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Winner of the 2024 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much pulls at the threads of daily life, unwinding the ordinary into scenes of humor, introspection, and surprising connection.
Bursting with wit and unexpected warmth, Sofi Stambo's debut welcomes readers in the the vibrant immigrant enclaves of New York, a city of many faces: Little Italy, Little Odessa, Little Sofia. . . Here, transplants dance and laugh their way out of absurd situations and into even messier ones. As they pass through diners, offices, and painter’s workshops, they cast about for new words to match their new realities, reshaping the English language with fresh purpose and greeting chaos with a grin.
Nimble and daring, Stambo's stories lean into curiosity, family, and the old-world bonds that draw her motley characters together.
“Sofi Stambo’s wondrous, unpredictable and extraordinarily perceptive humor lights up these pages, and occasionally even sets them on fire. People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much is a superb investigation into the contrary, bemusing, feral and fearsome facets of our shared human character.”
— Rivka Galchen, author of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
“Sofi Stambo’s prose is effervescent and her humor razor sharp, but it’s her empathy that won my heart. From Bulgarian beaches to city diners, these slice-of-life stories follow characters both heady with hope and noble in defeat, shaping a collection that’s ultimately an ode to the strange wonder of being alive.”
— Priyanka Champaneri, author of The City of Good Death
“In our dark age in which outsiders are easily—and lazily—satanized, Sofi Stambo offers an essential antidote: humanization. There is an ecumenical quality to her perspective. Her characters, no matter where they come from, are quirky, complex, emblematic, and, more than anything else, unique. People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much lusciously pushes immigrant literature to new heights.”
— Ilan Stavans, publisher of Restless Books and author of Sabor Judio: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook