"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 People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much made my heart quicken. Her stories take the reader to the cusp of everything--heartbreak, hilarity, loss, rediscovery, and a deep sense of longing for that thing we call home. And I completely fell for Stambo's half-real, half-surreal characters, who are also animals, reminding us that our mammalian past is filled with frolic and hope even in the dark. I'm smitten." -- Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Book of Joan and Thrust "What a beautifully unnerving, supremely accomplished and altogether exhilarating collection. Stambo slays.

" -- Junot Díaz, author of This is How You Lose Her "I can't remember the last time I read a debut collection with such excitement. This is a thrilling book: hilarious, surreal, humane, startlingly wise. Sofi Stambo is a brilliant new voice, exhilaratingly original." -- Garth Greenwell, author of Small Rain and What Belongs to You "Sofi Stambo is an incredible writer--sly and intelligent, compassionate and sharp--who brilliantly straddles the line between comedy and despair sentence by sentence, story by story. People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much is a gorgeous collection that manages to be both historically rich and timeless, as well as a deft exploration of what home means when one's homeland, Bulgaria in this case, has changed so much and so often. A stunning and important new book by a writer with talent in spades." -- Molly Antopol, author of The Unamericans "Stambo's direct and unadorned writing, her pithy, sometimes stinging observations, make her a particularly convincing storyteller. Impressive, too, is her comedic timing, often lightening--without dismissing--heavier realities.

'" -- Terry Hong, Shelf Awareness "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.