the country living， City-working early Generation X in me coming out judgmentally when reading a book about Urban non-financial services Millennials – as I think there is actually a real depth to the writing in: The themes it explores （the way in which the book explores privacy and its invasion – not just via the internet or work surveillance but say by a landlord who does not respect boundaries）; The inner lives it portrays （an extended side story has a – in her own view – plain looking woman musing on a humiliation she faced in a spin the bottle party when her schoolchild crush refused to kiss her）; And in some of its original descriptive writing （a sky “the colour of the financial times” is a highlight）。 The two main characters are Julia – who works as a chef at a trendy restaurant and who suffers from self-doubt and indecision/passivity; and her one time college boyfriend Nick – now in rather a funk with an alcohol/self respect problem and working in a dead end job as a copywriter for an advertising/media agency where he tries to write stories when no one is looking （this last part is clearly autobiographical and of great interest to the writer as this Grant piece makes clear - https://granta。com/jem-calder-notes-o。。。）。The first and longest story written in a series of short， snappily titled third party vignettes， tells of Julia’s move to her latest job and the relationship she allows herself to be drawn into with her older boss against her and our better judgement – the style is I think Rooney-esque （and Saint Sally blurbs the book） but of course whereas Rooney’s characters are famously non-techy （other than email） Julia conducts much of her self online。Better Off Alone was perhaps the weaker story for me – narrated in the first person a rather down on his luck Nick crashes a house party to little effect （other than we do go back to when he and Julia met）。Distraction from Sadness is Not The Same as Happiness （a brilliant title from an anonymous internet course many years before） is I think likely to be the love it or hate it part of the collection – effectively narrated at first from the point of view of a dating site algorithm it sets out the relationship arc of a male user and female user （I think probably the female user is Julia） – and in doing so dissects 212t century dating both from the IT and “user” experienceExcuse Me Don’t I Now You – has Julia and Nick briefly meeting at a Farmers' Market and then going for a walk together as we are privy （privacy invasion of course being the prerogative of a traditional novel） to their thoughts on each otherSearch Engine Optimisation is the third big part of the book – a multicharacter exploration of Nick’s workplace on a Friday when one of their fellow workers is leaving and effectively an examination of office protocols and politics in a timesheet’d， creative agency as the characters project， interact and typically fail to understand each other， all of it partly moderated by an IT worker who has used the keystroke and browser surveillance systems to track what each of the colleagues do for the large part of the time when they are now working。 If I had a criticism of this part it is that it feels already very dated due to the pandemicThe Forseeable then addresses this – set in early lockdown with Nick （the first party narrator） and Julia now both furloughed， both living back with their Mums and Face Timing each other and with Nick admitting that his last few stories “read like irrelevant period pieces， set in a frivolous， pre-contagion reality”。Overall a fresh and talented voice and a read which is while not a dopamine hit certainly rewarding。 。。。more
CJ Alberts
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chronically online sally rooney
Possibly in Michigan， London
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Super-enjoyable and precisely written stories about being…millennial and aimless in a city。 Also， a lot of dating。 I loved the intelligence of the writing and how it conveyed so much through style， while telling quite simple moving stories。 The third person was great （I love the third person again）！ Just really well done and a little bit different （the note at the back acknowledges Vollmann and Gass！） Infinitely relatable without any of the familiar emotional flexes。 Actually reminded me of earl Super-enjoyable and precisely written stories about being…millennial and aimless in a city。 Also， a lot of dating。 I loved the intelligence of the writing and how it conveyed so much through style， while telling quite simple moving stories。 The third person was great （I love the third person again）！ Just really well done and a little bit different （the note at the back acknowledges Vollmann and Gass！） Infinitely relatable without any of the familiar emotional flexes。 Actually reminded me of early 2000s British writing， like if all the Tao Lin imitators got injected with a bit of updated sexual politics and more internet and were also way smarter。 Also early Dan Rhodes （who I adored）， for some reason。 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Reward System
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Reward System&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Reward System&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0