![]() ![]() Laden with apt, surprising metaphors, her supernatural elements provide incisive, bittersweet commentary on human longing, loss and love. In each story, Ma seamlessly blends the real and the unreal with astonishing confidence and care. And in “Returning,” the wife arrives in an unfamiliar country and learns about a burial ritual that might change her marriage forever. In “Los Angeles,” the woman shares a house with her husband and 100 ex-boyfriends. In “G,” the two friends take a drug that renders them temporarily invisible. ![]() ![]() But within these familiar beats, Ma inserts fantastical conceits, tilting our view of reality, until something strange and new creeps in. For example: A pair of friends have an unhealthy relationship with drugs and each other, a woman is haunted by her romantic history, and a wife deals with losing track of her husband at an airport. The eight tales in Bliss Montage are rooted in familiar, deeply human moments. It’s a lyrical, potent anthology that blends fantasy and reality to dazzling effect. With her story collection, Bliss Montage, all the promise and power of Ling Ma’s 2018 novel, Severance, is gorgeously applied to the art of the short story. There’s no guarantee that a writer who excels at short fiction will naturally succeed at novels, or vice versa, which is why it’s so exciting when a storyteller effortlessly crosses over. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |