Ottawa Citizen
These honest and brave tales are less like stories than meditations-about how friends come with attachments, how circles widen, how things are learned.... One of Ms. Hay's most remarkable characteristics as a writer is her great economy, her ability to bring time in and out, to give long thoughts in short phrases, to create levels of intimacy and encroachment to intensify the world by making it tense.
Library Journal
Hay's (A Student of Weather) second book of short stories examines the changing seasons of friendship, its peaks and valleys, joys and betrayals. In many of these tales, she illustrates how the course of friendship at first runs smoothly but invariably transforms itself over time, sometimes even burning itself out. The characters in these interconnected stories come alive and earn readers' sympathy and understanding. Maureen in The Fire or Ivy in The Parents could well be one's neighbor, sister, or grandmother. In spare prose, the stories exert a quiet forcefulness and convey a sense of character, message, and plot without pretense or superficiality. A gifted storyteller, Hay has written a wise, penetrating, and memorable collection of stories that communicates the vulnerable nature of friendship. First published in Canada by Porcupine's Quill in 1997, this collection was a finalist for three literary prizes, including the Trillium Award. Very highly recommended for academic and public libraries.Lisa Nussbaum, Dauphin Cty. Lib. Sys., Harrisburg, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
From the Publisher
Compelling. . . . These linked stories are not so much conventional narratives as unflinching meditations on ambivalent love, the only love worth writing about, as John Updike once said. What readers and even literary jurors are responding to is how close to the bone Hay’s fiction is.” —Montreal Gazette
“One of Ms. Hay’s most remarkable characteristics as a writer is her great economy, her ability to bring time in and out, to give long thoughts in short phrases, to create levels of intimacy and encroachment, to intensify the world by making it tense.” —Ottawa Citizen
“Small Change takes real risks and is an idiosyncratic and bitterly intelligent collection of stories. It is also, paradoxically, both timeless and as fresh as new paint.” —Elisabeth Harvor
“Hay brings together in [Small Change] the revelatory power of narrative, the analytical possibilities of the personal essay and memoir, the investigative discipline of journalism, and the sudden illumination of lyric, and as a result she seems able to pick up almost everything—everything said, and most of what is only whispered in a gesture or a look between friends. . . . Endlessly rewarding. . . . These stories are beautifully written and carefully honed.” —The Malahat Review
“Stories that capture those details, moments, that someone less observant, less sensitive would miss. Language that flows as easily as water.” —Jury Citation, Governor General’s Literary Awards
“Captivating. . . . Fluid, evanescent, rarely in balance, the friendships recounted in these stories are everything but peaceful.” —Toronto Star
“Hay knows how to make a line breathe, and it’s possible to open the book at random to find sharp, almost electric, prose leap out and give off light. . . . Through sparkling prose, Hay is able to flesh out the quirky and individual gestures that make out relationships. . . .” —Ottawa XPress
“One of Canada’s premier writers. . . .” —Canadian Forum
