Super Short Summary

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong, set in the 1920s and 1930s, follows Binh, a young, gay Vietnamese cook who flees Saigon after an affair with a French chef and navigates life in Paris, where he works for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Binh grapples with his identity while forming complex relationships, ultimately choosing between returning to Vietnam or staying in Paris, haunted by memories of familial rejection and past trauma. The book refers to physical self-harm and heavy alcohol use.