Blog # 6

The Book of Salt written by Monique Truong is a piece that is well written in that in the story, there are two stories going on at once. One part is of Binh telling of his present life at 27 rue de fleurs. The other part is Binh explaining why he left for Paris to begin with. I liked this book for many reasons and one was because of the character development throughout the novel. Binh transforms throughout the novel and ends up confessing that he is gay. Being in a family of four boys, his father bans him from the household and is forced out. His father is also very abusive and it troubles Binh. He leaves and heads to the sea and ends up in Paris. The lines, “I wanted the deepest water because I wanted to slip into it and allow the moon’s reflection to swallow me whole”- are my favorite lines describing how he felt. Frustrated and confused, he tries to get a hold of reality and reminisces about the past. Another reason I enjoyed this book because it was very personal coming from the view of Binh and describing his life, while he finds out things about himself reminiscing about the past. I also like the emotion portrayed. Some of the events such as his father beating him were intense. The lines, “A stick of wood thicker than my arm splintered into my skin” is an example of the pain he endured from his father. The title of the story, “The Book of Salt” to me represents everything in this novel. The salt referring to the sea that he traveled, working in the kitchen, the pain he endured from his father, the emotion of sadness in his life. This story to me also seems like a confession in a way. It is very personal in that Binh’s real journey starts when he was little and forced out of the house. He has to fend for himself and start a new life. His sexuality is questioned and is taken in by two lesbian women. They all embody the same thing. This book intrigues me because I could never imagine having being banned from my own house and forced to live on my own. The sadness and anger in Binh lives while growing up. He questions his faith in the story and thinks that there is no hope. Overall I really enjoyed reading this and thought it was very well written. There was not one part I thought that was confusing. I thought the other characters in the story were important but didn’t overshadow the main character Binh. The voice in the story is important and think that if it would have been told in another point of view, it might have been confusing. I like stories that are more personal and draw the reader in making it feel like they are apart of it. This has by far been my favorite book and thought all of the issues dealing with abandonment, faith, hope, and sexuality tied into a wonderful and intense story to read.