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Manboobs by Komail Aijazuddin
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Manboobs

A very queer memoir
Due to publisher restrictions, this audiobook is unavailable for purchase in your selected country.
Narrator Komail Aijazuddin

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Length 7 hours 32 minutes
Language English
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Brought to you by Penguin.

The hilarious and piercing memoir about growing up gay in a not-so-gay world.


I’m just a man, standing in front of a salad, asking it to be a cake.

What do you do when you’re too gay for Pakistan, too Pakistani to be gay in America and you’re ashamed of your body everywhere?

How can you find happiness despite years of humiliation, fear and a legion of Brooklyn hipsters who know you only as a queer from Whereveristan?

How do you summon the courage to be yourself no matter where you are?


Even as a young child in Lahore, Komail Aijazuddin knew he was different. Other boys didn’t pirouette off their desks, get bullied for their ‘manboobs’ or spontaneously burst into songs from The Little Mermaid. Other boys didn’t play together like that.

Starved of a crucial part of himself, he ate. And ate. Before long, his own body became another burden to carry everywhere and to hide. Komail began to believe his only chance at a happy, meaningful life would be found elsewhere: in America, land of the free, home of the gays. But he would soon learn that finding happiness takes a lot more than a plane ticket.

This is Aijazuddin’s riotous, intelligent memoir of searching for his place between two worlds while navigating a minefield of expectations, prejudice and self-doubt. In Manboobs, Aijazuddin confidently announces himself as a sharp new voice in humour with his moving, wickedly funny search for love and the bravery required to be yourself.

‘An important story, told with a sharp wit and disarming humour’ MOHSIN ZAIDI

‘Vastly entertaining and wickedly funny’ GREG MARSHALL

© Komali Aijazuddin 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Komail Aijazuddin is a visual artist and writer with degrees from New York University and the Pratt Institute, who lives and works in New York City and Lahore.

Komail Aijazuddin is a visual artist and writer with degrees from New York University and the Pratt Institute, who lives and works in New York City and Lahore.

Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

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Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

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Reviews

Manboobs is an important story, told with a sharp wit and disarming humor. Aijazuddin has the ability to address difficult subjects with thoughtfulness and honesty, while also making you laugh out loud. A beautiful celebration of being different. This is a book for anyone who remembers musicals, the 1980s, being bullied for liking musicals, and ‘old souls’ everywhere. This book is laugh out loud funny. A love letter to self acceptance and the pursuit of confidence. Go get it. At once both humorous and heartbreaking, his memoir allows his bubbly personality to shine in a story about letting go of shame and finding self-acceptance. Brilliant, spectacularly witty and genuinely moving. I loved it. Expand reviews
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