Escaping the Reality with Surreal “Bliss Montage”
Not knowing where the story will take you is the best
I love the stories with an absurd, eerie twist.
Stories that talk about things that are not often discussed out loud.
“Bliss Montage” is exactly that.
Ling Ma explores abusive/toxic relationships. The reality that Asian Americans have to deal with. Friendships and co-dependency. Ambitions and societal pressure.
All through an absurd lense reminding me of magic realism.
In Ma’s stories, a woman is living with her husband and also with her 100 ex-boyfriends. Yes, they all fit in one house.
A girl takes a drug known as G, which is capable of making you disappear.
A character goes through an ancient ritual of burying alive, which can either kill you or heal you.
I heard “Bliss Montage” as an audio book, and I sort of regret it now. I think I would be more absorbed in these eerie stories if I read them on Kindle.
I should also say that most stories tend to end in a rather abrupt way, so with an audio book, you are just left there in the middle of packing up your house for a move, wondering what just happened, and whether I heard this right.
Anyway, if you like stories that feel raw, absurd, but captivating, I can recommend this book.
You will enjoy it most if you don’t have any expectations of what it might be.
Beer of the day got to be citrusy, to go well with today’s book cover.
(I never post a book review without a beer picture, this is just not who I am)
It will be Allagash White, one of my favorite wheat beers. It tastes like orange, coriander, and perfection 🍊✨
