[MPOV] Before the Coffee gets Cold

My rating: 4.5

Goodreads rating: 3.77/5

Publisher: Hanover Square Press (HarperCollins)

Published: November 17, 2020

Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Translator: Geoffrey Trousselot

Genre: Literary fiction, magical realism, time travel

What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which 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-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, 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 . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

The above taken from Goodreads.

A special thanks to Edelweiss and Hanover Square Press for this e-book in return for my honest review.

This book has 4 short stories which revolves around a small cafe, the premise of the time travel. It's about 4 couples having issues with their relationships; with their significant other hoping to travel back in time to sort it out. Unfortunately, there are a few rules to adhere to such as not being able to change the present time and to drink up the coffee before it turns cold. With ideas of their own, each one was able to go back in time hoping to get some answers, if not relieving their regrets in order to move forward. Clang - dong ...

It's a simple premise with a simple story-line that is uniquely interesting and yet not foreboding that it engages it's audience. I liked the simplicity of it which gave the stories a realistic magical feel. It did started off with a little hitch, not sure if it's due to the translation but eventually it was relatively smooth until the end. Such heart-warming tales of life and regret, each one as heart-wrenching as the other. The way it was plotted with a well rounded closure made each story more engaging for me. Clang - dong ...

It is an easy read, definitely for those who wants a change of reading pace as it's easily finished in 2 seatings. Nothing ambiguous with a straightforward time travel albeit with many rules that I did enjoy. In fact, time travel is a genre not many authors could easily produce with ease. This is one exception. Short and sweet simplicity at it's best. Clang - dong ...

Drink the coffee before it gets cold - Kazu

“When in the presence of someone with whom you have a bond, and to whom you have entrusted your feelings, it is hard to lie and get away with it. The truth just wants to come flowing out. This is especially the case when you are trying to hide your sadness or vulnerability. It is much easier to conceal sadness from a stranger, or from someone you don't trust.”