Please try again. Her first novel,The Book of Salt, a national bestseller, was awarded the 2003 Bard Fiction Prize, the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, and the Young Lions Fiction Award, among other honors. She graduated from Yale University and the Columbia University School of Law, going on to specialize in intellectual property. Since Binh was born and raised in Vietnam but currently resides in Paris, he can be described as a First Generation immigrant. 'The Book of Salt' is a self-described "comedy-horror" that explores radicalisation, conservatism, fundamentalism and all its bulls**t. Part immersive theatre, part absurdist comedy, all sermon. In this Book. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Overall worth reading, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2016. He finds this photo hidden away in the cabinet where Gertrude Stein keeps her writing journals. He narrates his journey while later employed as a live-in cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, two esteemed women who operate a literary salon in Paris. I would tend to agree with the reviewer who gave The Book of Salt a strong 3-star rating. Reviews are typically positive. The starred advance reviews and enthusiasm from top booksellers confirm the impact, richness, and beauty of this work told from the perspective of the Vietnamese cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. We learn early on that Binh the Vietnamese man is the house cook for the Steins in Paris, as in Gertrudestein and Miss Toklas. We had arrived at the Gare du Nord with over three hours to … Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, No Import Fees Deposit & $8.20 Shipping to United Kingdom. Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2012. To invest time in a novel I need to care about at least one of the main characters and this one left me feeling quite neutral about all of them. A main character whose tragedy is to exist on the cusp of language, Bin produces a rich and varied narrative across oceans of memory and the grubby, isolated bricks-and-mortar here and now. The Book of Salt included a lot of Monique Truong's debut book centers on Binh, a gay Vietnamese cook who flees Saigon in 1929 to work as a galley hand at sea. Breath from Salt is an inspiring book. Not for sale in mainland China. It is also about food which is given much description in this novel. Salt brings out flavor in food and has important functions in the body, but most Americans eat unhealthy amounts of it. The Book of Salt is the first novel-length work by Truong. Perhaps I need to reread this work as I feel that maybe I missed something very profound; but then again, maybe not. Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2008. The vat was boiled for several hours and when the water had evaporated, it produced very white salt granules. [2] Salt also implies homosexuality in terms of the Biblical connotation of salt, in particular to the turning of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt for looking back at her home, to the city of Sodom. Please try again. He is a French chef who takes Bình, his kitchen boy, on as a translator in the Vietnamese produce market. A previously unknown (to me) Vietnamese novelist whose work I look forward to reading. Life, in this story, is lived under the surface. The Book of Salt is such a touching novel with Binh, the Vietnamese cook, who works for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris, mixing his metaphors as he … Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. One offshoot of colonialism, as put forth by Edward Said, is Orientalism, a system of studying, subjugating, and "othering" the Orient in order to set it off against the West. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Chef Blériot is the head chef at the Governor-General's house in Vietnam. We meet Ho Chi Minh. In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. As a result, he shows that stories are just like pictures. Flavors, seas, sweat, tears — The Book of Salt is an inspired feast of storytelling riches. His story centers in Paris in his life as the cook in the home of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and is supplemented by his memories of his childhood in French-colonial Vietnam. Binh describes how salt can mean different things depending on where it comes from: kitchen, sweat, tears, or the sea. In her beautifully written debut, Gabriela Garcia presents a new classic of mother-daughter literature. For example, Binh describes how in Paris he is simply seen as French Indochinese, with no effort being taken to ascertain if he is from Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia. It focuses in large part on the role of the central character as the cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas and their friends who include young Ernest Hemingway. His relationship with Bình begins with the employment of the chef and evolves into a romantic relationship. Viewing his famous mesdames and their entourage from the kitchen of their rue de Fleurus home, Binh observes their domestic entanglements while seeking his own place in the world. "Profound Acts of Intimacy. The two develop a romantic relationship, the unprofessional and interracial nature of which results in Bình's dismissal from the kitchen. Truong coedited the anthology Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry and Prose. It has a fascinating concept. 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