Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

279 reviews

kyriannaj's review against another edition

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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martzi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

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ninebookishlives's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad

4.0

This is another short story collection that I wished I had spread out over a few days. The intro and rules became a bit repetitive when reading them all in one sitting. That being said, I found this collection more impactful and emotional than The Kamogawa Food Detectives. With a little bit of backstory into each tea drinker's history and reasoning for wanting to travel back in time, it really made each character feel real and like actions in the world had consequences. Maybe not in the present, but I think the overall message of each story could be interrupted differently depending on the reader.

I did like that the first story eases you into the concept before the stories start to break your heart. You're introduced into the world and the rules. Following the first characters debat on whether not it would be worth it based on the rules. Again, it really helped flesh out the world/magic, and surprising in less than 300 pages.

The Husband and Wife story was my favourite, followed closely by The Sisters.

If you're in a good mental space and can handle the content covered (see content warnings), then I think this would be a great collection to space over time. I really hope to continue the series soon, but take more time with the book.

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kathi_90's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.75

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ninahuynh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

I like the stories but they weren't as phenomenal as the media makes them out to be. Definitely a cozy read. There were a few parts that were confusing and had me flipping back to the previous stories to make sure I didn't read wrong, like

Hirai not knowing about the curse, which you would think she would know after spending so much time there and likely witness someone do that.

There seems to be some undertones of misogyny here and there, but I don't know if that is from the translation or from the originial text. This also seems to be a trend in Japanese translated novels I have read.

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skylarkblue1's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Representations: https://trello.com/c/x4zZsSuI/116-before-the-coffee-gets-cold-1-before-the-coffee-gets-cold-by-toshikazu-kawaguchi

If you've liked other recent Japanese translation works in this similar vein, you'll like this one for sure. The rocky translation is still there, but the last 2 stories made me cry :')

Characters were a lot more prominent in this than say, Food Detectives, but there was still a new story and mostly new characters for each of the 4 mini-stories. I really loved the group who runs the cafe, they were really chill and the book felt really calm with them too. Even for the characters that just appeared for 1 story I felt like I understood them, they were all described and explained really clearly and easily.

There's not too much plot, the stories focus heavily around those characters, their lives and why they've visited the cafe. The first 2 stories where a little rough I felt, it had the usual "this has been translated and is understandable, but it feels like a lot is missing between translations". The last 2 stories though, oh boy. I read the 3rd one while volunteering at the library and I was just sat in the corner, surrounded by kids at storytime, just holding back tears :') Then read the 4th story when I got home and just cried at it. Incredible writing there.

Despite dealing with heavy topics as well and being very emotional, it felt pretty light and was certainly a quick read!

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ed_moore's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

“No matter what difficulties people face they will always have the strength to overcome them, it just takes heart. And if the chair can change someone’s heart, it clearly has its purpose”

‘Before the coffee gets cold’ is a series of interlinked short stories based in the cafe Funiculi Funicula where if a number of conditions are met one can travel back in time and meet someone who had once visited the cafe, just they have to return before their coffee gets cold. I was expecting a more coherent narrative but rather the four tales told are interlinked by the cafe and its staff.

It is a very quaint tale that explores human emotion, relationships, child brith, illness and grief but does this in a very cosy and manageable manner, at no point is this upsetting or distressing but rather very open to being accepting of it and making the best of it. ‘Before the coffee gets cold’ was by no means revolutionary, and no character arcs are particularly major due to the nature of the shifting perspectives in each of the four tales and a lot of the mechanics of the time travel are unexplained and justified as just ‘the rules’. I would’ve loved to hear more about the mysterious ghost figure that remains present throughout the whole novel but always in the background, and maybe this will be a topic of one of the sequels. It just remains a quiet novel about an overlooked little cafe.

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