The Book of Salt

This chapter looks back at the time Binh returned home from the Governor-General’s house to his parents’ home. His father disowns him and announces he now only has three sons, not four. Binh claims he doesn’t know who his father is, but it’s not the Old Man.

We learn how Binh’s mother comes to marry the Old Man. Binh’s mother’s father had died, and her mother was forlorn enough that she wanted to die, after having to survive off her brother-in-law’s scant charity to her and Binh’s mom. Binh’s maternal grandmother hires a matchmaker and we learn that when Binh’s mother got married, she had just begun getting her periods and thought the bleeding after sex was another period. She didn’t seem aware of what was happening in regard to sex, her menstrual cycles, or pregnancy, as she was quite young. She never abandoned her Buddhist faith, despite marrying a (supposed) Catholic.

After her first child, Binh’s father added a kitchen to the house, a place where Binh’s mother could take the crying baby and leave Binh’s father alone. Binh’s mother supposedly met the “scholar-prince” who is Binh’s actual father after her third son was born.