Six Saturdays of Beyblade and Other Essays

By Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin

2013

First Published

4.20

Average Rating

142

Number of Pages

4H20M

Audio Length

A collection of personal essays about growing up and becoming a father from the landscapes of the Philippine countrysides to the fringes and streetways of Manila Quinabuangan and the glorious marching band. Cembo, Makati and the burning Ship. Baclaran, Manila at night, for the lost and homeless. In these ten personal essays, a father confesses in gripping narratives his coming of age without a father, of working at an early age, of finding love in hopeless places, of losing a son to leukemia, and of accepting the language of pain. In Six Saturdays of Beyblade and Other Essays, bestselling author Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin brings us back to memories of being a tennis ball picker in a lavish country club, of achieving his dreams as the smallest member of a countryside marching band, and of drinking Michael Jordan and Olajuwon as breakfast juice inside a walk-in freezer with fellow service crew members. He also introduces us to his exes and lost first loves. He lends us a list of his fist fights, those he knocked down during drinking sessions or brawls, his antics in the field of love, and the truth behind escaping the convent. Sometimes he is a son, sometimes a father, and sometimes a friend who vividly shares without beating around the bush. Written with a cinematic eye, Jarin bares it all, fair and square, no more or less. Most of all, no entrance fee.

Avg Rating

4.20

Number of Ratings

604

5 STARS

59%

4 STARS

19%

3 STARS

11%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin

Author · 3 books

Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin is the author of Anim na Sabado ng Beyblade at iba pang Sanaysay, which won a National Book Award for Nonfiction in Filipino in 2014 from the Manila Critics Circle and National Book Development Board and was a finalist for Madrigal-Gonzales First Best Book Award administered by the University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing (UP ICW). He has published several children’s books; won three Carlos Palanca Awards; and was a Writing Fellow for Sanaysay in both the Palihang Rogelio Sicat 5 (2012) and 53rd UP National Writers Workshop. He also translated Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth in Filipino, commissioned by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino and National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He is also one of the Editor, together with Rolando Tolentino and Joselito Delos Reyes, of Hayskul: Mga Sanaysay na Hindi Pang-Formal Theme from Visprint Publishing. He is one of the scriptwriter of the now defunct children’s show Batibot in television and TV Sitcom titled Tom en Gerrie. He also creates OST for GMA News TV documentaries such as Investigative Documentaries (ID), Motorcycle Diaries and Reel Time. Jarin is a former Professor of Literature and Popular Culture at the Philippine Normal University and Malikhaing Pagsulat for Creative Nonfiction and Television Scriptwriting at the Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines-Diliman and for the Department of Filipino, De La Salle University-Manila. Presently, Jarin is working on the prequel of Anim na Sabado ng Beyblade, entitled ”Tangke, Mga Gunita ng Pagkabata”. There will also be a reprinting for Beyblade and the second edition will come out this April 2020. He is also set to publish his first collection of fiction stories, “Ang May-ari ng Boracay,” this year.