Eliot’s Banana Quotes and Reviews
Engaging debut about death, modern romance, and growing up.
Junie, 25 and directionless, has yet to find herself and can’t quite embrace the good times with devoted live-in boyfriend Leon, a drummer who secretly dreams of leaving NYC with her to start a family and a restaurant in a small town. Junie fantasizes instead about Eliot, an embittered, middle-aged writer whose greatest success, a soft-core SF novel, is more than 20 years behind him. She perceives Eliot as potentially life-changing, while he’s just looking for his latest muse/plaything. Startlingly, while they carry on their flirtation, Eliot’s cat Alfie recognizes Junie as his soulmate from a past life; trapped in a feline body, he narrates his tragicomic frustration as he tries to be seen, win her back, and warn her away from Eliot…To her credit, Swain wears her knowingness like a loose garment: set in Williamsburg, New York City’s latest hipster hotbed, with a shaven-headed, goateed, rock-n-roll drummer love object and up-to-the-minute secondary characters like his bandmates in Mr. Whipple, the wealth of trendy how-they-live-now detail remains supporting texture rather than shiny distinctions…Romance fiction is right on target for rocker girls with a little therapy under their belts.
Twenty-five year old Indiana expatriate Junie struggles with what she wants out of life. Though she has met her teen dream by living with drummer Leon in the hip Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Junie wonders if that is all there is? Adding to her introspection is her encounter with science fiction author Eliot at a vet. He is twice her age and hundred times more dissatisfied in life than her with his last success almost as old as Junie is.
While Leon dreams of leaving the Big Apple gig behind, Junie feels she has found her prophet in Eliot, who sees her as his latest girl toy. However, Eliot’s cat Alfie, who inadvertently was a partial matchmaker, realizes that Junie is his soulmate that he must protect. Frustrated by his feline limitations, Alfie struggles to show Junie what life is all about. Will Junie heed the warnings of a cat while confronting her parents on what happened almost two decades ago to her deceased brother that messed her up emotionally or will she remain unsatisfied but not know why?
Title multiple meanings aside, ELIOT’S BANANA is a deep chick lit tale starring a lead female protagonist whom many readers will feel an affinity for regardless of age. The story line is cleverly devised to insure the audience can commiserate with Junie. Heather Swain brings this to the forefront through a strong support cast relating on several levels with Junie especially the three New York males and her Indiana family. Readers who appreciate a powerful character study will want to savor the fruits of this tasteful tale, one of the sub-genre’s best of the year.
At 25, Junie is at a crossroads in her life: settling in with drummer boyfriend Leon has been hard, especially after meeting Eliot, a washed-up writer looking for a muse. And Junie isn’t sure what she wants from life. A career? Marriage? Or to continue to avoid success and happiness by sabotaging everything good in her life?
Swain’s debut shows great promise, with rich, believable characterizations. These are flawed people leading flawed lives, and they wrap themselves in angst and hope as they flounder toward a meaningful future together.
Junie is likeable in spite of her flaws, Eliot is pathetically smarmy, and everyone should have a boyfriend like sensitive Leon. Their story isn’t always upbeat, but it is always compelling.
“Eliot’s Banana is a sexy, witty romp, a wildly quirky tale about growing up young, an exuberant coming of age story with a sad sting, a brilliantly inventive romantic comedy with heart. Its unforgettable heroine will make you laugh and then she’ll make you weep. She’s that rare thing in a first novel, a completely round character, a flawed, hopeful, good-hearted, bawdy, funny, totally enchanting human. Heather Swain is a born story-teller with an impeccable ear for dialogue and a wry sense of humor. She writes scenes and characters so touchingly authentic you think you know them, then she turns the page and imagines a cat who thinks he’s the heroine’s reincarnated lover. The only trouble with Eliot’s Banana is that it comes to an end. It’s a debut novel that will make you haunt the bookstores looking for a sequel.”
–Douglas Glover, author of Bad News of the Heart
““Eliot’s Banana is an engaging and witty debut that drew me in from the first page. Swain is a real talent who is so in touch with the whimsical Junie that even the smallest gesture overflows with humor and meaning. A delightful read that is as outrageous as it is touching.”
–Angie Day, author of The Way to Somewhere
“Heather Swain’s debut novel is both inventive and compelling. If you are drawn to forbidden fruit and believe that cat’s have many lives, you’ll get a kick out of Eliot’s Banana.”
–Valerie Frankel, author of The Accidental Virgin and Smart Versus Pretty
“Eliot’s Banana is a stylish, funny, entertaining and ultimately moving book about a young woman on the Lower East Side of New York. I enjoyed reading it! Having lived there myself, the landscape and characters were very real to me. I got caught up in the story and really cared about what happened to the characters. A terrific read.”
–Suzanne Vega
