Bliss MontageBliss Montage
What it's about
Eight stories by Ling Ma, author of Severance, where strange things erupt into ordinary lives: a woman lives in a mansion with her husband and all one hundred of her ex-boyfriends; a couple takes a drug that makes them invisible; a woman in an odd relationship gets pregnant; and a writer realizes her story isn't her own.
Why it's worth reading
It won the National Book Critics Circle Award. It's sharp, funny and eerie, about immigrant life, relationships and alienation.
You'll love it if you liked
Tenth of December
Birds of America
Interior ChinatownGood to know
The stories are surreal and often unresolved. There's domestic abuse in one.
By the numbers
- Readers17 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics56 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller17 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz26 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #162 of the 233 romances we rank
- #238 of the 309 literary novels we rank
- #344 of the 481 new books we rank
- #2011 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Adventurous, Moving
If you like this, read next
The Everlasting
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Babel
Framed in Death
Yumi and the Nightmare PainterExplore the best-of lists
All 36 best-of lists →
Quick answers
Is Bliss Montage worth reading?
Yes. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award. It ranks #2,011 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 63.7 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Bliss Montage about?
Eight stories by Ling Ma, author of Severance, where strange things erupt into ordinary lives: a woman lives in a mansion with her husband and all one hundred of her ex-boyfriends; a couple takes a drug that makes them invisible; a woman in an odd relationship gets pregnant; and a writer realizes her story isn't her own.
How long does it take to read Bliss Montage?
About 6 hours (228 pages), or about 2 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has Bliss Montage won?
NBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2022).
What should I read after Bliss Montage?
If you liked it, try Tenth of December by George Saunders, Birds of America by Lorrie Moore or Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu.