Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Antes que o café arrefeça

Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Antes que o café arrefeça by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

363 reviews

eleanorjmca's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

This was a strange one. I loved the setup and the central idea of

Spoiler

being able to travel in time but only within one location, only for a short time, and only once!

But in general the book seemed full of promise at the beginning, but delivered on very little of it. For example,

Spoiler

we never find out why the cafe is magical, how the rules came about, why the ghost is sitting there, or basically any explanation of the central mechanic that the whole story hinges on

. The humour of the first story jarred with the purple prose, nineteenth century melodrama of some of the others. The characters were intriguing enough to sustain interest for the length of the book, but not especially unique or compelling. I was interested enough to try more of this series, though, and I hope that later books in the series resolve some of my problems with the first one.

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jackiie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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erisouls's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Loved this book but the blurb on the front is misleading. The whole shtick is that you can’t change anything by sitting in the chair.

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hannahmaep's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I picked this book up because I loved the premise, and I still do. At the heart of this book was a beautiful message and throughout, a playful sense of humour.

However, the writing style was not my personal preference and made it difficult to get through this book. I would describe the language as informative, with excessive factual explanations about Alzheimer's or pregnancy and other unnecessary things interrupting the flow of the story, just as I started to feel connected to the characters. It also made me feel quite patronised as a reader.

Aside from that the stories themselves were moving, and the characters were woven neatly into one another's lives. I just didn't feel overly invested.

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reading_rhi's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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melissalaura's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This is a beautiful read that had me hypnotized from the beginning. Each of the four stories pulled at my heart strings, particularly the last one where I ugly cried to the end! I love the underlying message of accepting the past and valuing relationships, it really is relatable. I usually enjoy a happy ending but it somehow wouldn't have been appropriate, the end was perfectly emotional. This book is definitely up there as one of my favourite books of all time.

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