The Book of Salt
Author: Monique Truong
Book: 1/1
Summary: Truong begins her novel in Paris, early 1930s, as the main character Bính bids farewell to his Mesdames leaving for America. From that point on, Bính, a Vietnamese cook, takes us back to his life in Saigon, his Journey to Paris, his past of mysterious lovers, and how he became a cook for the famous Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.
Review: If you love books with stunning poetic language that only sometimes make sense, this book is for you. Starting this book was difficult: I had no understanding of the story structure, and Truong seamlessly switches from Bính’s past, to present, to a few days in the past, to now the present again. I was fairly lost within the first few chapters. Fortunately, I caught on to Truong’s structure pattern and managed to keep up. Another confusing detail was character names. When reviewing his past, Bính introduces characters and their real names, as well as the names he chooses to call them. There were many occasions when I was unsure if he was discussing one character, or two different characters. Despite the confusion, I can’t deny that Truong’s writing is beautiful. It is incredibly poetic and flows nicely from page to page. I even grew attached to the main character as he told stories from his past. A peculiar detail in Truong’s writing is her use of second person narrative. At first I thought Bính was talking to the reader; after reading certain passages again, it seemed that Bính’s narrative voice was in his head, and in his head he was talking to other characters and addressing them as “you.” I can’t recall many books being written like this and it stood out to me. This book was fast-paced and worth the read.
Rating: 3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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