Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Stories

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). Grace Paley, born in 1922, is well known as a poet, feminist, writer, and antiwar activist. In 1994, herCollected Storieswas a finalist for the National Book Award. She received The Rea Award for the Short Story in 1993 and in 2005, she received the Sarah Josepha Hale Award in recognition for her work in the field of literature and letters. She died in 2007. 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). "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

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). Her most recent work, "The Collected Stories," was published in 1994 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.