The Book of Salt, Monique Truong
The Book of Salt, Monique Truong
List: $21.95 | Sale: $15.37
Club: $10.97

The Book of Salt

Author: Monique Truong

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 10 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/01/2013


Synopsis

"[He] came to us through an advertisement that I had in desperation put in the newspaper." It began captivatingly for those days: "Two American ladies wish…" It was these lines in The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book that inspired The Book of Salt. In Paris, 1934, B├¼nh has accompanied his employers, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, to the train station for their departure to America. His own destination is unclear: will he go with "the Steins," stay in France, or return to his native Vietnam? B├¼nh has fled his homeland in disgrace, leaving behind his malevolent charlatan of a father and his self-sacrificing mother. For five years, he has been the live-in cook at the famous apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus. Before B├¼nh's decision is revealed, his mesmerizing narrative catapults us back to his youth in French-colonized Vietnam, his years as a galley hand at sea, and his days turning out fragrant repasts for the doyennes of the lost generation.

About Monique Truong

Monique Truong was born in Saigon in 1968 and moved to the United States at age six. She graduated from Yale University and the Columbia University School of Law, going on to specialize in intellectual property. Truong coedited the anthology Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry and Prose. Her first novel, The Book of Salt, a national bestseller, has been awarded the 2003 Bard Fiction Prize, the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, and the Young Lions Fiction Award, among other honors. Granting Truong an Award of Excellence, the Vietnamese American Studies Center at San Francisco State University called her “a pioneer in the field, as an academic, an advocate, and an artist.” Truong now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

About Paul Boehmer

J. Paul Boehmer is an American actor best known for his numerous appearances in the Star Trek universe. Hkis audiobook narrations have garnered nine AudioFile Earphones Awards and two prestigious Audie Awards for Best Narration, besides being a finalist for the Audie Award in 2012 and 2015. Between narrations, he is active in regional theaters across the country. His television appearances include guest spots on Nip/Tuck and Numb3rs.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jim on February 02, 2020

A fictional story of Binh, a Vietnamese man who is a cook to two real people in the 1930’s – Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas. Stein ruled the roost by her presence, but Toklas did all the heavy lifting. Toklas typed, edited and proofread all of Stein’s work. She handled schedules, was the bouncer for......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on May 21, 2015

A novel full of distinct ideas and images that never quite came together. 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. He narrates his journey while later employed as a live-in cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, t......more

Goodreads review by Phillip on October 19, 2007

I read this book for a course on queer historical fiction. The story is told by a gay Vietnamese cook who works for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris during the late '20s/early '30s. There's not too much plot, but what's there is dispensed slowly, with another piece being added to several......more

Goodreads review by Anthony on June 06, 2020

In this slim novel, there are some lovely passages that evoke a forlorn loneliness, and the writing about food is quite sensual, depicted in what is often sumptuously poetic prose. But far too often, I longed for Monique Truong to have her narrator speak more clearly to the heart of the matter, rath......more

Goodreads review by Cherie on August 14, 2019

I would like to say that I liked it more, but I just can't. I feel pretty well read, but this story is a mystery of wandering thoughts. Some parts flowed nicely and others were very disjointed and felt completely chopped up. I still do not understand the title, even at the end. There were many obser......more


Quotes

“A fascinating, original, and sharply written story with vivid insights into the world of cooking.” Jacques Pépin, New York Times bestselling author

“The story of the uprooted basket weaver is a parable for the kind of vessel that Monique Truong has fashioned in The Book of Salt. Against the odds, she has made unsettling art from precisely such exotic cuttings and transplantings.” New York Times

“Truong leaps between scenes of Bình’s pleasure and humiliation, using the language of gastronomy to communicate the daily indignities of servitude and colonialism.” Village Voice

“The tone throughout is poignant, lightened by Bình’s subversive wit; for all his bitterness and resentment, he is a captivating narrator, as adept at describing Stein’s literary salon as the contents of Toklas’s kitchen…The narrative rings with emotional authenticity.” Publishers Weekly

“Truong provides a savory debut novel of unexpected depth and emotion.” Booklist


Awards

  • Guardian First Book Award
  • AudioFile Earphones Award