{"product_id":"gold-by-the-inch-9780802136497","title":"Gold by the Inch","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eCalled striking by The New York Times Book Review, Gold by the Inch is the story of a young New Yorker of Asian descent who has returned to the country of his birth following a disastrous relationship and his father''s death. In a Bangkok drunk on the nation''s financial miracle - and high on an assortment of other things - the narrator meets Thong, a young, beautiful male hustler who works at a nightclub. As his romantic obsession with Thong grows, the narrator tries to convince himself that it transcends its commercial nature, but he is quickly forced into a hard look at the connections between desire and exploitation, personal and national identity. Lawrence Chua vividly combines Southeast Asia''s troubled history with evocations of its modern face - its polyglot culture, its colonial past, the cool futurism of its skyscrapers and its sex industry. Written in hard-bitten, dazzling prose, Gold by the Inch is a stunning debut.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Grove Press \/ Atlantic Monthly Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51359187796311,"sku":"9780802136497","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780802136497.jpg?v=1754123926","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/gold-by-the-inch-9780802136497","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}