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A review by crazygoangirl
The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Wanted to begin March with a light read and this one fit the bill. The pretty cover and large print size made it a quick one too. The style is in the vein of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, where each character and their individual stories form an interconnected narrative.
We follow a few human characters who are each struggling to make their lives better. As is usual in Japanese literature, the humans are mostly beating up on themselves and borderline depressed because they seem unable to get what they want or have had it and lost it. So we have a once famous, now down and out script writer Mizuki, who is hoping to reboot her career; Akari, a media professional, emotionally repressed, stressed from always doing the right thing; Takashi, an IT professional, meandering through life with communication issues; Megumi, a successful hairdresser who has recently made a major career change.
Into the lives of each of these confused souls comes The Full Moon Coffee House, run by talking cats! Despite the obvious cover, I hadn’t realised that Astrology would play a major part in the story! I’m an enthusiast and enjoyed the horoscopes and planetary wisdom that the charming felines impart to their befuddled humans! I love the concoctions they come up with that offer succour and healing! Comfort food of the celestial kind - what’s not to like☺️
I found the felines delightful. I would love to sit under a sky full of stars with a cat reading my stars or explaining how to handle a retrograde Mercury or conduct myself in the Age of Aquarius, while I sipped a Moonlight and Venus Champagne Float 😃 Ultimately like every story told, this one too is about the human condition - about friendship and hard-work; about determination and courage; about love and ambition, all told in gentle, simple prose.
A feel good, relaxing read that I enjoyed all the more for its astrological context, which is very similar to the traditional Hindu astrological system that I’m familiar with. Also, the author mentioned how the idea for the book came to her after she came across a series of illustrations by Chihiro Sakurada depicting a mysterious Full Moon Coffee Shop run by a cat. I googled the artist and saw the illustrations for myself - they are beautifully whimsical!
*Read this for Prompt No.12 of my 52 Books Bookclub Reading Challenge 2025
We follow a few human characters who are each struggling to make their lives better. As is usual in Japanese literature, the humans are mostly beating up on themselves and borderline depressed because they seem unable to get what they want or have had it and lost it. So we have a once famous, now down and out script writer Mizuki, who is hoping to reboot her career; Akari, a media professional, emotionally repressed, stressed from always doing the right thing; Takashi, an IT professional, meandering through life with communication issues; Megumi, a successful hairdresser who has recently made a major career change.
Into the lives of each of these confused souls comes The Full Moon Coffee House, run by talking cats! Despite the obvious cover, I hadn’t realised that Astrology would play a major part in the story! I’m an enthusiast and enjoyed the horoscopes and planetary wisdom that the charming felines impart to their befuddled humans! I love the concoctions they come up with that offer succour and healing! Comfort food of the celestial kind - what’s not to like☺️
I found the felines delightful. I would love to sit under a sky full of stars with a cat reading my stars or explaining how to handle a retrograde Mercury or conduct myself in the Age of Aquarius, while I sipped a Moonlight and Venus Champagne Float 😃 Ultimately like every story told, this one too is about the human condition - about friendship and hard-work; about determination and courage; about love and ambition, all told in gentle, simple prose.
A feel good, relaxing read that I enjoyed all the more for its astrological context, which is very similar to the traditional Hindu astrological system that I’m familiar with. Also, the author mentioned how the idea for the book came to her after she came across a series of illustrations by Chihiro Sakurada depicting a mysterious Full Moon Coffee Shop run by a cat. I googled the artist and saw the illustrations for myself - they are beautifully whimsical!
*Read this for Prompt No.12 of my 52 Books Bookclub Reading Challenge 2025