Reviews

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

ll104duke's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

remidee's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

aweekinthelife's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

buddy read this one with a friend, which was a fun way to talk about each story. a very Asian American experience without the stories being aggressively/over-stated Asian American, which i enjoyed (lots of subtler discussions about power dynamics and relationships). some of the stories were wacky and brief while others, i wish continued because they left me with so many questions! 

favorite curse from the first story: 

I want to unleash a million babies inside him and burden him with their upbringing.

lorenaslibrary's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

 “A boy, at best, can adore his mother, but a girl can understand her. When the doctor told me it was a girl, I thought, Now I will be understood.”

Bliss Montage - a collection of stories that are ordinary and outlandish. Everything seems normal, routine, and boring until Ling Ma drops a sentence that gets you saying, "wait what? she's living with 100 boyfriends" "wait what? her baby's arm is just hanging out throughout her pregnancy?" "wait what? a SINGLE orange for $2.98???" 

It's absurd and very A24esque. Perfect for readers who liked Cursed Bunny and ~weird~ books. 

caroline88's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kelsreadsthings's review against another edition

4.0

i love weird little books

grace_k_reads's review against another edition

Giving Murakami but LA and I am not yet in the mood

yaboigreenmario's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

4.0

raaaaaaaach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

magalich's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 

"The sanest way forward- you have to learn how to split yourself up, like an earthworm."

Ling Ma's Bliss Montage is a collection of short stories filled to the brim with descriptive imagery and eccentric, otherworldly circumstances. One character lives in a house with 100 of her ex-boyfriends. Another character finds a portal to an alternate setting in an armoire. 

Although the majority of these stories are vastly different from each other plot-wise, they all appear to be created in an attempt to analyze the individual's fear of normalcy and routine. In "Office Hours", Marie has a stable job which she has grown to hate due to its repetitive and monotonous nature. But as a child of immigrants, she feels a responsibility to accept this stability as it is a fruit of the arduous effort her parents made when moving to a foreign land. As someone who is also the daughter of immigrants, this unease/guilt that stems from dreading the privilege of comfort was something I found to be very relatable, which helped me connect with and enjoy the stories more.  

The subject of the fear of routine in a fictional, dramatized setting is not something that is new to Ma. In Severance, the universe in which Candace, the main character, is in, there's an infection named Shen Fever that has left the world in shambles. Those that are infected find themselves stuck in a continuous loop, their only escape being death. As someone who shares the same fear, I enjoy that Ma has continued to explore this subject through some of these short stories in this collection. The standouts for me were: "Oranges", "Office Hours", and "Peking Duck" (the ending of the latter devastated me). 

Now that I have read Bliss Montage and Severance, I can confidently say that Ling Ma is one of the authors who I will be eagerly anticipating new releases from. Not only does she have a wonderful way of expressing emotions that many first-gen people grapple with; but through her writing, she also manages to create eccentric universes that distort emotions that are familiar to the reader, thereby creating a space for the individual to reconceptualize that which was previously unquestioned.