Gold By The Inch
 The novel is split into three sections. The narrator is in Thailand visiting his younger brother, Luk, who works there as an architect. Thailand is the birthplace of the narrator’s mother. He ‘falls in love’ with Thong, a Thai prostitute, during his visit. The book tracks the narrator’s relationship with Thong. This relationship at first seems to be somewhat mutual but soon is clearly shown to be driven by money as Thong accepts every monetary gift doled out by the narrator. Thong eventually events the narrator to live with him and his family instead of spending on expensive hotel rooms every night and it becomes evident that Thong is actually from a relatively wealthy family. The narrator now leaves Thailand to visit family in Malaysia (Penang), the country in which his father was born. In this section, more information concerning the narrator’s childhood and family is revealed. For instance, the narrator’s father had a terrible relationship with his family in Malaysia as well as his own son and wife, whom he later left for an American woman. In this section, stories from the narrator’s past are revealed and we learn that the narrator only began this journey because at home he just recently witnessed his father’s death and the end of his relationship with boyfriend, Jim. His father had been living in Honolulu with wife and was near to death when the narrator decided it was okay to visit him. The narrator dated Jim in New York and the two’s relationship was based on Jim’s economic power and the narrator’s aesthetic value. The relationship ended over Jim’s inability to quit using drugs. Back in Malaysia, the narrator tours the city with his auntie. The narrator also neglects to tell the Luk, his mother, or his father’s family in Malaysia that Ba, the narrator’s father, has died. While in Malaysia, the narrator also devotedly thinks about Thong, whom he very much misses and completely ends his relationship with Jim by first reporting him to the authorities as a drug smuggler and then sending him a postcard that reads, ‘Keep everything’ (89). The narrator also spends some time trying to get a photograph of his grandmother whose death is surrounded by numerous stories. Post a conversation with his grandmother’s spirit, the narrator finally decides his trip is completed and he is ready to return to Thong in Thailand. The narrator makes a point of not contacting Thong right away until he sees him one night past weekend walk into the same bar the narrator is at with three friends. Thong’s commitment to the narrator is suspect. The narrator moves into Thong’s house but he sleeps separately from Thong on an entirely different floor. In general, Thong becomes more and more distant and less and less affectionate. As jealousy takes over the narrator, he spirals into a stronger and stronger drug addiction. At some point, the narrator and Thong bump into each other at a bar and through the translation of another friend, Thong breaks up with the narrator. Eventually, the narrator moves out of Thong’s house. Luk and friends try to help the narrator recover from his breakup. In the end, the narrator realizes that in the end, he is just an American doing things in Thailand he would be unable to do back home. Though he tries to play this off as something that makes him invincible, in the end the narrator seems to realize that his trip is done, and he needs to return home though where home is the book does not specify.