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danielsalinas00's review
5.0
A heartfelt memoir written in a beautiful prose about life in Japan as a Japanese-passing foreigner, tour guiding, belonging, and the loss of a friendship.
goguma's review against another edition
3.0
We have so many ways to handle romantic breakups, but so few to navigate friendship breakups. It’s hard to talk about losing close friends. Most of us don’t have the vocabulary for it, because it feels like failing at a compulsory class everyone passes just for turning up. It’s a painful and embarrassing fuck-up, a wound you can’t admit to publicly.
Depending on the reader's particular circumstances, reading this book may lead to an entirely distinct viewpoint. Because it's likely that some people don't like to disappear without telling their friends when they feel they don't have the same wavelength, while others might enjoy doing so. But friends, talking about how terrible it is to lose a friend unexpectedly is so painful. Well through this book, i know those feelings are valid, and we sometimes need pukpuk for a while to bargain with those right?
shaguftap's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Gorgeous bittersweet reflections but some issues with structure that made it a bit confusing to follow at times. From persimmon jam to the behaviour of tourists to being a coffee shop regular to knowing how someone loves their eggs - I loved this book’s nostalgic snd beautiful reflections. A small book with a big impact.
katrinaslibrary's review
5.0
Thank you Emma Press for sending me an uncorrected proof copy in exchange for my honest review.
How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart is a collection of essays of Florentyna's account of her experience living in Kyoto. The essays are less of a chronological memoir with helpful advice for anyone who dreamed of moving abroad. They are lyrical and poignant, not only describing the slice of life in rural Kyoto but also describing the emotional pain that lingers with a broken heart, belonging to a place, the loss of friendships and nostalgia for a time you can never go back to.
For a short book, I had personally found it difficult to read. I have read multiple memoirs and blogs in the run-up to my own stint of living in Japan a few years back. But to read Florentyna's essays felt like someone saw the soul of my past self and created art with it. It was also a grave mistake on my part, to read the last 30 pages on the internet and to let a few people witness my emotional breakdowns, which occurred every 3 paragraphs or so.
I'm very thankful that this small book has landed into my hands as it is now one of those books where a part of me feels very very seen.
How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart is a collection of essays of Florentyna's account of her experience living in Kyoto. The essays are less of a chronological memoir with helpful advice for anyone who dreamed of moving abroad. They are lyrical and poignant, not only describing the slice of life in rural Kyoto but also describing the emotional pain that lingers with a broken heart, belonging to a place, the loss of friendships and nostalgia for a time you can never go back to.
For a short book, I had personally found it difficult to read. I have read multiple memoirs and blogs in the run-up to my own stint of living in Japan a few years back. But to read Florentyna's essays felt like someone saw the soul of my past self and created art with it. It was also a grave mistake on my part, to read the last 30 pages on the internet and to let a few people witness my emotional breakdowns, which occurred every 3 paragraphs or so.
I'm very thankful that this small book has landed into my hands as it is now one of those books where a part of me feels very very seen.
gunjan2024's review
3.0
In Japanese you don’t just say, I have/drink tea. You say “I do tea” which means you not only drink tea but you celebrate drinking it.
The essays were okay, the stories were fine but the Japanese culture they showed was beautiful.
The essays were okay, the stories were fine but the Japanese culture they showed was beautiful.