thoughts on: Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
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to whom it may concern,
welcome to my thoughts on: (a book review of) Bliss Montage by Ling Ma.
i first read this book toward the end of 2023 and finished early in 2024 and wanted to share it with you.
the review
Bliss Montage is a short story collection, published in 2022. it contains 8 stories and follows these plots:
“Los Angeles” – a woman who lives with her 100 ex-boyfriends and her husband in a mansion in LA.
“Oranges” – a woman who follows her abusive ex after seeing him in a grocery store
“G” – 2 women take a pill that makes them invisible, follows their friendship since college (when they met)
“Yeti Lovemaking” – what the title says.
“Returning” – a husband and wife visit the husband's hometown where he partakes in town ritual but the wife is left in the airport without any travel documentation to leave.
“Peking Duck” – a work that explores the limitations and freedoms of a language, through the portrayal of a mother and young daughter both studying ESL.
“Tomorrow” – a pregnant woman where the right arm of her baby sticks out of her body.
a must read if you…
are a sci-fi or fantasy writer. she is bold in her strange worldbuilding yet gives enough detail that it is not confusing.
interested in sci-fi, fantasy, speculative, or “strange” fiction.
want to be unsettled (in a good way).
are looking to explore a different kind of writing/genre. as a person very interested in solely fiction (and not at all in SFF), this was a great way to dip my toes into the water.
hope to employ different techniques in your own creative writing or interested in analyzing the writing. she is very bold with her creative choices and analyzing them is so. much. fun.
specifically in “Los Angeles.”
enjoyed:
K-Ming Chang's Gods of Want.
a skip if you…
want an “easy” read. some of these stories (e.g. “Office Hours,” “Returning”) are hard to read if you're not super focused.
desire something “light.” most of these deal with pretty heavy themes (“Oranges” and “Los Angeles” deals with abusive relationships, "Returning" has a vague TW of suicide, “Office Hours” has somewhat of an age-gap relationship…)
hate ghost stories in any way shape or form. many of these deal with those themes so if you're icky about that stuff, would only recommend the following:
“Los Angeles” when thinking about romantic love and values.
“Yeti Lovemaking” for its silliness.
“Office Hours” for its popularity and acclaim.
“Peking Duck” for its heart and emotion.
“Tomorrow” as an entryway to exploring new genres.
bottom line: definitely read at least “Peking Duck” and “Tomorrow,” though i love the entire collection. in general, absolutely perfect if you’re a creative writer, interested in spec fic, or looking for something vastly different (but still somewhat comfortable).
i hope you like this review! if you read any of these stories, let me know.
also, check out this article where Ma talks about the collection (though it does contain spoilers!).
happy reading!
love,
christyn.