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Stories
by Alejandro Varela
A collection of humorous, sexy, and highly neurotic tales about parenting, long-term relationships, systemic and interpersonal racism, and class conflict from the author of The Town of Babylon
The People Who Report More Stress is a collection of interconnected stories brimming with the anxieties of people who retreat into themselves while living in the margins, acutely aware of the stresses that modern life takes upon the body and the body politic.
In "Midtown-West Side Story," Álvaro, a restaurant worker struggling to support his family, begins selling high-end designer clothes to his co-workers, friends, neighbors, and the restaurant's regulars in preparation for a move to the suburbs.
"The Man in 512" tracks Manny, the childcare worker for a Swedish family, as he observes the comings and goings of an affluent co-op building, all the while teaching the children Spanish through Selena's music catalog.
"Comrades" follows a queer man with radical politics who just ended a long-term relationship and is now on the hunt for a life partner. With little tolerance for political moderates, his series of speed dates devolve into awkward confrontations that leave him wondering if his approach is the correct one.
The People Who Report More Stress deftly and poignantly expresses the frustration of knowing the problems and solutions to our society's inequities but being unable to do anything about them.
"A searing collection about gentrification, racism, and sexuality. [...] Varela provides invaluable insight on the ways stress impacts the characters' lives, and how they persevere. Readers will be floored."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The prose shines throughout, with razor-sharp specificity about human nature and an entrancing rhythm ... the collection shows a writer of impressive imagination continuing to deepen his craft."
—Kirkus Reviews
"The People Who Report More Stress blends humor and social commentary with the thing that drives the best fiction: an honest and vulnerable exploration of messy human relationships. Fans of Varela's first novel, as well as newcomers to his work, will find a lot to love in this collection."
—BookPage
"Varela's stories are provocative and witty; while eliciting chuckles they also dispense uncomfortable truths that everyone thinks about but won't address out loud."
—Booklist
"Alejandro Varela's book perfectly captures the stories of the frustration of people who see the inequities in society fully knowing that there isn't much they can do to sway the needle forward."
—Mirtle Peña-Calderon, People en Español
"No one writes fiction that is incisive, socially conscious, and funny as well as Varela, and I'm happy to read anything he publishes."
—David Vogel, BuzzFeed
This information about The People Who Report More Stress was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alejandro Varela (he/him) is a writer based in New York. His debut novel, The Town of Babylon (2022), was published by Astra House and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His work has appeared in the Point Magazine, Georgia Review, Boston Review, Harper's, and the Offing, among others outlets. Varela is an editor-at-large of Apogee Journal. His graduate studies were in public health.
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