A review by siobhanward
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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

2.0

 This book has been talked about so much (and is now one of a few in a series), that I definitely went in with the thought that it was at least going to be decent, but honestly it was mediocre at best. The idea of time travelling in a cafe was cool, and I appreciated that rules were clearly thought out to make things less messy, but that's mostly what I can say about it. A couple of the stories were solid - I particularly liked the stories about the older couple and the sisters, but I found that the first and last stories to be kind of mediocre. I think part of the challenge was that each of the stories was too short to elicit the emotion that was needed to keep a reader engaged, so everyone experienced tragedy after tragedy to keep the reader engaged.

This was a cool concept, I just wish it had been executed better. 
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