Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

538 reviews

experimentalaudioscene's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Short in page quantity and easy to read, but very repetitive which makes the narrative feel slower. This was more than a cozy sci-fi, it was also philosophical because the cafe can be interpreted figuratively as a thought experiment. The rules, while plentiful and arbitrary, makes the parts of the process accessible to the reader themselves to project into their own past or possible future. I don’t think I read this at the right time for me (I finished it for a book club) and I would have DNFed it under different circumstances but I don’t regret reading it, I don’t plan on re-reading any time soon.

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matcha_cat's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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caitlinteresa's review against another edition

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3.75

3.75/5 rounded up

In Tokyo, there is a cafeé that allows you to travel in time. The catch to this is that there are several rules-- one of which is that you only have until your cup of coffee gets cold to return to the present.

This book was a short, quick read. I found it to be a good blend of emotional and uplifting. I loved the characters and employees of the café. I enjoyed the way each chapter was set up to focus on a different character, but I did find myself longing for some substance. The emotional scenes would have hit a little harder had we had a chance to get to know the characters more through a plot-- even a small subplot!

A different reviewer had mentioned that this would have worked well as a play versus a book. I have to agree. I feel this would do well on a stage, but did not quite perform as a novel.

Overall, I enjoyed this, and I'm glad I explored a different type of novel than I tend to read.

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itsbumley's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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kyriannaj's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I think a lot was lost in translation when it comes to the emotional pull of this book. The plot beats were emotional, but the writing and words used were very blunt and to the point. The world building around time travel was incredibly well done and drew me in. Although this is commonly talked about like a short story collection, it’s much more a novel with recurring characters, a singular setting, and plot points building on one another throughout. Apparently the author first wrote this as a play, and thinking about it like that makes perfect sense.

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nineinchnails's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i spent 60% of this book mildly disappointed by this book because it hadn't made me cry but it hit me like a truck. i thought the prose was a little plain (maybe because it was translated) but it kind of works for a story like this so i liked that! there was a couple of characters who weren't as memorable so their stories didn't really stick with me but the ones that did more than made up for that. i will probably reread this in the next couple of years :)

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yerfillag's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A short and sweet read. You immediately get drawn into the story and feel a sense of familiarity with the characters. Each chapter follows one person's storyline and the later chapters got much more emotional than I thought so be emotionally prepared. Some of the dialogue and character's thought processes left me feeling a bit frustrated as it took them way to long to say or realise certain things. This might have been due to different storytelling and packng in Japanese literature and didn't disrupt the enjoyment of the book too much.

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