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A review by bookaquarius
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’m having a revelation about short books. I’ve stunned myself at finishing yet another book before the end of the year! I read Bliss Montage by Ling Ma and it was gripping both in terms of prose and thematically. If you want to feel weird about how dangerous, stifling, and dissatisfying heterosexual relationships can be for women this would be a GREAT read to kick off 2025! Also great for anyone who realized their close friend was actually an enemy but only once it was too late and irreversible damage had been done! 🙂↔️
But seriously, I think Ma offers a really intriguing, ominous, and well crafted story collection that touches on a lot of relevant and enticing topics (e.g., not fitting in to romantic relationships, platonic relationships, aftermath of surviving domestic violence, situationships, mothers (omg wait I’m just realizing how completely irrelevant father figures were in these stories hold on…), the future, can we change, etc.). And because this is a speculative fiction collection each topic and story has something weird going on!
Please note there are a few stories with open endings. That’s going to bother me for the rest of my life, I fear. But I respect the craft and I did find it to be an interesting exercise do decide what happened for myself or to run away from thinking about it at all. One thing I do know, the professor was a villain!
But seriously, I think Ma offers a really intriguing, ominous, and well crafted story collection that touches on a lot of relevant and enticing topics (e.g., not fitting in to romantic relationships, platonic relationships, aftermath of surviving domestic violence, situationships, mothers (omg wait I’m just realizing how completely irrelevant father figures were in these stories hold on…), the future, can we change, etc.). And because this is a speculative fiction collection each topic and story has something weird going on!
Please note there are a few stories with open endings. That’s going to bother me for the rest of my life, I fear. But I respect the craft and I did find it to be an interesting exercise do decide what happened for myself or to run away from thinking about it at all. One thing I do know, the professor was a villain!