Jem Calder

Shhh… don’t tell my reading group, but I’ve also been seeing other books. In fact, I just got done with a pair of books by British writer Jem Calder. Reward System (2023) is a set of interlinked stories, and this year’s I Want You to Be Happy is Calder’s first novel. The two share a similar focus, centring a relationship between a man in his mid-to-late thirties and a woman in her early-to-mid twenties. Throughout both, Calder shows compassion for his characters where it would have been easier to draw one or other of them as a villain. Both have flaws (some more serious than others), but I was impressed by the nuance with which Calder could write from both perspectives. This is the case in the novel, in particular, where the chapters alternate perspectives, focussing first on Joey and then on Chuck as they navigate their new romance. Calder uses this oscillation to good effect. In one chapter the reader might be privy to Chuck’s self-recriminations over his own recent actions; perhaps…