Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About The Book of Salt
"A lush, fascinating, expansive first novel about exile." — New York Times
"An irresistible, scrupulously engineered confection that weaves together
history, art and human nature . . . Truong has, after much deliberation,
cultivated a veritable feast." — Los Angeles Times
"[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.
Questions for Discussion
We hope the following questions will stimulate discussion for reading groups
and provide a deeper understanding of The Book of Salt for every reader.
-
"Gertrude Stein thinks it is unfathomably erotic that the food she is
about to eat has been washed, pared, kneaded, touched, by the hands of her
lover." How is food — and cooking — used as seduction in The Book of Salt?
Compare the meals between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas with the meals Bính
shares with Sweet Sunday Man and the man on the bridge. How is the reader also
seduced or persuaded by these meals? Have you ever wooed someone with what you
fed them?
- Bính says, "All my employers provide me with a new moniker, whether they
know it or not . . . Their mispronunciations are endless, an epic poem all their
own." How is Bính "lost in translation" in The Book of Salt? His interior
monologue is lush and eloquent, but he can speak only a few words in French and
English — what is the reader privy to that the other characters are not? Have
you ever lived in a place where you weren't able to fully speak your mind?
- O Magazine said, "Salt, whether from 'kitchen, sweat, tears, or the sea' —
is the secret of this perfectly rendered book." How is salt used as an
ingredient in Bính's story?
📖
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Mariner Books.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
