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A review by a_novel_femme
The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
3.0
the story itself intrigued me: a gay asian chef who works in the home of gertrude stein and alice b. toklas, definitely a take on modernity and modernism that was a refreshing change from the usual images and ideas offered on this time period, and these two women. the nuances of alienation are poignant, and the moments of tenderness are very, very tangible.
so why not a higher rating? as much as i wanted to love the writing style, the tone of this book, there were far too many portions that irritated me with what seemed to be an overwhelming sense of the authors own self-importance, in the vein of "look! look at this overwrought metaphor i am using to describe this scene! isnt it beautiful?!" nothing irritates me more than this, which i call the hawthorne problem. remember the scarlet letter? remember how hawthornes symbolism was so in-your-face that you wanted to punch him and say, "i get it! i get it! now stop breathing over my shoulder, dammit, and let me read the story!" there are traces of that, enough of it, in this novel, which impede the moments of real beauty and brilliance that truong is able to convey.
so why not a higher rating? as much as i wanted to love the writing style, the tone of this book, there were far too many portions that irritated me with what seemed to be an overwhelming sense of the authors own self-importance, in the vein of "look! look at this overwrought metaphor i am using to describe this scene! isnt it beautiful?!" nothing irritates me more than this, which i call the hawthorne problem. remember the scarlet letter? remember how hawthornes symbolism was so in-your-face that you wanted to punch him and say, "i get it! i get it! now stop breathing over my shoulder, dammit, and let me read the story!" there are traces of that, enough of it, in this novel, which impede the moments of real beauty and brilliance that truong is able to convey.