He does warn you.
But still.
Despite the opening line telling you things aren’t going to end well, something about the way The Easter Parade tangles you up in the lives of the two Grimes sisters means that by the end you’re both surprised and entirely accepting of their bleak fate.
And despite the bleakness, it’s pretty damn brilliant.
It’s an opinion shared by my excellent guest for this episode of the show, literary man of the moment, Jem Calder. As he points out, there’s a lot of Yates in his own much-acclaimed debut novel, which is likely one of the reasons Sally Rooney is a big fan.
We explore why The Easter Parade works so well, how it influenced Jem’s own writing, and we dig into the strangely joy-inspiring concept of depressive realism.
Indeed, welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.
As you may know by now, in each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books and culture to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.
There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.
If you enjoy the show and would like to help us (and get your hands on a coveted Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, tote bag, and pin badge), you can become a supporter of the library by upgrading to a paid subscription.
But either way, please do like and share the show—it all helps.
In this episode, as I say, my very special guest is the writer, Jem Calder, whose debut novel, I Want You To Be Happy, was published in the UK by Faber. We discuss his pick for the library, the 1976 novel The Easter Parade by Richard Yates.
About Jem Calder
Jem Calder was born in Cambridge but lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in The Stinging Fly and Granta, and his debut short story collection, Reward System, was published by Faber in 2022. His debut novel, I Want You To Be Happy, was published by Faber in 2026.
About Richard Yates
Richard Yates was born in 1926 in New York and lived in California. His prize-winning stories began to appear in 1953, and his first novel, Revolutionary Road, was nominated for the National Book Award in 1961. He is the author of eight other works, including the novels A Good School, The Easter Parade, and Disturbing the Peace, as well as two collections of short stories, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness and Liars in Love. He died in 1992.
Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode
* Order The Easter Parade by Richard Yates, and I Want You To Be Happy by Jem Calder from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.
* Read an interview with Jem about his new novel in Dazed here.
* Find Glenn Fisher on Instagram here.
* Find The Library of Lazy Thinking on Instagram here.
About the Library
The Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. If you’d like to support the library and get access to everything here, you can become a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge). All support goes back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.
About Glenn Fisher
Glenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My writing has been published in Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I write about books and interview other writers and artists here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, I am currently working on my debut novel, The Invention of Memory, and on the eternal, soul-destroying task of finding an agent.
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