Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Bliss Montage

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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jessi_c's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

To be clear, I haven’t finished the book. I just finished the ‘Returning’ chapter and knew I needed to rate this 5 stars immediately. IMMEDIATELY. No matter how the rest of the book unfolds, it’s 5 stars to me.

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perkyanda's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this! The lack of resolution for the series Is the only aspect I didn’t love. But I loved the three and connection began stories, and the weirdness and realistic feelings and just aching they came through. I can’t wait till she has another novel or collection out!

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siriface's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Such a strange book. I generally fine short stories frustrating because I keep liking for links between them. There was only two with a clear connection, but I kept wondering about the threads in between the others. Nonetheless, it was the most pleasant kind of strange that kept me engaged.

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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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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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