The Reluctant Metrosexual cover art

The Reluctant Metrosexual

Dispatches From An Almost Hip Life

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Reluctant Metrosexual

By: Peter Hyman
Narrated by: Peter Hyman
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £10.99

Buy Now for £10.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 Read by the author, an essayist and stand-up comedian, this collection of hilarious essays is about a single guy attempting to live on the right side of hip.

If Peter Hyman is a metrosexual, a straight man with gay tastes, then he is one reluctantly, being loath to hitch himself to an au courant cultural trend, unless doing so would get him a movie deal or an actual girlfriend.

Peter Hyman's musings, more pop cultural than philosophical, range from the heartfelt to the absurd, whether he's describing the scotch-soaked grief of a bad breakup or his unfortunate attempt at a menage a trois. With sophistication and enviable wit, The Reluctant Metrosexual chronicles the promiscuity and perils of modern manhood.

©2004 Peter Hyman (P)2004 Blackstone Audiobooks Gender Studies Social Sciences Funny Heartfelt Witty

Critic reviews

"Hyman's stories have funny setups, and his conversational, easy-to-read prose carries a weird poignancy." (Publishers Weekly)
"A master of self-deprecation in the spirit of Joe Queenan and P. J. O'Rourke, Hyman takes on contemporary culture with a scalpel and a smirk." (Booklist)
All stars
Most relevant
This book is possibly quite funny if you are American and therefore live slap-bang in the middle of American culture. However, it did not do anything for me.

I started listening to this and immediately skipped three hours in to see if it got more interesting - and it didn't. It's just a continuous ramble of 'anecdotes', though 'anecdote' implies to me that the stories are amusing.

This also would have been better narrated by a professional narrator with a more neutral accent, rather than the author whose accent I found really did not help.

I would advise anyone considering this book to listen to the audio sample to make sure that the very section that you hear is funny. If you split your sides laughing then go ahead and buy the full book as it is more of the same, otherwise save your money for something else!

Maybe funny if you are American?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.