3.5 stars rounded up for this collection of strange, thoughtful stories.

There was a lot of good here, hence the rating round up. "G" was the absolute standout in this collection, with the most compelling, developed interpersonal relationship featured in any of these stories, and a really fascinating premise. (I like my weird short stories weird, what can I say?) I also really enjoyed "Los Angeles," "Office Hours," and "Yeti Lovemaking," all of which (in my opinion) committed to the strange and surreal a little more thoroughly than some of the other stories.

This collection wasn't perfect; as some other reviewers have mentioned, I did find the narrator voices a little too similar, sliding into each other and becoming difficult to distinguish at times. Several of the stories ended without giving much closure; it's a common short-story technique which can be done well, but here sometimes felt dissatisfying, like there was something really excellent just a little out of reach, but we didn't quite get there.

All that said: this collection is worth picking up, I think, for "G" and "Los Angeles" alone, and I'll be bumping up Severance on my TBR and looking for more from Ling Ma in the future. Thank you to FSG and Netgalley for the ARC!

I requested this short story collection because I am such a big fan of Severance. This collection has the same cerebral, but haunting vibe as the novel.

As someone who, I think, wasn't as sold by Severance as most others, I came into Bliss Montage with some hesitation. But, wowie, I was wrong. I found the collection to be immensely enjoyable. It's a delicious read, really, and always compelling. The stories vary slightly in theme and form, many of which include some kind of sci-fi element, though always grounded in reality or real human emotion. The characters are so well-rendered; I felt for them all. I truly loved this collection.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the e-galley!

an incredibly interesting collection of stories. the stories show Ling Ma's wide range of skills as an author. i personally loved how some were speculative (some in more subtle ways than others) and others weren't. but mixing them together with shared themes and sometimes characters made the wider world far more interesting.

this is a set of stories about the stories we tell others and tell ourselves.

Big brain energy! To be honest it leaned into dialogue in a way that makes this hard to split reading sessions. At least in my case where I love reading multiple things at the same time.

The short stories in this collection are atmospheric, melancholic, haunting and surreal. Connected mostly through a shared sense of unbelonging or being unseen, they leave the reader with a feeling of unease. Abrupt endings to many of the stories compounds that uneasy feeling. Beautiful, almost poetic prose.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to read this because of how much I adored Severance. I loved this so much. The writing was sparse but evocative. Melancholic and dystopian. Weird but linear. This is in a similar vein as Moshfegh’s Homesick for Another World which is also a collection of zany stories but for me that collection fell flat. It was weird for the sake of being weird and the stories were directionless. This collection is so strong though. Touching on themes of otherness and womanhood, each story was a page turner for me. I’m sad there aren’t more stories. Looking forward to what Ma writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC!

This story collection is imaginative, compelling and so smart. Ling Ma shows us how technology, capitalism, social media, etc. interface with the dark parts of our psyche. There are stories about dark topics like abuse and the writing addresses it directly and from a contemporary, surprising angle. You never know what to expect - the stories are unpredictable. Love this one.

Short story collections are usually a miss for me, but I was (mostly) pleasantly surprised by this one. These stories are bite-sized pieces of fiction that cover themes like immigration and growing up in an immigrant family, the concept of home and belonging, relationship dynamics, language, and more. I could definitely see some parallels to Ling Ma’s debut novel, Severance, and was gripped by the magical realism elements that were weaved into the collection.

My main gripe with short story collections in general (and why I don’t typically enjoy or finish them) is that often the stories feel TOO short, and as a result, underdeveloped. The abrupt endings of some of the stories in this collection were similarly disappointing, but maybe I just don’t understand enough about flash fiction to appreciate what authors are going for when they do this.

Overall I genuinely did enjoy this collection, even if not every story worked for me. My favorites were G and Peking Duck.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This collection comes out September 2022.

These stories were very formally interesting and beautifully written. Fans of Kelly Link will enjoy these.

A short story collection that for me personally just didn’t live up to the expectations of what I had in mind. All the stories started off strong but as they all went along and their stories were developing they just seemed to plunder and start to droop in my enjoyment.

I will say of course as we like to focus more on positives, ling ma is such a brilliant writer and her imagination and thought process to these stories is second to none

I'm going to call most of the stories weird. Ma is a strong writer which made them palatable for me since weird is normally not my thing. I'm going to circle back and read her other book.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

As someone whom LOVED the eeriness of Severance, I knew Bliss Montage would be next on my list. Ling Ma has such an interesting writing style where the reader is left wanting more, in the best way of course. Her short stories were fascinating and such an interesting weird combination, that touched upon an array of topics. I'm so grateful for NetGalley & the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of Bliss Montage.

Publishing date: September 13, 2022
Plushlished By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
e-ARC courtesy of NetGalley

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma was so so so good. I cannot stop gushing over these 8 stories! Each being playful, witty, and a bit dark evoked by a young female immigrants experience. From the opening story where our narrator lives with her 100 ex-boyfriends, to (one of my favorite) stories of fading friends taking G and the elegant descriptions of drifting too far and taking too much, to going home with a man who then later strips off his human skin suit to reveal the hot yetti beneath. There are stories that tackle more universal themes like in "Peking Duck" where we see the effects of immigration affecting a mother and daughter and their relation to each other differently. Nevertheless are these stories more shockingly human the deeper you dive in.

All in all, this Bliss Montage is intelligent, fresh, fun, and I cannot wait for the world to love and adore this collection like I do.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giraux for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“What happens when fantasy tears through the screen of the everyday to wake us up? Could that waking be our end?”

Bizarre and surreal. A collection of unsettling fever dream-like stories that felt like episodes in black mirror.

Ling Ma’s writing style is melancholic and brilliant, so you can understand my frustration when I wasn’t satisfied with the conclusions of her short stories. Let me explain. After reading 2 stories I started to recognize a pattern. The conclusions were so abrupt that I would legitimately sit there and ask myself if somehow my kindle malfunctioned and didn’t download the rest of the story. I understand that some things are supposed to be left to the imagination, but these just felt unfinished. That was until I hit my lightbulb moment later in the book and found the answer in the text (or at least I think I did). I won’t disclose the full conversation from the story (if you read this text, please let’s discuss) but I will leave you with a quote. “The movie doesn’t show you the answers. The ending simply reflects back to us what we all want”. However, even though this shifted my perspective of the curt finality of the stories, I still don’t believe it was my cup of tea.

There are a few stories that stand out to me, but my favorite must be “G”. Imagine taking a drug that makes you completely invisible to the outside world. What would you do? “Do you know how easily the world yields to you when you move through it in an invisibility cocoon? It lifts the tiny anvil of self-consciousness”.

This book now holds some of my favorite quotes of all time, and aside from the conclusions, I adored it. I can’t WAIT for a physical copy so I can annotate the entirety of it.

This is an excellent collection of strange and surreal stories interspersed with some stories of domestic realism that, despite being realist, venture into the extremes of our shared realities. The writing is top notch, the ideas are interesting. Highly recommend.

i think ling ma is extremely talented and i was very excited for this after reading severance
however a lot of these stories don't bring a ton of nuance/commentary to the table - they read like pieces written in your freshman creative writing class
there are a couple where ma really shines - peking duck and g - and i really got a true sense of the message she was trying to create but for a lot of the others it felt too distant/vague for me to really enjoy

I really love the way this author tells stories. Each one took such a unique viewpoint and the descriptions of different things just took you into such a different world each time. It was great. For instance one mentions her 100 ex boyfriends who live in the house but really it's the affect they still have on her. But when she talks about it like they are really there you're so busy trying to make logical sense out of it the meaning and weight of her words really gets you when you see what she's doing. Well done!

I found each of these eight stories compulsively readable, though my satisfaction in the endings varied somewhat. I loved Severance, Ling Ma's first novel, and was very excited to see this collection. The stories were beautiful and surreal, often jarring. I would definitely recommend to any reader of literary short fiction.

Ended up getting a physical copy of this book and will be reviewing that version since I love a physical copy of a short story book. I can't wait to start what Im sure will be a new fave of mine.