Before the Coffee Gets Cold

KnitAFett reviewed Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Why cat on cover if not cat in story...

3 stars

But I digress. This book was alright. I'm not sure if it was just the translator's doing or if it's how it was originally written, but with what should be some heavy moments, it just felt devoid of emotions. This comes across as a cozy book but I've read other cozy books that still have emotional topics that allow you to feel those emotions while still feeling it's a cozy read.

I was sucked into it at first because the premise of it was so interesting and refreshing. You can travel forward or backward in time for as long as the freshly poured coffee is warm, cannot have any influence on what has already happened, and the chair that you must use is only available for a short period of time once a day because it's occupied by a ghost lady until she needs to use the bathroom. Which, I …

But I digress. This book was alright. I'm not sure if it was just the translator's doing or if it's how it was originally written, but with what should be some heavy moments, it just felt devoid of emotions. This comes across as a cozy book but I've read other cozy books that still have emotional topics that allow you to feel those emotions while still feeling it's a cozy read.

I was sucked into it at first because the premise of it was so interesting and refreshing. You can travel forward or backward in time for as long as the freshly poured coffee is warm, cannot have any influence on what has already happened, and the chair that you must use is only available for a short period of time once a day because it's occupied by a ghost lady until she needs to use the bathroom. Which, I really want to know more about the ghost lady honestly.

I did appreciate the overall flow of the books and the structure of the chapters because it made it very easy to follow along and not get lost, even with new characters being introduced and seeing how the previous ones are utilized. I don't think I'll be continuing with the series, though.

Markus 🌱 reviewed Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Rørande og fin

5 stars

Eg var usikker i starten. Forstod ikkje heilt "greia." Men jo lengre eg las, jo klarare ble det.

Boka er strukturert i fire mindre historiar, som får boka til å kjennast kort og fin, samtidig som alle historiane er kobla i lag.

Emosjonell. Fin. Morosam.

faticake reviewed Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Review of 'Before the coffee gets cold' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I didnâ€™t have high hopes for this book because Iâ€™m jaded when it comes to how women are portrayed in Japanese media, and it didnâ€™t help that the author was a man. I was willing to give it a chance though (well, tbh it was our book clubâ€™s pick so I kind of didnâ€™t have a choice), but I found the story uninspired, filled with stereotypical characterization Iâ€™ve encountered in Japanese stories. Maybe, just maybe, Japanese men should let Japanese women tell stories about themselves and their experiences.

Edit: I didâ€™t even go into the actual writing. Technically, this was bad. So much repetition and unnecessary descriptions.

Marek reviewed Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Charming and sweet, if a little on the nose at times.

4 stars

The premise, there's a seat in a coffee shop that allows you to travel to any other moment in time. The constraints - you can't leave the seat, and you only have as long as a cup of coffee stays warm.

The rules of the café are a bit silly, and repeated a few too many times, but the characters and the themes of the book are warm as a good cup of coffee, charming as a small out of the way café, and mostly very sweet in a way that coffee isn't. A time travel story that makes the simple point that what we really want when we fantasize about doing it is not a change to change the world, but to speak with someone.

Worth the short read.