Review by wishbea - Before the Coffee Gets Cold

wishbea 's review for:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

1.0

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This isn't really a novel, it's more of a collection of disjointed stories that take place in the same coffee shop.

There's definitely sexist undertones, just read this quote:

'Don't go!' she would have screamed. Of course, they would have been crocodile tears. Tears are a woman's weapon.

Outside of that, the prose is very basic and wooden, I expected more depth. The characters felt mostly one-dimensional and the stories are bogged down by copy-pasted explanations of things such as Alzheimer's disease, rather than being integrated well into the story.

The last story did end up being emotional at least, but I only finished this book because it was so short and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Deeply disappointing, there are better written books about grief, but I guess the book was readable.

Note: Cat on the cover, but no cat in the story. Another layer of disappointment.

Content Warnings