The Story
The hilarious and piercing memoir about growing up gay in a not-so-gay world. âA beautiful celebration of being different.â TOM ALLEN
âAn important story, told with a sharp wit and disarming humourâ MOHSIN ZAIDI author of A Dutiful Boyâ
Brilliant, spectacularly witty and genuinely moving. I loved it.â MATTHEW TODD, author of Straight Jacket
Iâm just a man, standing in front of a salad, asking it to be a cake.
What do you do when youâre too gay for Pakistan, too Pakistani to be gay in America and youâre 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 didnât pirouette off their desks, get bullied for their âmanboobsâ or spontaneously burst into songs from The Little Mermaid. Other boys didnât 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 Aijazuddinâs 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.
Description
The hilarious and piercing memoir about growing up gay in a not-so-gay world. âA beautiful celebration of being different.â TOM ALLEN
âAn important story, told with a sharp wit and disarming humourâ MOHSIN ZAIDI author of A Dutiful Boyâ
Brilliant, spectacularly witty and genuinely moving. I loved it.â MATTHEW TODD, author of Straight Jacket
Iâm just a man, standing in front of a salad, asking it to be a cake.
What do you do when youâre too gay for Pakistan, too Pakistani to be gay in America and youâre 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 didnât pirouette off their desks, get bullied for their âmanboobsâ or spontaneously burst into songs from The Little Mermaid. Other boys didnât 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 Aijazuddinâs 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.
