Enormous Changes at the Last Minute - by Grace Paley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this collection of short stories, originally published in 1974, Grace Paley "makes the novel as a form seem virtually redundant" (Angela Carter, London Review of Books). Her stories here capture "the itch of the city, love between parents and children" and "the cutting edge of combat" (Lis Harris, The New York Times Book Review). In this collection of seventeen stories, she creates a "solid and vital fictional world, cross-referenced and dense with life" (Walter Clemons, Newsweek).

Review Quotes

"Grace Paley makes me weep and laugh-and admire. She is that rare kind of writer, a natural, with a voice like no one else's: funny, sad, lean, modest, energetic, acute." --Susan Sontag

"Grace Paley is a wonderful writer and troublemaker. We are fortunate to have her in our country." --Donald Barthelme

"I can't think of another writer who captures the itch of the city, love between parents and children, or the cutting edge of combat, as well." --Lis Harris, The New York Times Book Review

"Technically, Grace Paley's work makes the novel as a form seem virtually redundant. Each one of her stories has more abundant inner life than most other people's novels . . . Her prose presents a series of miracles of poetic compression." --Angela Carter, London Review of Books

"A solid and vital fictional world, cross-referenced and dense with life." --Walter Clemons, Newsweek

About the Author

Grace Paley remains one of America's most revered short story writers. Born in the Bronx, New York, in 1922, Paley established a reputation as a bard of Jewish New York with highly acclaimed collections like The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974), and Later the Same Day (1985). The Collected Stories (1994) was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. She died in Vermont on August 22, 2007.