Before The Coffee Gets Cold
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Published by: Picador
Pages: 213
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
In Before the Coffee Gets Cold we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has begun to fade, see their sister one last time, and meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.
But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold…
My thoughts
I have just finished reading Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s brilliant little book. What a beautiful, moving story.
Before The Coffee Gets Cold is such a poignant, atmospheric and heart-warming book, and a perfect one to read this winter. It undoubtedly has one of the most original premises I have ever read, and the rhythmic writing and quirky cast of characters make it work so well.
The setting is a little cafe designed for people who are minding their own business over a hot cup of coffee. The coffee shop is so key to the story, and I really enjoyed how cosy and welcoming the place is to all its customers. In this cafe, it is possible to travel in time back to a point you want to revisit. You cannot change the past but you can change how you see it, and therefore change yourself. The way the time travelling rules were quickly explained so early on in the book really helped to make the whole concept feel clear and more believable. Each time someone travels in time, the reader is drawn deeper into the lives of the characters.
The book is a pretty quiet and cosy read — not a lot really happens, but the time-travelling element links each individual little story together. I loved getting to know everyone and seeing the characters move through time and how they reacted to things was fascinating.
Amongst other things, the book explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? Who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
It is thought provoking and meaningful, but never feels too heavy. I honestly just loved it, every little story, the important messages within and the quirkiness of it all, so very Japanese!
I’d describe this one as an unexpectedly powerful, sweet read with an unusual premise and a very engaging setting. At only just over two hundred pages it is the perfect short read to enjoy in one sitting.
Overall reaction:
Published by: Picador
Pages: 213
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
In Before the Coffee Gets Cold we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has begun to fade, see their sister one last time, and meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.
But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold…
My thoughts
I have just finished reading Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s brilliant little book. What a beautiful, moving story.
Before The Coffee Gets Cold is such a poignant, atmospheric and heart-warming book, and a perfect one to read this winter. It undoubtedly has one of the most original premises I have ever read, and the rhythmic writing and quirky cast of characters make it work so well.
The setting is a little cafe designed for people who are minding their own business over a hot cup of coffee. The coffee shop is so key to the story, and I really enjoyed how cosy and welcoming the place is to all its customers. In this cafe, it is possible to travel in time back to a point you want to revisit. You cannot change the past but you can change how you see it, and therefore change yourself. The way the time travelling rules were quickly explained so early on in the book really helped to make the whole concept feel clear and more believable. Each time someone travels in time, the reader is drawn deeper into the lives of the characters.
The book is a pretty quiet and cosy read — not a lot really happens, but the time-travelling element links each individual little story together. I loved getting to know everyone and seeing the characters move through time and how they reacted to things was fascinating.
Amongst other things, the book explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? Who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
It is thought provoking and meaningful, but never feels too heavy. I honestly just loved it, every little story, the important messages within and the quirkiness of it all, so very Japanese!
I’d describe this one as an unexpectedly powerful, sweet read with an unusual premise and a very engaging setting. At only just over two hundred pages it is the perfect short read to enjoy in one sitting.
Overall reaction:
