Reviews with content warning for Racism - Bliss Montage

What a wonderfully strange collection of stories! I enjoyed reading these real-stories with varying levels of fantastical elements. They felt both grounded and other-worldly, feeling like real versions of our messed up world and messed up lives, in the most interesting possible way. I got something out of each story; none felt weak to me. My absolute favorite was "Returning", and I also really enjoyed "Los Angeles", "G", "Yeti Lovemaking", and "Office Hours." If you are looking for similar vibes, I might recommend Temporary by Hilary Lechter.

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valent1ne's review against another edition

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3.75

very strange & very fascinating

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clovetra's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

i went in thinking i was gonna love this book. and my main criticism was that i was just bored.
reading this i fully understand why people would love this! i just did not like the writing style at all. and i don't even mean all the speculative fiction. the voice used just didn't vibe with me. it felt very soulless and made me bored. but i did want to see what happened so this is why i did not dnf (also i didn't want any dnfs for 2023 lol don't ask me why) (its probably my autism)
i found it overall incredibly hard to connect with the writing, and not many of the stories were memorable to me.
now a big issue i could've possible had with this book is that this is very. ummm. Smart. writing. and i read this when i had covid! so i may have simply been too dumb to comprehend this and im not even joking bro covid gives me worms for brains.
i found this hard to rank too! like some stories i loved and some i wanted to claw my eyes out because of boredom. in the end i decided to just average out my scores per story but i did round down because ummmmm i wanted to. so lets delve into the stories individually !
los angeles: ok lowkey an odd way to start an anthology! um i kind of enjoyed this one? i liked how it ties into the next one but. the ending is weird. i also did not get what metaphor this is supposed to be! like i couldn't tell if she actually had 100 boyfriends living with her or if she was just a bit insane. did have a bit of a fun time though i won't lie. 2/5
oranges: this one fades into the background for me. i feel like the overall meaning is a bit clearer, as is the protag's voice. i cannot remember anything remarkable about this except where she enters the house. 1/5
g: so cute! this one actually had my attention, as i could empathise with the narrator, but yet again i have no idea what happens at the end lmao. could be my covid brain forgetting what i previously read, could be because my brain thought it wasn't important. the world will never know. 3/5
yeti lovemaking: easily one of the best in this anthology. so insane. balls to the wall core. i love the tenderness displayed and also just how insane this concept is. 4/5
returning: umm this was crazy! i love how a random country was made up i think that's so silly in a good way. anyways i like the interpersonal conflict, as well as the small exerpts from the in universe book. 3/5
office hours: ehh. it was a story. i didn't really find anything to enjoy in this. i think this is just a personal taste thing here, as i could see how this would be considered amazing. i kind of didn't like the protagonist, and not in a "love to hate" way but in a "ur boring" way. oops. 2/5
peking duck: ugh this was great. i forgot i was reading in this one. no comments. 5/5
tomorrow:aaaannnddd im bored again. i did like the dystopian-reality-core, but im sorry the arm really freaked me the fuck out. i could NOT get over the arm. also, with the other stories the ambiguous endings were chill! this ending just annoyed me ngl. i honestly think this should've been moved to the middle as for me, it ruins the pacing of the stories, and probably flows better next to g. but that's just me also shoving the stories i didn't like into one place. also i didn't write this so i should shut the fuck up. anyways personally this is a 2/5.
um i kind of want to read Severance because I've heard such good shit about it!!!! but i also heard good shit bout this and i didn't particularly live laugh love so. we'll see.
anyways much love clover-nation. and ling ma. mainly ling ma im so sorry my love

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blueyogi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious slow-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

4.0

In Bliss Montage, a woman and her family live in the same house as her one hundred ex-boyfriends, women trapped in a toxic friendship take a drug that makes themselves invisible, and a pregnant woman must caretake the protruding arm of her fetus as she awaits giving birth to the rest of it.

The distance from everyday life that fantasy brings us can be used to magnify reality, and Ling Ma takes takes ample advantage of this in Bliss Montage, a short story collection that examines themes such as family, ownership of experiences, and above all alienation.

The writing combines an unnerving flat affect with startlingly beautiful turns of phrase, and the each story are dense enough in its own way that I was left with something to chew over long after I'd finished listening to it. My favorite stories were "Peking Duck," which discusses if a daughter can claim ownership of her mother's disturbing encounter with a door-to-door salesman, and "Returning," where a couple return to an ancestral country to see a festival in which participants bury themselves alive to transform themselves.

However, sometimes the detachment of the narrators starts to become a bit much - they all seemed to be a little too similar to each other, anxious, alienated women with unsatisfying lives, as though we were seeing the same person in alternate universes. I felt that if there had been more variation in the main characters, the stories could have tapped a richer vein of themes to explore. Some of the stories were also too opaque and open-ended for my taste - "Yeti Lovemaking" in particular comes to mind.

I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Katharine Chin. I thought she did an excellent job - her gentle tone captures the detached yet conflicted tone of the narrators, but also conveys the strongly ironic strain that permeates many of the stories. This is a case where the choice of narrator really elevates the experience of the book.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

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ninahuynh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

2.0

This was quite the read. There were times I thought maybe the stories connected, but then the story would go into confusing narration. It may be because I was not in the mindset for this type of narrative, but boy was it difficult to get into. The only story that really intrigued me and I actually remember is the yeti story. I usually like odd stories but these were not for me; I was just confused on what I was reading for most of the time. It might have been bliss for me to still have this on my tbr.

Interesting concepts; execution did not work for me.

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jpn99's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

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skyba3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Such a great book! Wonderfully written and imaginative. I l sometimes didn’t even know I’d entered the fantasy until it was blatantly obvious. It was disturbing, sad, beautiful, and sometimes even creepy (I’m talking to you, office hours)? It was witty, imaginative, and sometimes very jarring. I just really loved this one. I will note that most stories end very ambiguously (which I loved), so I’m not sure many would enjoy not receiving a clear answer, but I loved how the end of each story allowed me to take a beat and think about the meaning of the story, the imagery and symbols, what the fantasy was and what it represented. It was a very beautiful book, and I think anyone can easily pick up this book. It’s amazing what Ling Ma does to build a story so quickly and so engaging. I often struggle getting into new novels but each short story was enticing from the start.

Also - I wanted to note that this book would be very easy to listen to as an audiobook (try libby).

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