Reviews

Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

literarycryptid's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-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

4.75

lexythebookworm_'s review against another edition

5.0

4.5 ⭐️

It's rare to find a sequel to a book (that was already good) that lives up to the reader's expectations. But I must say that, in this case, I enjoyed this second part even more than the first one.
These beautiful four tales, or short stories, that take place at this Café, are completely heart moving and beautiful. I would even dare to use the expression "hauntingly beautiful", since it really made me shed a couple of tears and feel happy, despite the portion of sadness that they generated inside of me.

I truly recommend the "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" books to anyone, not only to readers. The stories are truly delightful, easy to read and completely heart warming.

Warning: the ending did actually make me shed a couple of tears. So proceed with caution while wearing mascara :P

siobhannil's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

maketeaa's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

4.5

"if you try to find happiness after this, then this child will have put those seventy days towards making you happy. in that case, its life has meaning."

i thought, at first, that maybe the rest of this series would just be a repetition of the original book, that it would just be a reiteration of the lesson that the past is something to make peace with rather than change, and while this story was an extension of that, it certainly wasn't a redunant collection of stories. in 'tales from the café', kawaguchi takes a closer look at death and bereavement, expanding on the final story from the café between kei and miki and the message of wishing happiness for miki beyond the grave. we meet a man wishing to meet his dead best friend, whose young daughter he adopted after his death, a son wishing to meet his dead mother while he himself considered suicide, a lover wishing to meet his old girlfriend after he passed away from cancer, and an old detective wishing to pass on a birthday present to his wife after she was murdered twenty-two years ago. throughout, we see miki, the widowed nagare's young daughter, bringing light and life into the café, symbolising new beginnings and rebirths through the excitement of a seven-year-old, in her songs about spring and her ever-changing phases, and kazu, who we learn is the daughter of the ghost in the chair. all the former characters share one thing in common -- a desire to hold onto the past, to punish oneself for their loved one's death, and an inability to dig themselves out of their bereavement. going back to the past, for them, means going back to make amends, to do what they believe will absolve them of their guilt -- for the man and his best friend, it is to take a video revealing to his daughter that he is not her real father,  for the son, it is to turn himself into a ghost after the death of his mother, for the lover, to make sure she is happy in the future, and for the husband, to pass on the present. but what each character learns that it is not necessary to make amends, to 'fix' anything to absolve them from their guilt -- the best way to give meaning to each death is to continue life in a way to make themselves happy. the time that the person they have lost spent in their lives is time that was spent with love, and thus, instead of using their legacy to live in sorrow, they should live with the memory of the joy they felt to experience being alive at the same time as them. a truly touching second installment to a very sweet series❤️

emanon_'s review against another edition

fast-paced

4.0

I listened to the book rather than reading it and while I love the concept of it all and some of the stories made me tear and and all I couldn’t get over how annoying the little girl was. Omg, the singing and the French??? I could’ve very well done with a shy child in this book.

But yeah, other than that it tracks with the first book and it’s quite nice.

dengola's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.5

byebrook's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

jammons's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

miss_laura_smith's review against another edition

3.75

the stories were lovely but there were some editorial issues with spelling, punctuation, new line breaks for dialogue etc that sometimes made dialogue hard to catch and that bothered me

cheyannenx's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

i read the first book in the series around this time last year and can’t remember it all that clearly, but i feel as though i enjoyed this one a lot more

we got to know more about the coffee owners and the stories this time we’re much more interconnected and touching i felt ☕️

the main critique i’d have is that there are a lot of characters names beginning with the letter K, so i did get a lil confused 

“life too, passes through difficult winters. but after any winter, spring will follow” :))