"Composed of the title novella and three short stories, People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice sensitively explores gender, friendship, romance, love, human interaction and its absence, and how a misogynistic society limits women and men. In the title story, Nanamori and Mugito, two university students appalled by society's gendered roles, rebel. Refusing to interact with other people they use stuffed toys for emotional support. In "Realizing Fun Things Through Water," a young woman named Hatsuoka must contend with a mother-in-law who swears by cancer-preventing "hyper-organization" water, and a sister who writes fake news for a living. "Bath Towel Visuals" illuminates the mental cost of not just laughing along at mean humor, while "Hello, Thank You I'm Okay" follows a family's response when their shut-in son announces he wants to throw himself a birthday party. These stories, sometimes comical, sometimes bittersweet, and always thought-provoking, speak to the pain and desires of all who embrace nuance, repudiate traditional sex roles, and long for a gentler and more tolerant world."