Dear Distance — Nostalgia in Every Page

 

Dear Distance by Luis Joaquin M. Katigbak
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The last time I immersed myself in Filipino literature was back in university with Desaparesidos by Lualhati Bautista. Now, returning to my roots through this book feels like a breath of fresh air. The setting instantly pulled me in, I could vividly picture the old Manila streets, soaked in nostalgia.

Dear Distance is a collection of short stories that quietly hit you, it is about loss, memory, and that tender ache of growing up. Katigbak writes with this quiet kind of magic, his stories feel small but full of life, soaked in longing, loss, and that gentle ache of remembering. The Manila setting made it all feel familiar, almost like walking through my own memories. 

My favorites were “Robot Boy and Hepa,” where a man on the edge of despair is visited by his childhood self, and “Passengers,” a bittersweet story about a boy and a girl whose brief connection lingers like those people you meet once but never forget.