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martinatan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Because I had this as an audiobook, there are w few stories that went completely over my head so I can’t fully attest to every moment of the collection. That being said, I really enjoyed the strange and diverse array of concepts that the different narrators found themselves in the middle of. Audiobooks make it a little difficult to catch when the narrator would change, but it was a cool moment to see the accent of one character signify a POV shift in one of the stories. As a Chinese American, I also really appreciated the relatable experiences with microaggressions, family dynamics that were key to the narratives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Racism, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Murder
kkulhannie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
jfin54's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
plxtoprojector's review against another edition
challenging
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Medical content, Grief, and Stalking
Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
valent1ne's review against another edition
3.75
very strange & very fascinating
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Racism
Moderate: Pregnancy
clovetra's review against another edition
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
blueyogi's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, and Xenophobia
Minor: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, and Sexual harassment
rosemaryandrue's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence
Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
ninahuynh's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content
jpn99's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism