The Book of Salt: A Novel
by Monique Truong
- Used
- near fine
- Paperback
- Condition
- Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0618446885
- ISBN 13
- 9780618446889
- Seller
-
Arlington, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: Houghton Mufflin / Mariner Books, June 2004. Trade Paperback. Near Fine. Interior pristine. Spine straight, tight and uncreased. Covers clean and bright with slight corner wear. Not from a library. No remainder mark. 261 pages.
A novel of Paris in the 1930s from the eyes of the Vietnamese cook employed by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. 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. In a mesmerizing tale of yearning and betrayal, Monique Truong explores Paris from the salons of its artists to the dark nightlife of its outsiders and exiles. She takes us back to Binh's youthful servitude in Saigon under colonial rule, to his life as a galley hand at sea, to his brief, fateful encounters in Paris with Paul Robeson and the young Ho Chi Minh.
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, a brilliant first novel by acclaimed Vietnamese American writer Monique Truong. In Paris, in 1934, Bính 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? Bính 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 Bính'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. Bính knows far more than the contents of the Steins' pantry: he knows their routines and intimacies, their manipulations and follies. With wry insight, he views Stein and Toklas ensconced in blissful domesticity. But is Bính's account reliable? A lost soul, he is a late-night habitué of the Paris demimonde, an exile and an alien, a man of musings and memories, and, possibly, lies. Love is the prize that has eluded him, from his family to the men he has sought out in his far-flung journeys, often at his peril. Intricate, compelling, and witty, the novel weaves in historical characters, from Stein and Toklas to Paul Robeson and Ho Chi Minh, with remarkable originality. Flavors, seas, sweat, tears The Book of Salt is an inspired feast of storytelling riches.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Books of the World (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- RWARE0000004047
- Title
- The Book of Salt: A Novel
- Author
- Monique Truong
- Format/Binding
- Trade Paperbac
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0618446885
- ISBN 13
- 9780618446889
- Publisher
- Houghton Mufflin / Mariner Books
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- June 2004
- Pages
- 261
- Size
- 8vo
- Keywords
- fiction, domestic, historical, LGBT, LGBTQ, Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas, authors, cooking, gay men, women, Americans, Vietnamese, Saigon, Vietnam, Paris, France
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction; Erotica; Vietnam and the Vietnam War; France; Domestic and Family Fiction; Feminism, Women's Studies, and Gender Issues;
Terms of Sale
Books of the World
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Remainder Mark
- Usually an ink marking of some sort which indicates that the book was designated a remainder. In most cases, it can be found on...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Trade Paperback
- Used to indicate any paperback book that is larger than a mass-market paperback and is often more similar in size to a hardcover...