RaveThe Japanese TimesAside from the topical subjects of exile, colonialism, homosexuality, food politics and art, how many people have the insight and brio to follow a minor character in a major literary life and craft a novel from the margins? ... Truong’s impressionistic, sensual language resonates on so many levels, often reaching \'the point at which all things melt in the mouth\' ... But for all the novel’s lush sensuality, it is the interior life of Binh, torn between cultures and languages, that is rife with flavor and possibility. His is a bittersweet life, marked by \'the salt of tears, sweat, blood and the sea\' ... With the eye of a painter, the palate of a chef and the heart of a poet, Truong’s terrific first novel has taken us into the world of this invisible man and made it matter.
