Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

512 reviews

sandramarinis's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I preferred the first part of the book. I enjoyed the read, but there were several parts of the book where the author said the exact same thing using different words two times in a row. Like others have pointed out, some parts had excessive information. So weird. What I did like about the book was that it made me reflect on how selfish people are. The people traveling in time didn't necessarily think of the feelings of the other person meeting them. There's a reason why one should move on and not hold on to the past I guess. That's why the situation where the meeting went particularly bad with all of the blaming and "how dare you's" was my favorite. All in all a good read, but not my favorite book ever. 
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binreads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book just kept getting better the more you read it. I see other reviewers referring to this book as a 'warm hug' and I absolutely agree. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of time travel that I haven't really seen before. I liked the idea of all these events taking place in this cozy, basement cafe. As a coffee lover, I honestly thought that using the temperature of the coffee as a time travel device was really clever. You never know how quickly your coffee is gonna get cold, I for one always forget I have a cup, then my coffee is freezing cold! So the use of that as a timer for such a delicate action of traveling through time for something extremely important made it very intense.

I did like that it takes place with the core group - the workers at the cafe - and the addition of the characters who seek out the cafe. It made me cry at points. Very moving, I already purchased the second one and I can't wait to start reading it.

The one thing I didn't care for was how often the author refers to the character Nagare's size, like we get it the man is big. And my thing is like it wasn't done in a way that was like, oh he's just really tall.....it was like he's not 'normal sized' or he's a 'big man'...it was overdone.
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toastyghosty13's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a really interesting book where people can enter a cafe and travel back in time. There are some rules that go with the time traveling, but it still does not stop the characters from having meaningful exchanges with whoever they see while time traveling. 

At the risk of spoiling too much, it is best to not know much about this book besides the above when going into it. This book was very inspiring and very emotional. I do not recommend reading it between work meetings like I did, or you very well might find yourself ugly crying 10 minutes before a meeting (also like I did, thankfully no one showed up to the meeting). 

This book is part of a series and I will definitely be revisiting in the future. 
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cassieemaree's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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woolerys's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Either something didn’t come through on translation or I am missing some cultural context because the prose read very strangely to me, kind of stilted, and I felt like certain things were supposed to be humorous but they weren’t quite landing.
That said the concept was enjoyable, the encounters were touching, and I felt attached to the little coffee shop family by the end.
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emamoretti03's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

So heartwarming and touching. It'll make you ugly cry. It starts a little bit slow, it almost seems pointless but then it starts hitting. When you are chilling and when you less expect it it starts with these heart wrenching situations that feel like a punch in the gut. 
I don't know how much it'll take to recover from this
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onegalonelife27's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 In the hustle of Tokyo, a little cafe exists where you can go back in time…

I found this story fascinating since there are several rules-simple enough but daunting in practice-that makes one question if it’s even possible. Each chapter stars a traveler of the chapter, wrestling about traveling, overcoming the rules and then being able to to talk to whoever they wanted-before the coffee gets cold. 

I do feel like the last chapter was more of a gut punch then it needed to be-like it’s good but man it just hurts so much. Like the author wanted to make sure you cried before you finished the book, I certainly teared up. 

We actually meet quite a lot of the cast in the first chapter-made up of various regulars of the cafe and the staff. I think this lends to more telling than showing in the narration, but given the setting is always in the cafe and the characters that often show up, I found the style fitting. It gives enough description to help build on and helps the reader understand each character. 

While it does make me curious how the formula is changed for future stories, I’m currently good on the series. Like i said, the last chapter really puts you through the emotional wringer. 
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rainbowbrarian's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

I found this one a little challenging to get into.  Books in translation can be tough, Japanese culture is very different from American culture so it felt challenging to relate to some of the characters.
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rae1523's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love the premise of the book. All throughout the story you know what the book os about, its about a time traveling cafe, but it doesn't prepare you for the sad stories that come out of this cafe. It was eye watering and very reflective. All along I wondered if I could travel back in time who would I meet and what would I say? I think the biggest take away from this story for me was that we should always say what needs to be said and be honest with the people we care about the most.
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bethanwx's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A profound story of how we are changed by gaining closure from our past. Kawaguchi is a master in creating characters with whom you can deeply empathise and love. A remarkable book.
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