Navigating constantly changing social and familial relationships, the characters in M. Jay Smith’s stories strive to hold everything together and stay true to their convictions in the process.
Cantaloupe! brings us nine juicy stories about trying (and failing) to do the right thing – about yearning to stay true to yourself in a culture that demands compromise. With razor-sharp prose and a bit of slapstick humour, M. Jay Smith contemplates how identities smudge into each other, how they shout and push and wither and explode under pressure. These stories poke at the complexity of Indigeneity, gender, disability, and class. Childhood experiences exert a jagged and haunting influence on motherhood. The climate is collapsing. No matter what, it seems one’s best intentions go a little bit awry.
