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A review by abdullah
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
4.0
Bliss Montage is a short story collection that discusses intimate relationships, immigrant life & feelings, societal & parental expectations etc while having elements of magic realism and weird stuff (one story is called Yeti Lovemaking) going in almost every story. I really liked Ling Ma's ideas and her writing which is concise and thoughtful.
The collection starts off strong with two stories, Los Angeles & Oranges , that are interlinked and are about a woman who lives with her husband and her 100 ex-boyfriends. Her husband talks with $ signs and a few of her ex-boyfriends are not so good. This tackles 'moving on' and abuse really interestingly and is definitely one of my favourite stories from this collection.
The three stories after this: G, Yeti Lovemaking, and Returning , have really interesting and unique plots but they, unfortunately, feel half-baked and I didn't end up caring about them that much. They have weird and honestly cool ideas and I would've liked them more if they were a little bit more fleshed out and didn't just feel like "interesting ideas". Out of the three Returning is definitely the one I felt most invested in and liked the most.
And the last three, Office Hours, Peking Duck, and Tomorrow , are all wonderful and great with Peking Duck being my favourite of the entire collection. Office Hours has interesting relationships, portals, and a recurring motif of escapism and its fantasy. Peking Duck talk about authorial licence & appropriation and the struggles of first-gen immigrants in the US and links these two topics in a way that's just genius. There's a point in this story where the narrative changes to a different point of view that is just so fitting to the story, I loved it. And Tomorrow is set in a future dystopian-esque world following a pregnant woman who is haunted by her immigrant family's expectations and it's also weird but also heartwarming.
I enjoyed reading these stories and I want to check out Severance sometime this year.
The collection starts off strong with two stories, Los Angeles & Oranges , that are interlinked and are about a woman who lives with her husband and her 100 ex-boyfriends. Her husband talks with $ signs and a few of her ex-boyfriends are not so good. This tackles 'moving on' and abuse really interestingly and is definitely one of my favourite stories from this collection.
The three stories after this: G, Yeti Lovemaking, and Returning , have really interesting and unique plots but they, unfortunately, feel half-baked and I didn't end up caring about them that much. They have weird and honestly cool ideas and I would've liked them more if they were a little bit more fleshed out and didn't just feel like "interesting ideas". Out of the three Returning is definitely the one I felt most invested in and liked the most.
And the last three, Office Hours, Peking Duck, and Tomorrow , are all wonderful and great with Peking Duck being my favourite of the entire collection. Office Hours has interesting relationships, portals, and a recurring motif of escapism and its fantasy. Peking Duck talk about authorial licence & appropriation and the struggles of first-gen immigrants in the US and links these two topics in a way that's just genius. There's a point in this story where the narrative changes to a different point of view that is just so fitting to the story, I loved it. And Tomorrow is set in a future dystopian-esque world following a pregnant woman who is haunted by her immigrant family's expectations and it's also weird but also heartwarming.
I enjoyed reading these stories and I want to check out Severance sometime this year.