Bon Bon Mots
Close up of Bon Bon Mots
![A green-gold box with its attached lid flipped open holds five objects shaped liked candies resting on burgundy fabric. The inside of the lid displays outlines of each object, with the words "life cycle," "labyrinth," "elegy," "either/or," and "social graces" inside the outlines.](https://nmwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2004.29.1-12_v3-e1588621340430.jpg)
![A green-gold box with its attached lid flipped open holds five objects shaped liked candies resting on burgundy fabric. The inside of the lid displays outlines of each object, with the words "life cycle," "labyrinth," "elegy," "either/or," and "social graces" inside the outlines.](https://nmwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2004.29.1-12_v3-e1588621340430.jpg)
“I got the idea for the format of Bon Bon Mots about two years before I actually made the book,” says Julie Chen. “In my mind’s eye, I could clearly see a collection of intimate, confectionlike book-objects. They would be so appealing that the reader could not resist holding each one in his or her hand and reading the contents. This, I thought, would be the perfect way to present contents that might not be so pleasant after all.”
“Among the ‘sweets’ in the confection box are a phrasebook of social graces and a calendar recording each day’s guilt and worries. The texts mix sadness and sweetness in equal proportions.”