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

emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.0

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a fantasy realism novel about a 10-seat cafe in a back alley of Tokyo that lets you travel back in time (with many rules). The book is divided into four parts, each following the story of somebody who travels back in time to face their past. A young woman visits a man the day they broke up, a wife visits her husband before Alzheimer’s took him from her, two sisters visit one last time, and a mother visits her daughter.

Originally a screenplay, the book reads as one. Entrances and exits are prominent, tone, sounds, and movements are exaggerated. I think knowing this improved the experience of reading the book, and overall I enjoyed the stories.

What I really liked about this book were the rules to travelling in time: only one seat in the cafe sends you back in time, you can only visit people who have visited the cafe, you cannot leave your seat, you must return before your coffee gets cold, and nothing you do will change the present. To me, this was an incredibly unique take on time travel, and raises interesting points as to why the various people travel to the past. If you can’t change anything, why bother? Each struggle with the question in their own way and come to justify it for their own reasons. 

I’d recommend this book to people who enjoy emotional books, or fantasy realism. If somebody is a big sci-fi nerd who wants to read about the mechanics and theory of the particular type of time travel, they will be disappointed. However, as somebody who knows a lot of time travel mechanics and “physics”, I enjoyed imagining how it all worked and didn’t feel this was a gap in the story at all. 

Instead of mechanical details, there was a deep level of physical and emotional detail in the book, from the character's movements to their internal thought processes. It made the book very immersive and I felt very connected to the characters and the space, but it never felt heavy or exhausting. This is a great lighter read for people looking for an escape.

 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings