The Book of Salt - Monique Truong [0]
Monique Truong
* * *
A MARINER BOOK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
Boston • New York
* * *
ACCLAIM FOR MONIQUE TRUONG AND The Book of Salt
"Evocative and complex ... Readers are in for much pleasure from this new novelist. The Book of Salt is a lovely book.
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Perfectly rendered.—O: The Oprah Magazine
"Fascinating ... The mood of Truong's Book of Salt is one of melancholy and loss, love and food, and Binh's delight in that other gift of the tongue, language.
—New York Times Book Review
"More impressive and ambitious than most contemporary first works of fiction ... Displays its author's supple imagination on every page.—Los Angeles Times
"Delicately wrought ... Truong writes in a seductively sensuous prose.—Newsday
"This double impersonation, of the Vietnamese chef and the American expatriates, is a skillfully prepared dish, coddled by accomplished hands." —Boston Globe
"Truong has a talent that inspires awe, as well as eager anticipation of what she may give us in the future.
—San Jose Mercury News
"Adds a brilliant twist to the old tales of the Lost Generation in Paris ... A grand and magical narrative ... As a poignant story of survival, and as a fresh portrait of a famous time and place, The Book of Salt is a splendid triumph.—Baltimore Sun
"A rich, poetic feast of a novel ... Rarely have the properties, the symbolism and the sensuousness of different foodstuffs been so articulately and emotively described."—Guardian
"A sumptuous tale of cooking, language, cravings, and cruelty."
—Village Voice
"A story of beguiling sensuality."—Times
"Stunning ... So poetic is Truong's prose that at certain moments it resembles verse."—Out.com
"[Truong] clearly is worthy of our ongoing attention ... Read and savor."—Miami Herald
"Full of amusing details, wonderful oddities, and thoughtful observations."—Black Book
"Dazzling ... A tour de force. Truong should take literate America by storm."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A delectable fictional memoir ... Truong provides a savory debut novel of unexpected depth and emotion."—Booklist
"A mesmerizing narrative voice, an insider's view of a fabled literary household and the slow revelation of heartbreaking secrets contribute to the visceral impact of this first novel ... The narrative rings with emotional authenticity."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
* * *
First Mariner Books edition 2004
Copyright © 2003 by Monique T. D. Truong
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Visit our Web site: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-30400-4
ISBN-10: 0-618-30400-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-44688-9 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-618-44688-5 (pbk.)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Truong, Monique T. D.
The book of salt / Monique Truong.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-618-30400-2
ISBN: 0-618-44688-5 (pbk.)
1. Vietnamese—France—Fiction. 2. Stein, Gertrude, 1874–1946—Fiction. 3. Americans— France—Fiction. 4. Toklas, Alice B.—Fiction. 5. Paris (France)—Fiction. 6. Women authors—Fiction. 7. Domestics—Fiction. 8. Vietnam—Fiction. 9. Gay men—Fiction. 10. Cookery—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3620.R86B66 2003
813'.6 —dc2i 2002192152
Book design by Melissa Lotfy
Typefaces: Garamond 3 and ExPonto
Printed in the United States of America
MP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
* * *
For my father, a traveler who
has finally come home
* * *
THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN ON TWO ISLANDS, in two countries, three states, and five cities. It has been a trying, scary, but above all an amazing journey. For making the amazing parts possible, thank you to the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship, Fundacion Valparaiso, Corporation of Yaddo, Hedgebrook, Lannan Foundation, Asian American Writers' Workshop, Barbara Tran, Andrea Louie, Quang Bão, Hanya Yanagihara, David L. Eng, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Elaine Koster, Janet Silver, Lori Glazer, Carla Gray, Jayne Yaffe Kemp, and Deborah DeLosa.
I might never