Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

9 reviews

vaekay's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a wonderful and enjoyable read... until the last section. Usually emotional and inspiring, I felt blindsided by the terrible understanding of female anatomy or pregnancy as well as what I perceived as multiple grammatical errors by the translator. I actually found the way they regarded Kei's pregnancy and coordinated death (to save her and Nagere's baby) to be absolutely ridiculous and the sort of fictitious bullshit that only a male author would dream of writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Car accident and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Vomit

nick_thebucket's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I'm sure everyone hates the rule about not being able to change the future, but I think it's actually what makes this such a good depiction of grief.

I'm grieving someone right now; and it's hard. There is so much I would give to go back and to be able to at least say a proper goodbye, to let them know once more how much they meant to me, even if I never get to see them again. I think a lot of people forget how important closure is because they're so focused on what they lost. Like yes, I would much rather have them back in my life, but that's not how the world works, so at the very least I want to be able to make peace with my goodbye. 

The book is really just a reminder to tell your loved ones how you feel, even if it's difficult or awkward and to say what you really mean, before it's too late.

I think the way so many of the people who time travel get choked up is pretty annoying and frustrating, but it's accurate. When the moment finally arrives, when you can finally let the words you've been dying to say out, your emotions clog your throat. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Dementia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

httponyo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

A heart wrenching  book about the relationships between people. My big problem is the age difference ( 17 to 20 ) between the couple owning the cafe when they started dating makes me uncomfortable so take that into consideration. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent

cturn's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective 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

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Death of parent

lynxpardinus's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Grief, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion and Gun violence

hayleyvem's review

emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pregnancy and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

kappafrog's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This book has an intriguing premise, and I was intrigued enough to read to the end. I liked how the author explored the way that even very rule-restricted time travel could be extremely meaningful for people. I also liked the little community of characters.

However, the writing style was off-puttingly clunky. When I found out it was originally a play, it made more sense. Much more work should have gone into making it readable as a novel. There were many repetitive descriptions pointing out the obvious.

Most of the main characters are women, but it's obvious they were written by a man. They conform too closely to stock types with emphasis on familial duty. I was most intrigued by the inscrutable waitress Kazu, but her development was very haphazard.

Still, I liked reading this book and enjoy the premise enough to check out the sequels.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Dementia, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Medical content, Death, Grief, Infertility, and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

rosegoes3's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I didn’t DISLIKE it, necessarily, but it was so sad. It took me a while to understand that each chapter is about a different person’s journey in the chair and not four separate stories. 

It was sad. and kind of reflective? But I still feel like I missed the point of it because either way it wasn’t real? The last story is the saddest. 

One of those books where you don’t get the middle until you get to the end. 

The tone of it is very straightforward and to-the-point, which may be a translation thing, but made it hard for me to get attached to the book. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I thought this book was beautiful and really thought-provoking - if you could travel through time despite all the rules and constraints and never being able to change anything, would it be worth it? The stories are sad but not too maudlin, and while I would have preferred the outcomes to be a little less conservative I can see how the characters came to those conclusions and really liked how even though they hadn't changed the past, the change in perspective changed their future.

This novel is an adaptation of a play of the same name, which explains why it's so dialogue-driven and all takes place in a single room.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Abortion

Abortion is mentioned as an option for a pregnant character who is ill, but she decides against it.