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A review by jiobiee
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
OVERALL: 5.3/10, or 2.7/5
This is a cozy, albeit tedious read. I am not as critical as everyone else seems to be of it, for a couple of reasons:
- This is a translated work, and it is difficult (but not impossible) to accurately capture the nuances of another language- especially Japanese.
- This is an adapted work. This novel was based off of a play he wrote for his theatre troupe, hence the stylistic quirks, and why it reads more like a play than a novel.
Keeping these in mind, I am not so quick to condemn a work so harshly because of the conditions it was forged in. I will not, however, pretend that these criticisms aren't valid. They absolutely are.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold follows one Tokyo coffee shop that offers its patrons the chance to go back in time under specific circumstances. You have to stay in one particular seat, you have to think about a time you were at the coffee shop before, and you have to drink your coffee before it gets cold- among a few other extraneous rules. The book is split up into four chronological short stories that follow different characters going back to the past to address loved ones with the hindsight they have from the present.
This is a fantastic get, and paired with its lovely cover art, it was an insta-buy for me. I read this while I was on a week-long cruise, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
What this book excels at is providing the reader with a blank canvas to fill in the blanks the author left out- intentionally-, such as the nuances of language or the actions of its characters. It's simple to a fault, but this simplicity cuts through and makes the tone and theme of these stories crystal clear. It lays its heart out on the table for everyone to see, quietly emotional, eager to make sure it appears contained. Toshikazu Kawaguchi allows us some insight into these situations, unremarkable in almost any facet except that these characters have the opportunity to go back in time to have these conversations. These meetings are the the heart of this book. The pain, hurt, and love these characters feel, are felt deeply. The second storyabout the married couple struggling with early on-set Alzheimer's made me weep.
It is painfully obvious to me that this used to be a stage play. Descriptions are direct and almost clinical, telling you only what the author thinks you need to know. As an actor and director, I appreciate this- in a theatre setting, it would give myself and my peers the opportunity to create the depth that these stories lack. But in a narrative setting, in a novel, it comes across as overly simple and extremely tedious. Emotions are over-explained, or not touched upon at all, and this has the unintended effect of insulting the audience's intelligence. We're capable of picking up on the little things. Not to say that all plays are clinical, direct, or tedious- I'm a big fan of Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams, who are both known to have a very distinct voice in even the teensiest of descriptions-, but there are a lot of playwrights that value the input that actors and directors have, and focus on putting words and actions to paper. I will bet you Toshikazu Kawaguchi is one of those playwrights.
I personally was not fond of these characters, merely sympathetic to their plights. I loved the small scale of these situations, but these characters, for the most part, do not think or react how I would expect a human being with their background to react. The reasoning for making the decisions that they do made little sense to me, save for the defining actions of each respective story. The woman in the first story would make decisions that were sometimes understandable, other times infuriating. What actions these characters take don't always need to be the most logical, but we should be able to follow their logic once we have all of the pieces to do so. I still struggle to understand whyKei was allowed by both family and medical professionals to conceive despite her health issues. I know I don't understand how grand it is to give a child life, but I also don't understand why she wouldn't want to, I don't know, adopt? Given that she has had all of these issues? And then she can focus simultaneously on raising a child and managing her condition. I hate the topic of pregnancy and sentimentality over children, but I understand why its so important to a lot of people- and I don't think the story really understood the weight of the situation the same way actual parents should. This is not the right kind of sacrifice for your child. And many of these women doted on those in their lives (usually men) in a way that put no focus on themselves as individuals, just how they could better serve the people around them. There is honor in that, but to give yourself up so easily- I don't think that's what these women would truly want. I disagree wholeheartedly with Toshikazu Kawaguchi on that.
Perhaps I would need to read this book in its original language to see if all of my criticisms remain, but as it stands, this is an okay read. I don't regret my time with it, despite my disagreements with its writing. The second story in particular tugged at my heartstrings, and I loved how cozy I felt reading it. I just wish this was written as a novel first. Character-driven in a novel is vastly different than character-driven in a play. I don't have a cast and crew available to fill in the blanks for me.
This is a cozy, albeit tedious read. I am not as critical as everyone else seems to be of it, for a couple of reasons:
- This is a translated work, and it is difficult (but not impossible) to accurately capture the nuances of another language- especially Japanese.
- This is an adapted work. This novel was based off of a play he wrote for his theatre troupe, hence the stylistic quirks, and why it reads more like a play than a novel.
Keeping these in mind, I am not so quick to condemn a work so harshly because of the conditions it was forged in. I will not, however, pretend that these criticisms aren't valid. They absolutely are.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold follows one Tokyo coffee shop that offers its patrons the chance to go back in time under specific circumstances. You have to stay in one particular seat, you have to think about a time you were at the coffee shop before, and you have to drink your coffee before it gets cold- among a few other extraneous rules. The book is split up into four chronological short stories that follow different characters going back to the past to address loved ones with the hindsight they have from the present.
This is a fantastic get, and paired with its lovely cover art, it was an insta-buy for me. I read this while I was on a week-long cruise, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
What this book excels at is providing the reader with a blank canvas to fill in the blanks the author left out- intentionally-, such as the nuances of language or the actions of its characters. It's simple to a fault, but this simplicity cuts through and makes the tone and theme of these stories crystal clear. It lays its heart out on the table for everyone to see, quietly emotional, eager to make sure it appears contained. Toshikazu Kawaguchi allows us some insight into these situations, unremarkable in almost any facet except that these characters have the opportunity to go back in time to have these conversations. These meetings are the the heart of this book. The pain, hurt, and love these characters feel, are felt deeply. The second story
It is painfully obvious to me that this used to be a stage play. Descriptions are direct and almost clinical, telling you only what the author thinks you need to know. As an actor and director, I appreciate this- in a theatre setting, it would give myself and my peers the opportunity to create the depth that these stories lack. But in a narrative setting, in a novel, it comes across as overly simple and extremely tedious. Emotions are over-explained, or not touched upon at all, and this has the unintended effect of insulting the audience's intelligence. We're capable of picking up on the little things. Not to say that all plays are clinical, direct, or tedious- I'm a big fan of Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams, who are both known to have a very distinct voice in even the teensiest of descriptions-, but there are a lot of playwrights that value the input that actors and directors have, and focus on putting words and actions to paper. I will bet you Toshikazu Kawaguchi is one of those playwrights.
I personally was not fond of these characters, merely sympathetic to their plights. I loved the small scale of these situations, but these characters, for the most part, do not think or react how I would expect a human being with their background to react. The reasoning for making the decisions that they do made little sense to me, save for the defining actions of each respective story. The woman in the first story would make decisions that were sometimes understandable, other times infuriating. What actions these characters take don't always need to be the most logical, but we should be able to follow their logic once we have all of the pieces to do so. I still struggle to understand why
Perhaps I would need to read this book in its original language to see if all of my criticisms remain, but as it stands, this is an okay read. I don't regret my time with it, despite my disagreements with its writing. The second story in particular tugged at my heartstrings, and I loved how cozy I felt reading it. I just wish this was written as a novel first. Character-driven in a novel is vastly different than character-driven in a play. I don't have a cast and crew available to fill in the blanks for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent