Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

15 reviews

xoemax's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident, Abortion, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Medical content, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

ahanky's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Death, and Pregnancy

anne_reader's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Death

passionatereader78's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

Would you time travel if you couldn't change your present situation? That's the main question in this story. There are four people that visit a café in Tokyo to travel in time to right their regrets. It's well written. It was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the different story lines.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Death, and Death of parent

daniellesharp's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Pregnancy

katiebellcatalano's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The moment they sit down in the seat and pour the coffee, you know that your heart is about to be ripped out. Each story of returning to the past - the why of it - is beautifully told.

Whether it is playing with what could have been or seeking certainty, it is one of the best metaphors I’ve seen for grief processing in a book. The message of recommitting your heart to take on any challenge and situation, staying in the present and living life before the coffee gets cold.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Dementia, and Medical trauma

cady_sass's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

I purposefully waited until the hype died down to read this one because I had a feeling it wouldn’t do it for me, and I was right. For whatever reason Japanese translations and I don’t get along and this is no different. I LOVE this concept, and the first chapter was riveting and had me thinking I might have a 5 star read in front of me. But the stories after that were a bit… mediocre. And I find most of them to lean sexist, especially the last one. I’m almost treating this like an anthology, the first story is 5 stars, the second and 3rd are 2-3ish, and the last one is a 1 for me. So that lands us right around a 3. I think there’s a lot of wasted potential here and I’m really disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Car accident, Grief, and Medical trauma

nojerama's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Self harm, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Abortion, Death, Miscarriage, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Grief

dreamyari's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed this a lot more the more I read. There was something about the writing style, maybe, that my brain really struggled to get behind at first. This was possibly due to Kawaguchi also being a playwright, but the longer I sat with it and allowed myself to be immersed in that vivid-in-my-imagination coffee shop, the more I was transported and was able to be hit with waves of feelings.
It's a comfy read that feels almost anthology-like with the way it's formatted, and I really enjoyed it. Perfect for one sitting with a coffee, or multiple sittings curled up in lots of blankets. Tears were shed and I'm glad I stuck with this despite my initial hesitancy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Death

zoiejanelle's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

i wept. i don’t want to describe the plot so i don’t spoil a single thing. phenomenal, quick, easy to read book with really potent moments of emotional revelation. haven’t quite read anything like it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy and Dementia

Minor: Car accident, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Grief, Chronic illness, Abortion, Death, and Death of parent