The Book of Salt

Monique Truong was on campus Monday night and read from her first novel The Book of Salt. This book is from the point of view of Binh, a young, gay, Vietnamese cook in France. This book relates to the idea of 'home' and being displaced that we were discussing in class. Binh grew up in Vietnam but never felt at home there because his parents disliked him. So, Binh traveled for a few years and ended up in France. While traveling, one usually has a place that they call home to go back to, yet Binh did not. He went to France and became a cook in many households. This book focuses on his experiences cooking for the famous literary couple Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. While the two women were decent to him, he did not feel at home in their house.
The place where he was at most at "home" was in the kitchen. He knew he was an excellent cook and in the kitchen there was nobody to judge him. "I am content to grow old in [kitchens], calling the stove my lover, calling the copper pots my children." Binh defines a home by where the things his loves are. This is one way to define a home, and since Binh was never fully loved he feels displaced in the houses he is in. While traveling Binh has amazing experiences and makes many memories. Mrs. Truong described the idea of home as an intangible place. She said, "it is not a place that can be touched with the souls of his feet, it is his experiences and memories that make his home [inside himself]." This is another option of defining home which can be applied to our discussion of displacement. If home is an intangible place, "nobody can take [his home] from him."