Merlinda Carullo Bobis

Over the course of a hot Philippine summer, twelve-year-old Neris is inspired by the myth of the banana heart to find a way to appease her family's hunger and win her mother's love, in a poignant novel set against the backdrop of a small, poverty-stricken town near an active volcano. A first novel. Original. 40,000 first printing.

A Novel

Banana Heart Summer

That afternoon I took home a very hot jar of floated intentions and the lesson of the banana heart, the charm that I have kept in my pocket ever since: ‘Close to midnight, when the heart bows from its stem, wait for its first dew. It will drop like a gem. Catch it with your tongue. When you eat the heart of the matter, you’ll never grow hungry again

will come back here once i collect my thoughts better

"When we laid my baby sister in a shoebox, when all the banana hearts in our street were stolen, when Tiyo Anding stepped out of a window perhaps to fly, when I saw guavas peeking from Manolito’s shorts and felt I’d die of shame, when Roy Orbison went as crazy as Patsy Cline and lovers eloped, sparking a scandal so fiery that even the volcano erupted and, as a consequence, my siblings tasted their first American corned beef, then Mother looked at me again, that was the summer I ate the heart of the matter."

i'm having a hard time articulating my thoughts just seconds after finishing this book, but in all essence, i have enjoyed & found & explored myself while reading it. throughout every chapter i lingered, questioning because of how tender, heartwrenching & beautifully written each line was. in the heart of this book is a girl & her relationship, her language towards food, the culinary, the gustatory. i love how bobis weaved pictures of imagery between all of this, connecting it to nening's childhood as a girl, as a daughter, an eldest sister, & as a child in poverty. it's a truly wonderful read, inching closer to my heart. 

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"When we laid my baby sister in a shoebox, when all the banana hearts in our street were stolen, when Tiyo Anding stepped out of a window perhaps to fly, when I saw guavas peeking from Manolito’s shorts and felt I’d die of shame, when Roy Orbison went as crazy as Patsy Cline and lovers eloped, sparking a scandal so fiery that even the volcano erupted and, as a consequence, my siblings tasted their first American corned beef, then Mother looked at me again, that was the summer I ate the heart of the matter."

i'm having a hard time articulating my thoughts just seconds after finishing this book, but in all essence, i have enjoyed & found & explored myself while reading it. throughout every chapter i lingered, questioning because of how tender, heartwrenching & beautifully written each line was. in the heart of this book is a girl & her relationship, her language towards food, the culinary, the gustatory. i love how bobis weaved pictures of imagery between all of this, connecting it to nening's childhood as a girl, as a daughter, an eldest sister, & as a child in poverty. it's a truly wonderful read, inching closer to my heart. 

Banana Heart Summer A Novel

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