Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

43 reviews

bluedilly's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

I will say the start of this book is slow, and I did have to tough it out a bit but I am so glad I did. This is an excellent story about owning your place in the world and the decisions you make. It very much reads like a play (which makes sense given the author's background) and I love it. If it's caught your eye it's certainly worth a try. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Grief, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, Medical content, and Alcohol

clare072's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing fast-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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

booknerdz28's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

vixenreader's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

A meditative novel on how we reflect on the past and future, there is a humanity and empathy that resides in the pages of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol

If you have gone through a break-up, the death of a loved one, watching someone lose their memories, and/or know that they were going to die, be prepared to feel those emotions intensely while reading this book.

odette_tbdk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

Buen libro. Son una serie de historias que pasan dentro del café, todos los personajes se relacionan entre sí y aparecen en las secciones de los otros. Trata muchos temas y se puede llegar a sentir un poco abrumador, pero sí llega a dar el mensaje que quiere y juega con el tema fantástico del viaje en el tiempo de una manera divertida y comprensible.

Un punto negativo es que a veces los personajes femeninos toman decisiones que no parecen propias o muy en plan "esto es lo que debo de hacer porque soy mujer", no está tan presente, pero es algo que a muchas personas pareció disgustarles y me parece razonable. Aún así, no arruinó mi experiencia al leerlo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia

Moderate: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Abortion

Minor: Alcohol

poppyharv's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol

singalana's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.5

This book broke my heart. I didn't expect to feel so deeply and find philosophical meaning in this work. In Tokyo, there's a café that can allow you to travel in time to meet someone who has visited that café, but you only have time until the coffee gets cold. At first, I wasn't sure whether I was going to like it or not. In the beginning of the book we get to know how the process of going back works, and I was sceptical whether it will be executed believably. 

In this book, we follow four different storylines. Even though all of them were touching in their own way, the second one was really heartbreaking, and made me bawl my eyes out. 

The book still feels like it sort of keeps the reader at an arm's length, something I find that many japanese authors do, it manages to pack a punch, and make the reader ponder on philosophical questions. It does that by gently leading the reader to think on their own. 

If the purpose of art is to make people feel something, then this book certainly delivers. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

wmalinn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

3.0

If I’m being honest, I wasn’t sure about this book at first. the pacing was a little slow for my taste and it took me some time to get into the story. but I decided to approach it with an open mind and kept reading, only to discover a heartbreaking story about love, loss, and the difficulty of navigating relationships. this book and it’s characters have really grown on me and I did end up loving it in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol

serendipity421's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol