Reviews - Before We Say Goodbye

3.58k reviews for:

Before We Say Goodbye

Toshikazu Kawaguchi

3.9 AVERAGE

hootypocket's review against another edition

5.0

emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sheryl_macca's review against another edition

3.75

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The 4th in this series is just as cosy and whimsical as the first 3 with the same sadness, regret and grief. I was not prepared for the story about the dog 😞

jess_bee's review against another edition

4.5

hopeful inspiring 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

mothballfamicom's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

buckyboo's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

I have all of these books, but only read them in between others. There's quite a bit of repetition because of the rules of the cafe, but once you get into the stories and they have travelled back in time, they are really enjoyable stories and always makes you wonder who you would visit if you could. The dog story was sad but lovely.

kerejane's review against another edition

4.0

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: Yes

debbiekushner's review against another edition

3.0

challenging inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

I... Don't know how to rate this book.

I have deeply conflicting feelings and will share as I write the review. As with the other books in this series, it's made up on 4 short stories.
When I read the third I was annoyed with the writing style and the emergence of a second cafe. I expected this book to leave off where the second ended.

Within the first few pages I immediately knew this was not the case. The age of Miki and a fact about Kaname shows that we are not in the right timeline. So from a perspective of this being part of a series I was annoyed. I had to set the book down and try to enjoy it as a one off.
However, without the knowledge of what's happened in book 1 - this would be a difficult book to understand. So from that perspective this book gets a 2, maybe a 2-. The short stories are great but without series knowledge it's confusing and with knowledge you will be annoyed knowing this probably should be book #2.

But... The short stories! I think this might be the best set.
1) I laughed at the quirky traveler
2) I cried for the love of pets
3) I cried for it's realization of someone truly wanting whats best for a significant other
4) I was enamoured by the story of father and daughter.

#3 did have the annoying characteristic of having a similar story line to three of the stories in book #3 and my enjoyment of the story is very much biased to the feeling I had when I read one line.

That said, the 4th short story also concludes with a arching carry over from the 1st in this book. So.... With all that I think I would give a 4+ for the stories.

How to merge the two? I think I'll just mark it as a 3. The book makes an impact, but perhaps would be even greater if moved to #2 in the series.