![]() In “Yeti Lovemaking,” a woman who goes home with the man who is actually a yeti does not spend the rest of the story recovering from the shock, or running in fear, or marveling that she lives in a world where yetis are real. The odd or uncanny is so real as to be unremarkable. Ma’s dream-like worlds are so dreamlike because they don’t interrogate their status as such. It is truly a Bliss Montage-a film term Ma credits to film historian Jeanine Basinger in the acknowledgments-a joy ride through many different worlds. ![]() The premise of every story shimmers a bit oddly, an oil slick in a parking lot that distorts the picture, just a little bit, but beautifully. A man can unzip his human suit and reveal himself to be a yeti, maybe even give you a pamphlet on yeti lovemaking (“difficult and painful at first, but easy once you’ve done it more than thirty times”). ![]() A drug can make you invisible, but has fallout in your social circle. A woman lives in a house with her 100 ex-boyfriends. The world seems as legible as it is in reality, but with one or two things slightly askance. Ling Ma’s new short story collection, Bliss Montage, out last week, has the uncanny quality of a dream. ![]()
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