Before The Coffee Gets Cold: Book Review

Book: Before The Coffee Gets Cold
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism
Age Limit: 16+
Trigger Warnings: Dementia, Death, Grief

Goodreads Summary:

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-traveling offer, to confront the man who left them, and receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

My Review:

There are four stories, all set in the cafe, where the characters are the same and known. In each story, some or other character wants to time travel back to the past/ future to convey something to the person they want to meet. These stories are very heartwarming and meaningful. You get so connected to the characters. The author has described the cafe in such a way that it makes it so comforting to read these stories. It teaches an important lesson about time and relationships. Even though they can time travel, after coming back, the present does not change, which was pretty interesting to read as even though the characters were able to experience this magical moment, they still had to come back to reality because it does not change. I got so attached to these stories that I will come back and read them again. They were so impactful with such a beautiful message at the end.

What I Liked:

• The connection between time and relationships
• Got attached to the characters
• the rules for time-traveling
• favorite story: Mother and Child

Other Books In This Series:

What You Should Read Next:

• Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami
• Read the sequels of this book!

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This was a comfort read for me! Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.

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