Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Ratings668
Average rating3.7
Dit was echt een top boek, zo goed. Ben sowieso fan van Japanse literatuur en de manier hoe ze schrijven. Dit boek specifiek is een beetje geschreven alsof het een soort toneelstuk is, hier moet je een beetje doorheen kijken als je hier minder fan van bent.
Het verhaal en de samenhang van elk hoofdstuk is chef's kiss
10/10 would recommend
Amazing book, really slow, but emotional. First half wasn't really that good for me, but the second was amazing. Last two stories were amazing
This was a lovely book!
Time travel is a concept that I always struggle to grasp. Moreover, I consider it hard to write, and most often I don't like to read about it.
Despite not being my favorite time travel book, that honor belongs to Recursion by Blake Crouch, this one was quite entertaining and fairly well executed.
Through the narrator, we are able to see four short stories occur in the cafe, and the motivations and desires behind traveling for such a low amount of time (before the coffee gets cold), knowing it is not possible to change the present.
The author used to produce, direct and write for a theatrical group. Despite being an adaptation of a play written by him, this novel still reads like a play and I hope I will be able to see it as one in the future.
I strongly recommend this reading.
This is so heartfelt and sweet. There are 4 people that time travel for vastly different reasons and even though nothing in the present changes all those people change in really positive ways. This is a beautiful book.
A quite different book from what I'm used to reading, this little collection of stories from an out-of-the-way cafe where one can travel into the past or future (but there are rules and restrictions guiding that experience) was, in the end, an enjoyable one.
Son 3 cuentitos conectados entre ellos muy conmovedores, emocionales, y el mensaje que te dejan creo que es muy bonito, como el disfrutar el hoy, o que tal vez las circunstancias actuales no pueden cambiar pero tú mismo y tu pov sí pueden hacerlo. Me parece hasta cierto punto reconfortante.
Si los libros-historias se consideraran buenos según por cuánto te hacen llorar, definitivamente este es bueno
Not bad.
I'm not really a fan of magical realism and this book proved once more.
Still, the stories are nice and I liked the messaging
The language is beautifully spare but the meaning is sweet, contemplative, and all-encompassing.
The lasting feeling is almost Stoic: Focus on what we can change instead of what we can't change.
The Internal and External create change, but it's up to us how to interpret and incorporate that change into ourselves and our lives.
Love this book.
This book is divided into small chapters that follow a person specifically, but also have a continuing storyline. The first two were not that interesting to me, but the third one was really good. The last one completely ripped my heart out, it was so beautiful and sad. If the whole book had bern like the last chapter I would have given 5 stars easily. Sadly the writing style did not work for me for most of the book.
Since the last chapter was amazing I'll up the rating to 3,5*
I heard the audiobook version of this and it is definitely a nicely written book. It is slow but I think it's an apt pace for such a story. The author focuses mainly on the characters and their stories than the fantasy element of time travel. Though the stories get predictable you are hooked to them because everything happens in a cozy cafe and the story has a pull where it feels as if you sitting on one of the tables and witnessing everything happening around you.
If you are drinking coffee while reading this one, make sure you “drink your coffee before it gets cold”, mine went cold as I was so engrossed in reading/listening.
Overall this was an enjoyably light read. The writing style itself isn't for everyone since it is based entirely on a screenplay. I found each story and character dilemma to be emotionally compelling. Although the dialogue can be a bit cheesy and predictable, the stories are very sad and dramatic, which I wasn't expecting judging by the book's premise. If you want a quick, light, and kind of over dramatic read focused around coffee then this is for you.
Honestly, such a wholesome book! The premise is so interesting and unique yet it touches on aspects of life that almost everyone can relate to. Made me tear up at the end too
Honestly, such a wholesome book! The premise is so interesting and unique yet it touches on aspects of life that almost everyone can relate to. Made me tear up at the end too
“no matter what difficulties people face, they will always have the strength to overcome.”
This is all I learn
CW: death of a loved one, terminal illness, chronic illness, and complications with pregnancy.
I absolutely loved my time rereading this. I can confidently say that it is a favorite of mine. I love how atmospheric and cozy this book is. Even though this book is told in “short stories” or vignettes following four different characters. Each story bleeds into each other and the characters are still present in the other stories. So you get to see them all develop in their own and the other stories. I really fell in love with this book and the characters all over again.
first read: may 14 2020
second read: october 11 2021
CW: death of a loved one, terminal illness, chronic illness, and complications with pregnancy.
I absolutely loved my time rereading this. I can confidently say that it is a favorite of mine. I love how atmospheric and cozy this book is. Even though this book is told in “short stories” or vignettes following four different characters. Each story bleeds into each other and the characters are still present in the other stories. So you get to see them all develop in their own and the other stories. I really fell in love with this book and the characters all over again.
first read: may 14 2020
second read: october 11 2021
This was an interesting read at first. It is told in 4 short stories about this cafe. Loved the time travel and would recommend.
Summary There is a cafe that has a table where a person can travel in time. There are rules that must be followed. 1. You can only see people who have visited the cafe. 2. You cannot leave your seat while traveling. 3. You have to drink the coffee before it gets cold. There are some realities to know. Nothing a person does while traveling changes what has happened in the past or choices people make to current time.
My Thoughts Each chapter focuses on an individual who chooses to travel in the cafe. Each has their own reasons and none of them are sure what they expect to get out of traveling, knowing they can change nothing by traveling.
What each finds is that they themselves change with traveling in some way. They gain understanding they did not have before by having the opportunity to have conversations they did not have and wished they had. They come to see more of the picture the dispels fears or assumptions they had about other's thoughts and motives.
The title itself is a proverb. Drink the coffee before it gets cold. Enjoy what you have while you have it. If we hesitate, if we let fear cow is into inaction, we miss out on what is good in our lives. The message is simple and the stories are not high action. The characters bring the parable to life. I read the English translation and the word nerd in me wishes I could read the original Japanese with a full understanding of the culture. I think the prose would resonate more deeply, even, and one may find even more parables within.
The content, writing style seems more relevant for a play adaptation. Or maybe the original, Japanese version is better. But this did not work for me.
Imagine there's a café in your neighborhood. A small, basement café barely large enough to hold a few booths, a few tables, and a counter. This café, though, has a bit of a poorly-kept secret, in that if you sit at one of the seats in the café, you can travel back in time. You can't leave the seat, you can't change the past, and you have to drink the coffee put in front of you before it gets cold, but you can travel back in time. What would you change? Obviously you'd be limited to people in the café, or people who have visited the café, but things can still be said, people you've visited with can be revisited, and, essentially, closure could be had.
This short book consists of four short stories set inside this café involving visitors and staff members who each discover a need to revisit the past. The four stories are different, but they're the same in that each person reaches some form of closure they need to move on in their lives.
I think I was expecting something different from the description here, and ultimately I was left with vague dissatisfaction, but not enough to really quit reading. You never find out some key points of how or why you can time travel in this café or any consequences for people who break the rules. The stories told were each nice enough, but I didn't really feel moved by any of them. I think I liked the second story the best and the fourth story the least, if we're keeping track.
It's not a bad read, and very quick, so don't let my vague annoyance dissuade you from giving it a try. I honestly wish I had a café (any café, with or without time travel) that was as cozy as this on sounds in my own neighborhood.
Esta era uma das leituras que eu mais queria fazer desde que vi o livro; havia qualquer coisa que me chamava, mas que eu não conseguia explicar bem. Além disso, enquanto apaixonada pela cultura japonesa, aficionada por Murakami, eu queria que 2021 tivesse mais autores da terra do sol nascente.
.
O compasso inicial fez-me hesitar um pouco — o autor tem um estilo peculiar de escrever e de apresentar os personagens — mas depois de avançar um pouco... uau! O primeiro conto foi o mais paradito e, na minha opinião, o menos interessante. Mas a partir do segundo... uau!
.
É daqueles livros que são subtis na forma como nos tocam. Em que nós esperamos uma coisa e eles dão-nos outra. Neste caso, eu esperava algo mais político, mais filosófico, onde o próprio autor se perdesse em reflexões. Mas Kawaguchi fez melhor que isso, e uma das coisas mais difíceis que um autor consegue fazer: pôr o leitor a pensar por ele.
.
Apesar do omnipresente elemento do fantástico — afinal de contas, este livro gira em redor de um café que permite viajar no tempo —, este livro não é sobre viagens no tempo. Eu sei! Mas não desistam de mim ainda. Este livro é sobre relações humanas. Sobre amar e ser amado, sobre linguagens de amor, sobre sacrifícios e gestos.
.
Fico feliz de ter apostado neste autor mesmo que não soubesse fosse o que fosse sobre ele. Porque gostei do nome, gostei da capa, e gostei da nacionalidade dele, ganhei um livro incrível que definitivamente ficará no meu Top5 no final do ano.
.