Review : Before the coffee gets cold

Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi by Picador released translated in 2023, but originally from 2015 [01].

The book follows the point of view of a third party observer: a café in Tokyo.

The story essentially features a seldom busy café in Tokyo in which some regulars come and go, where weird events sometimes take place.

It focuses on the character interactions as they build relationships, more or less successfully, while exploring how people deal with regrets.

The quirkiness of the rules and settings allowing characters to go back in time makes the story engaging, and even funny at times.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s (translated) writing style is accessible and easy to follow. Toshikazu lets us get attached to the people, and also feel with them when something happens.

It’s a short book, and it gave me a family-like feeling while reading it.

Despite its length, some passages felt a bit slow.

7/10.