A review: Bliss montage stories, Ling Ma
How I review books;
Top notes - a first impression. A practical summary of everything you need to know including a completely biased view on how much I liked the cover.
Middle notes - the foundation. Readability / structure and characters.
Base notes - the impression. Interpretation and everything else.
Top notes:
Eight short stories, all different and all slightly disturbing - 228 pages in total.
I love this cover and I love oranges (Severance, another book by Ling Ma also has a great cover). Soft pages and easy to read without having to crease the spine. The sort of book you want to leave out because of how good it looks.
Middle notes:
You may find your favourite story amongst the 8 in total. Personally, I can’t say which story was my favourite. I feel that each time I read this book and the stories within - I will feel or think something different. I was sometimes left with more questions than answers. But one thing is for sure - I thought about and keep thinking about this book, a long time after reading it. Each story leaves you with a certain feeling of unease and it is unlike any book I have read before.
The women at the centre of each story are all different but discernibly similar to each other - they are all very much the main character.
Base notes:
Los Angeles - A woman who lives in a house with her husband, two children, au pairs and her 100 ex boyfriends. As the story unfolds we learn more about these boyfriends and 2 in particular - Adam and Aaron. The story is scattered with some difficult memories (Adam) and the story of her Husband whom she met on LoweredExpectations.com and who only speaks in $$$$$ $$$$ $.
“He jumps beyond my reach. But I am close. I am so, so close.”
Oranges - A woman follows her ex boyfriend, called Adam. I placed the Adam from the Los Angeles story into this one - due to the similar theme and name. Adam is the abusive ex boyfriend of our main character. She decides to follow him home one evening. Whilst looking into his ‘home’ that he seemingly shares with a new partner (Beth), Beth comes outside and invites our main character in, which she does and proceeds to sit down at a table with Beth and Adam, recounting what happened in their relationship.
“And I was just a stranger, a dinner crasher. Someone who was just a storyteller.”
G - This story is a reminder that not only romantic relationships have the ability to be toxic or unhealthy. As a reader we get an insight into the background of the drug ‘G’ and the relationship between Bea and her friend Bonnie. A story of jealousy and betrayal.
“In the past year of distancing myself, I felt like a swimmer coming up for air... I learnt to trust the appearance of things.”
Yeti lovemaking - Desire?!?!
“Do you want to pet my fur?”
Returning - A husband leaves his wife on the plane after they land, in his home town of Garboza. Travelling together to attend the Morning Festival, where people are buried alive in an attempt to ‘transform’. Their story unfolds and the reality of the Morning Festival becomes apparent.
““It’s my journal,” I corrected quickly. “It’s not fiction.””
Office hours - Based at a university, a non-romantic relationship between a student and a lecturer. Another world and a story that left me not knowing what it all meant…
“What came from that world was not meant to live in this one.”
Peking duck - The main character is a writer who captures her mother’s experiences in work. The story is separated into 6 distinct sections. For me the theme of this story is that the same story can have many different perspectives and narratives - the question is; who owns a story?
“My therapist says that it is always better to acknowledge reality. ”
Tomorrow - A pregnancy, the decline of the US and pollution’s affect on health. A narrator telling the story of Eve.
“Do you have a pamphlet or something?”
Ms ASK