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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
At a certain point, you just have to give up expecting anything to make sense.
“To live is to exist within time. To remember is to negate time.”
Remembering this book itself is a bit of a fever dream. From the very first story, Ling Ma pulls you into a surrealist’s world. And she herself says “It is in the most surreal situations that a person feels the most present, the closest to reality.” And I agree. While the stories were definitely unique, it was the haunting quality of the writing that I liked the most. Her characters describe how romance exists better as possibility, “rather than its realization” and that intimacy requires one to be “partly unconscious”. Ma writes about the paradoxes of existence: the openness of the future that can instead feel crushing, and freedom that terrifies.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I can't decide if I like the way these stories end or if I hate it Each story ends abruptly, often leaving us with no real closure. Some stories like 'G' and 'Office Hours' pull this off quite well while others fall flat (for me). I understand what Ma was going for but I just don't personally enjoy it as a matter of style. The protagonists were all sort of homogenous too, largely interchangeable without much to distinguish them from one another.
Some supporting cast characters also felt almost hyperbolically Caucasian but I can't really speak to that. Maybe there are more folks like that in America than I think there are. It was very much a "waiter this water too spicy" vibe.
Overall, though, it's a pretty good short story anthology with a few pieces that I think will stay with me for a while!
Some supporting cast characters also felt almost hyperbolically Caucasian but I can't really speak to that. Maybe there are more folks like that in America than I think there are. It was very much a "waiter this water too spicy" vibe.
Overall, though, it's a pretty good short story anthology with a few pieces that I think will stay with me for a while!
los angeles: 4stars. so so so good and the writing with the letters are so unique, deliciously repulsive.
oranges: 3.75 stars. damn men.
g: 4 stars. this fucked w my brain just a bit. i dont usually want to experience life from fucked up characters but this time, i wonder. disgustingly good.
yeti lovemaking: 2.5 stars. sorry i didn’t get it, it’s probably me oops.
returning: 3stars
office hours: 3stars
peking duck: 4.5stars. the story is so so so rich and has so many layers, probably one of my favorites. i am proud of the mother for standing up for herself, but also mother and daughter relationships stories will always choke me to tears and scrunch up my face into infinite age lines but that’s the meaning of life i fear.
tomorrow: 4.5 stars. the ending ? the plane? the labour? she’ll never be free. the daughter is not free. or will sheeee idkkkkk. very scrumptious metaphors, disturbing and grotesque but makes me think. i love thinking. tell me more!!!
id say id want to read more of these as actual novels but the beauty of it is that it’s short. love love love, i shall read more of ling ma.
oranges: 3.75 stars. damn men.
g: 4 stars. this fucked w my brain just a bit. i dont usually want to experience life from fucked up characters but this time, i wonder. disgustingly good.
yeti lovemaking: 2.5 stars. sorry i didn’t get it, it’s probably me oops.
returning: 3stars
office hours: 3stars
peking duck: 4.5stars. the story is so so so rich and has so many layers, probably one of my favorites. i am proud of the mother for standing up for herself, but also mother and daughter relationships stories will always choke me to tears and scrunch up my face into infinite age lines but that’s the meaning of life i fear.
tomorrow: 4.5 stars. the ending ? the plane? the labour? she’ll never be free. the daughter is not free. or will sheeee idkkkkk. very scrumptious metaphors, disturbing and grotesque but makes me think. i love thinking. tell me more!!!
id say id want to read more of these as actual novels but the beauty of it is that it’s short. love love love, i shall read more of ling ma.
emotional
reflective
tense
One day, you pick up a book, except this book doesn’t behave like a book. As you flip through the anthology, you find a chamber between the pages leading to a drafty forest with a single, barren road. With nothing more behind you, you follow the road and see a woman crying over her husband as he crawls out of a self-made grave within the trees. Further down, you meet a Yeti, who invites you into a large estate where you find your 100 exes, living and waiting. One of them offers you a dose of G and you become weightless and formless, the book falling from your hands, the stories becoming your own personal fever dream that stretches on and on…
This is how it feels reading “Bliss Montage.” Absolutely bizarre and incredible. I loved every single surreal and self-referential moment from this anthology. While I realize it won’t resonate with everyone (sadly!), I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in absurdist fiction. It reminds me of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Unconsoled,” but I think this montage is more effective as the stories become meta in relation to each other and feed into a growing sense of dread and self-reflection. It’s totally unique, and I want to read everything Ling Ma writes now.
For my own reference, this is my order of favorites: Returning, Office Hours, Peking Duck, G, Yeti Lovemaking, Los Angeles, Oranges, Tomorrow.
This is how it feels reading “Bliss Montage.” Absolutely bizarre and incredible. I loved every single surreal and self-referential moment from this anthology. While I realize it won’t resonate with everyone (sadly!), I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in absurdist fiction. It reminds me of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Unconsoled,” but I think this montage is more effective as the stories become meta in relation to each other and feed into a growing sense of dread and self-reflection. It’s totally unique, and I want to read everything Ling Ma writes now.
For my own reference, this is my order of favorites: Returning, Office Hours, Peking Duck, G, Yeti Lovemaking, Los Angeles, Oranges, Tomorrow.