Rating: 
Summary: What a gift!
Review: This book came to me as a gift - and what a gift! The rich writing, the sensory power of French Vietnamese influence, the blend of cultures and traditions, set against the background of living with/working for Gertrude Stein and AB Toklas, all add richness and depth to a book already replete with both.
I wish a more evocative title had been chosen. I understand the implication - salt is the ultimate 'spice,' used to enhance all flavors - but I fear the baldness of the wording, The Book of Salt, might put off some casual readers from even picking up the book at first opportunity. When I rec'd it, I thought at first it was a history of salt; not exactly riveting.
I predict readers of all persuasions will treasure this gem. It has something for foodies, something for travelers, something for the romantics at heart (and aren't we all?), something especially for those interested in a certain era during Vietnam's tumultuous history.
Buy it. No. Buy 2, and give one to a good friend. In fact, buy an autographed first edition; it's going to be valuable somewhere down the road.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it! Can't wait to read it again!
Review: This book is a gem.
Read every word, don't skim.
Beautiful evocative writing, excellent dialog.
An interesting insight in to the life of a cook, who worked for 2 eccentric (and famous) women, in a by gone era.
So many story lines coming and going, really rich writing.
I predict that this will be a great success with those who take pleasure in careful reading.
I hope to read it again, to understand the many nuances I missed the first time.
I was surprised to see the love or hate reviews here.
If you approach the book as a light summer read, you'll be frustrated.
If you read to savor, I predict you'll love The Book of Salt.
Rating:
Summary: delicious writing
Review: This book is as an extremely rich chocolate cake - I consumed it only a bite at a time, looking forward to more. We read it for our book club, and those not at all familiar with Gertrude Stein were confused as first ... some even read it twice. When they first began reading it, they all hated it ... but by the end of our discussion last night, everyone loved the book - or at least loved that they had read it.The narrative style is deep and descriptive - and so often I would shout as I read, "Yes! That is exactly what I have always meant!" - whether Truong was speaking of quince or genius. Is this what we should be reading? No, this is no idealized account of anybody. But I'm always fond of representations of the forgotten - in this case, an Asian servant. His struggles are also mine - of language and place, of love and loss - and Truong emphasizes human similarities and ultimate aloneness.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this the kind of book we should be reading?
Review: This book is full of things that offend the sensitivities of Asian-Americans. I truly don't think this is the kind of book that we should be seeing published and read in the 21st century America. Please think about it. A gay Vietnamese cook employeed by Americans in France, the former colonial master of Vietnam! Besides all this, it's hardly beleivable that with his limited Franch, he could cook up such array of descriptions. Sorry, the book left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Rating: 
Summary: Trompe d'oeil
Review: This book's wealth of detail, insight, and style are positively seductive. For the first 30 pages I kept asking myself if it was possible that a book could be so beautifully written. Unfortunately, the answer is complicated. The reason I couldn't place where the writing struck me is that it is beautiful while being profoundly false. Despite its charms, the book lacks a strong emotional or narrative thread, touching down where Truong wishes to spend time rather than where any kind of intellectual or emotional interest might take us. The whole book begins to smell of artifice well before the the end. Perhaps most grievously, this book is a Classic example of a middle-class person writing about poor people. Absolutely missing is any sense of the dirt, despair, and darkness of lives lived under the thumb of colonialism and racism. The poetic language in many ways betrays the detailed, lovely writing, exposing it as the fantasy of someone far distant from the world of which she writes. Ultimately, Truong comes off as a romantic poseur. A very convincing one, but you can smell the tin beneath the flowers.
Rating:
Summary: false
Review: This books starts off on a false note, and maintains it.
I never believed for a second that the narrator is really the person who is speaking. It seemed painfully obvious that the vietnamese male character is merely a front for the author to
'wax poetic' about food and various everyday details. I have heard that a sign of bad writing is when the author is too infatuated with their own words. The falseness of this book makes me wonder if the author is kind blathering on in a self-titillating display that is meant to impress upon the reader how observant and effete she is. The observations seem detailed, but that is the problem, they only appear to be detailed and nuanced when they wind up being curiously faux. It reminds me of the stimulating but hollow new york, literary
crowd that is both intelluctual, cynical, and righteous. Is not the setting in Paris, a romantic cliche?
It reminds me of the pretentiousness of the film the Scent of Green Papaya.
Rating: 
Summary: dreadful
Review: this is a dreadful book, protensious writing, not about france in the twentys and thirtys,or g. steine or a.b. tokles or indochinae, or food. it is the boring unrequited love life of a gay cook. the reviwes were very missleading
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This is a fascinating, multilayered story. Truong's language is compelling and poetic; I only wish I could write as beautifully as she does. She drew me deep inside the protagonist, Binh, and yet at the ending he was still full of mystery: the way most of us are to each other. While Binh's narrative was heartrending, sometimes fierce, his portrayal of Stein and Toklas was great fun. I look forward to reading Truong's future books.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning (4.5 stars)
Review: This was one of the most beautifully-written, multi-layered books I have read. The prose is so poetic and evocative that the reader can almost taste the dishes cooked by, feel the pain of, and conjure up the sights viewed by Binh, the narrator. The entire atmosphere of each scene is palpable and vivid. I would not describe this novel as fast-moving, although I read it quickly; each scene is as nuanced--with Binh's experiences, feelings, and memories often mingled together inseparably, yet coming to the surface individually at moments, like the flavors of the intricate meals Binh prepares. This is a book that will remain on my mind for a long while.
Rating:
Summary: Trompe d'oeil
Review: Truong's "The Book of Salt" is the first-person story of Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas' live-in cook, a homosexual Vietnamese man with ghosts in his past and his head. Binh, though we never learn what his real name is, grows up poor, the child of a loving mother and tyrannical father. His older brother apprentices him in the kitchen of the Governor-General's house, a place where no one has value unless he is French, or speaks some. These early lessons resonate through his life, as he travels as a ship's cook and struggles to survive in Paris. His reflections on language and love are strange, the effect of the book troubling. Though we can hear Binh's voice, somehow we can never really see him; he is in hiding, lost.
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