Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Not sure what to say about this one. It's like a layered tale of people watching. Reflective.
Some heavy topics are touched on, but I found them to be addressed in a compassionate manner.

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Title: Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Series: コーヒーが冷めないうちに #1
Genre: Magical Realism
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: September 19, 2019

T H R E E • W O R D S

Peculiar • Intriguing • Fragmented

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Funiculi Funicula Café in Tokyo has been serving coffee for more than a hundred years. But this coffee shop is a little different, offering its customers the opportunity to travel back in time. This opportunity doesn't come without risks, and has some rules, most notedly that they must return before the coffee gets cold.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Written in four parts, Before the Coffee Gets Cold combines four interwoven stories, each following a different character who travels back in time. The subject matter was so appealing, unfortunately the execution didn't work for me. It felt overly repetitive, and I'd have liked the stories to be more interconnected. After learning that this was originally written as a screenplay, it explains a lot. I also think some things were lost in translation.

Overall, the concept could have been great, as this is a reflective book exploring relationships, love and why you'd want to travel to the past knowing you cannot change the present. But it reads more like a play than anything else.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the time travel trope

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"At the end of the day, whether one returns to the past or travels to the future, the present doesn't change."

"Water flows from high places to low places. That is the nature of gravity."

Content Warnings

bookswithca's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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

Content Warnings

hannibanani29's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing 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

3.75

Content Warnings

zoiejanelle's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

i wept. i don’t want to describe the plot so i don’t spoil a single thing. phenomenal, quick, easy to read book with really potent moments of emotional revelation. haven’t quite read anything like it.

Content Warnings

froggybex's review

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

sobbing in the back of the car on the way to the airport rn

Content Warnings

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book! In this small coffee shop in Japan, there's an urban legend that if you sit in a special chair it will allow you to travel in time. There are rules, like: nothing you do in the past can change the future, you cannot leave the seat, you can only stay as long as the coffee isn't cold, you can only talk to people who have been to the café, and you can only use the power of the seat one time. However, this particular legend is real & there are plenty of folks willing to follow these rules to travel through time. Our book follows the owners of the café & their friends, family, and community members as they use the power of the café to explore the parameters of their relationships. It's such a beautiful, hopeful book that takes this very simple concept and converts it into this transformative experience for the characters and, frankly, for the reader as well. I highly suggest this book for folks who like Doctor Who and slice of life anime.

Content Warnings

neptunereign's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

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