This book did not get nearly enough press for the quality of the stories. Definitely an author with long lasting potential

I enjoyed this collection of stories more than Ling Ma's 2018 pandemic novel Severance, and the Black Mirror-esque narrative conceits were more effective as short-form fiction. Ma is a keen sociological observer of overeducated millennial Asian-Americans with MFAs in New York and LA, especially the quirks of the experience of emigrating from China as a young child. Her prose style is unfailingly precise and insightful, and wonderfully compelling at the sentence level.

Not every story fully delivers on the surreal twists of its science-fictional premises, like the professor's office closet as a portal to Narnia in "Office Hours," and the Eastern European stuck-in-the-airport travelogue in "Returning." But a couple of them really land, especially "G," about a drug that makes its users invisible, and an abusively codependent friendship, and "Peking Duck," a metafictional narrative about a recently-immigrated Chinese mother getting fired from her under-the-table job as a nanny after a cringeworthy experience with a traveling salesman.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I absolutely love Ling Ma's books and she has become one of my new favorite authors! The stories in this book evoked many different emotions and I really enjoy her perspective as a writer.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC. 2022 was a really great year for short stories and novellas and this was one of them. The cover is gorgeous, Ling's writing beautiful, and the stories wild amd haunting. I'm excited to read more for Ling Ma after this.

Every story in this collection surprised me and pulled me in. By the end of each story I was like, "wait I would read a whole book with this premise." Yet, I appreciate that Ma gave us so many interesting, weird worlds in this book. I never know what I'm going to get when I read Ling Ma's writing, except that I'm going to be disoriented in the best way possible.

While the premise of the stories were quirky and interesting, unfortunately I found that the characters were two-dimensional and lacked a resolute emotional core that made them believable. I also did not fully understand the cohesion of the stories, it felt more like the author had a popular novel and this was a collection of her stories she wrote. It diminished the power of the collection though.

A beautiful collection of short stories with Asian American female characters. It's interesting and I enjoyed "100 Boyfriends,, G, and Peking Duck.

Bliss Montage is a great collection of stories. Each story was captivating and left me wishing it was a stand alone book so that could see what happened next.
This was my first ARC and I'm very pleased to say that it was a great read! If you like stories surrounding complicated friendships and toxic relationships- all with a fantastical twist, vou will love this book!
I'm not normally one to enjoy fabled stories, especially when they have a dark twist, but I genuinely enjoyed every single story in this collection.
My favourite stories were G and Office Hours.

I really like Ling Ma’s writing, I enjoyed her first book Severence a lot. This book wasn’t as memorable for me, probably due in fact to my antipathy towards story collections. I think other people would enjoy this, but it was not my favorite.

I really enjoyed this set of short stories, quiet stories with a touch of surrealism, stories that left me thinking about them long after I moved on (I am still thinking of Office Hours days later, it was my favorite). 4 stars because I didn’t like Yeti Lovemaking but this is overall a really strong collection.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC. Opinions all my own!

This will be the crowd pleaser in cruise control. Delectable stories that play out like a Twilight Zone marathon without any of the horror. Instead we delve into weird worlds. Sex with a Yeti. Baby Arms that aren't supposed to grow

Ling Ma's workplace dystopia in "Severance" was so compelling that I will read anything she cares to write. Here, we have a collection of often-surreal short stories mostly revolving around women who feel out of place in some way. My favorite of the batch was "Office Hours," in which a woman reflects on a professor who became a sort of mentor to her and whose job she eventually takes after earning her own doctorate. There's a magical wardrobe in the faculty office, but that touch of magic doesn't prevent the story from capturing some very real elements of workplace interactions and dissatisfactions.

Absolutely fantastic collection of weird and wonderful stories. The first - a building with `100 boyfriends - sets the stage for the rest of this fast and sharp collection.

I loved Ling Ma’s debut novel Severance, and though I don’t typically love short story collections, I knew I had to read this. These stories were phenomenal, connected by discussions of the immigrant experience in America, as well as themes of both surreal travel and fantastical weirdness. I really enjoyed each of these stories, but my main gripe with short stories remained true; they often stop as soon as we get to the good part. I especially felt that with the stories Returning, Office Hours, and Tomorrow, but I don’t see that as a bad thing necessarily, just that the worlds Ma builds are so fascinating I can’t be satisfied with just a peek into them. Ling Ma has absolutely become a new favorite and I will certainly pick up her next work.

Ling Ma has a talent for making the surreal seem completely mundane. The premises of these stories are outlandish—one woman lives with her 100 ex-boyfriends, another takes drugs that turn her invisible, a third has sex with a yeti—yet each story feels utterly relatable, grounded in Ma's distinct style. Bliss Montage is a strange and delightful collection, perfect for anybody looking for something offbeat and unforgettable.

A really fantastic group of stories, so surreal and fun. I was hooked within the first few pages. I don’t usually read collections but this one was a delight, I especially loved the first two back to back stories. Thank you FsG for the arc, I will be reading more of her work!

So strange and yet so real you can feel yourself in each story. I think Ma captured the Asian American woman's experience in the perfect fragments of reality.

3.5★

I am admittedly not a lover of short story collections, and I also wasn't a big fan of Severance by this author either - which was a big surprise to me. I love weird, thought provoking, odd books, and this was definitely that, but there was also quite a bit missing for me.

I usually expect short story collections to be somewhat cohesive in theme, but differentiated enough by characters and plot that the stories are clearly separate. While I did appreciate that the tone and themes were cohesive throughout this collection, I found the narrators to be SO SIMILAR it was hard to separate the stories in my mind. Any one of the narrators could have been another at a different time in their life. Maybe that was intentional, - showcasing how similar humans can be even in different places and with different experiences - but it made me feel really confused for most of the reading experience. Thankfully I read this all in one sitting, or else I know if I would've felt even more lost.

I did not dislike this book by any means, there were some stories that I actually LOVED and felt fully immersed in (Peking Duck, Office Hours, and Returning!!), but as a full collection I felt a little underwhelmed.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Ling Ma's latest book, "Bliss Montage," is collection of brilliant short stories including the New Yorker's "Peking Duck". The highlight, for me a new father, was the haunting "Tomorrow," in which a pregnant woman discovers her unborn baby's arm protruding from her body. Each story is a memorable and thought-provoking read capable of transporting you into Ma's unique world.

I really enjoyed this book! Surreal and somewhat bizarre narratives that are filled with interesting and odd characters. I haven’t read Severance yet, but I certainly intend to after this read!