Truong, Monique (T. D.) 1968-

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TRUONG, Monique (T. D.) 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in Saigon, Vietnam; immigrated to United States, 1975; naturalized citizen, 1980. Education: Graduated from Yale University, 1990; Columbia University, J.D., 1995.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Brooklyn, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Houghton Mifflin, 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116-3764.

CAREER:

Writer. Has worked as a paralegal and an attorney.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Vietnamese American Studies Center award of excellence; Van Lier fellowship; Lannan Foundation writing residency, 2001; Bard Fiction Prize, 2003, and Young Lions Fiction Award, 2004, both for The Book of Salt.

WRITINGS:

(Editor with Barbara Tran and Luu Truong) Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry and Prose, Asian American Writers' Workshop (New York, NY), 1998.

The Book of Salt (novel), Houghton (Boston, MA), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Monique Truong's novel The Book of Salt is set in the household of writers Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in 1920s Paris. Revolving around a Vietnamese cook the lesbian couple have hired, a man named Binh, the novel mixes reality with fiction. While Binh is a fictional character, Stein and Toklas did indeed have a Vietnamese cook in Paris, a cook mentioned only in passing in several of their writings.

Truong was born in Vietnam and was taken out of the country as a child just before the communist takeover in 1975. Her own experience as a refugee who journeyed far from her homeland led her to wonder about the circumstances that prompted Stein and Toklas to leave America to live in France, and why their cook left Vietnam behind to move to Europe. Through the character of Binh, who narrates The Book of Salt, she explores these questions. "The book," according to Christopher Benfey in the New York Times Book Review, "is about exile: both Binh's aching distance from his native Saigon and his two Mesdames' cheerful distance from America."

In Troung's novel Binh leaves Vietnam because his father disapproved of his homosexuality and forced him out of the house. After spending several years at sea, he arrives in France, where he works for several families before joining Stein and Toklas. Binh also enjoys the pleasures of Paris's indulgent sexual underground, even having a tryst with a young Ho Chi Minh. While describing both Binh's life in Vietnam and his new life in the Stein household, The Book of Salt also includes much information about Binh's Vietnamese cooking. "The novel is in fact largely a meditation on the senses and sensuality," a critic for Kirkus Reviews wrote. By "interweaving the narrative with suggestions of ingredients, recipes, and exotic dishes, Truong provides a savory debut novel of unexpected depth and emotion," Margaret Flanagan stated in Booklist. Shirley N. Quan in Library Journal concluded of The Book of Salt that "Truong is able to create Asian characters and blend them with historical elements to create a work that will appeal to a broad audience."