jj’s Reviews > Bliss Montage > Status Update

‘Tomorrow’ wasn’t my favourite (maybe cause I was sat cringing half the time) but I get it.

Wow ok. ‘Peking duck’ hits. About stories and framing and reframing. And immigrant stories and mother/daughter relationships. And. And. I’m crying. This should be mandatory reading for any writer writing, in any form, about Asian immigrant experience/characters. Especially in terms or inclusion of parent-child perspectives.

How can I say that “Returning” is about waking up to ‘what wasn’t enough’ is and ‘what once served’ is no longer and that is ok. And much of what we think we know is an illusion and release is more than a pretty word.

Ma’s writing is admirable in its pursuit of describing tangled emotions and tensions that are difficult to articulate. It’s the pause between paragraphs to understand, there is a feeling there but elusive. A call (marco) to the reader’s soul (polo). One day, be it while packing or vacuuming or driving or changing; clarity comes home. The “Returning” is my fav short story in this book so far.

Note: interesting article about the book and author. Last para has useful advice from Ma on writing

https://southsideweekly.com/blissing-...

The short story “G” is the unstabling, gets-under-your-skin story in this book so far. It’s like an ouroboros that give up to inertia or just give up. The striving apathy giving up to inevitability unique to second-gen Western Asian immigrants.