Manboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and Cake

A boy becomes acquainted with Broadway show tunes in Pakistan, and these, along with food and humor, become a source of comfort as he comes to terms with being a gay Muslim man. Narrating the audiobook of his own memoir, Aijazuddin straightforwardly describes his years attending the Academy, an all-boys school in Lahore, his first college try in Canada, and how he negotiated his version of the American dream once he got to New York. A return to Lahore allowed him to work as a portraitist, even as he confronted all-too-familiar hurdles, and his voice rings with feeling as he describes navigating the edgier side of gay life in Pakistan while trying to stay in his family’s good graces. Eventually picking up the pieces of life in Manhattan, Aijazuddin meets a Londoner who is the man of his dreams but then loses him to mental illness. Adjusting to new people and experiences, the author later undergoes gynecomastia surgery, which then leads to writing this telling memoir.