Bliss Montage

Ling Ma’s collection contains eight stories where the surreal intersects with the mundane. In one narrative, a woman lives in a house with one hundred of her ex-boyfriends, while in another, a character uses a drug called "Blur" to become physically invisible to the world around her. The stories center on first-generation immigrants, academic environments, and toxic friendships. Characters navigate an ancient ritual involving burying people alive for rebirth and deal with a fictionalized film industry. These scenarios ground abstract feelings of displacement and cultural alienation in physical, though impossible, realities.

Readers who enjoy literary fiction with a focus on alienation and the Asian-American experience will find this collection useful. It appeals to those tired of traditional realism who prefer narratives where the internal psyche is projected onto the external landscape. Readers walk away with a specific vocabulary for describing how memory and trauma shape daily life. The book provides a look at how people maintain relationships or build identities while feeling detached from their immediate surroundings and the expectations of their families.

Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

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