This was a pleasant read overall, but I admit I found the writing style hard to get into, and that downplayed my enjoyment of it.

Perhaps it was the translation, in parts, but not only. For instance, I had trouble with more than one paragraph dealing with one idea, and then suddenly switching to an action that had been started in the previous paragraph—I felt like saying “either finish this action first, or put it in the next paragraph.” I don’t know if it’s just me, if I have a strange sense of how things go together? It was just jarring to me. The time travel rule quickly became redundant, too.

In general, I also felt that this would fare better as a movie. The four vignettes’ endings were all in all easy to foresee, the characters are fairly cookie-cutter and sometimes have exaggerated gestures, and when some of them have downplayed reactions (such as Nagare not really expressing his feelings), we don’t get privy to their internal life much either, so the writing medium didn’t really bring much in that regard either.

This said, as mentioned above, I still liked the story. It had a certain atmosphere, a ‘locked room’ feeling since the action only happened in the café, but not in an oppressive way—more like an intimate, slice-of-life moment, that had its own charm.

I thought this book was okay, I didn't dislike it but I didn't love it. I thought the last story was the most poignant and it definitely was the best story to end this book on as it pulls on your heartstrings.
I really like the idea of this book, I just think the stories of the people travelling back and why just didn't really pull on my heartstrings. I loved the rules of this cafe, they made sense to me and I think gave the people using this ability to travel back the chance to re-live a moment but also remember that you really cannot change things once they've happened and that's okay.
It was a good book but I felt it was written in a way that prevented you from becoming attached to the characters or forming emotions and therefore I always felt quite separate to it.

It's an interesting idea and it sometimes gets right to the sweet spot but the writing style or translation is just all over the place. It rarely flows, it feels quite choppy. I suspect it's the translation and there has been an attempt to stick to the original text and so it's choppy and clunky.

I found this book really touching and beautiful.

It centres around a coffee shop, the family who own the business and the customers who visit. This coffee shop has the unique ability to allow a person to travel back in time, but within a very narrow set of parameters - before the coffee gets cold.

It is extremely well written, I would strongly recommend.

This was a really interesting concept, but sadly I felt that the translation was a bit lacking. It didn't really engage me, and the story seemed to just stop. I felt that a lot more could have been done to flesh out the world and make certain events more effective. I think it would make an excellent TV series though!

Seguramente no me hubiera acercado a Before the Coffee Gets Cold si no hubieran aparecido los viajes en el tiempo en su sinopsis. Para los que me conocéis un poco o seguís el blog desde hace ya un tiempo es habitual encontrar novelas donde el viaje al pasado es una clave del libro y, generalmente, se trata de un subgénero que me ha deparado unas cuantas alegrías. Este libro es además una traducción de una novela originalmente escrita en japonés, por lo que el interés tenía un aliciente añadido.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold es una obra, en cualquier caso, especial. Los viajes en el tiempo que Toshikazu Kawaguchi propone en la novela tienen una serie de particularidades y reglas que bien merece la pena conocer antes de decidirte a hacer el viaje. Todo ello sucede en un viejo bar que no ha cambiado su decoración en los últimos cien años y donde la temperatura se mantiene constante en cualquier periodo del año. A dicho local llegan cuatro clientes para confirmar que esas noticias que afirman que es posible viajar al pasado y revisar acontecimientos ya cerrados son verdad. Sin embargo, pronto descubren que la realidad no es tan ambiciosa.
Lo primero es que nada de lo que hagas durante el viaje temporal afectara al presente. No hay nada que evite que hagas algo desafortunado, pero ninguna de tus acciones cambiará el presente cuando vuelvas a él. Para poder viajar en el tiempo debes sentarte en un asiento concreto, no vale otro. Un asiento que, por otra parte, esta habitualmente ocupado por un fantasma que una vez al día lo deja libre para ir al baño.
Hay un tiempo límite para estar en el pasado: lo que tarda el café en quedarse frío. Para ello hay diversas formas de controlar que el tiempo no se te vaya de las manos y termines convirtiéndote en un fantasma y nunca volver a tu presente. Ah, y en el pasado solo podrás encontrarte con alguien que haya estado en el bar en alguna ocasión, algo que nuestros protagonistas no siempre recordaran a ciencia cierta.
La novela se presenta en forma de cuatro historias cortas, una por personaje, que acuden al local para confirmar lo que se anuncia y viajar al pasado con objeto de poder hablar con ese ser querido que marchó, que ya no los recuerda o que ya no está con ellos. Cada uno aceptará las normas a su manera y las historias personales de cada uno de los personajes marcan claramente el transcurrir de cada uno de sus relatos. Los personajes que regentan el local añaden cierta profundidad a las tramas, siendo ellos quienes explican las normas existentes a los nuevos clientes.
Una vez presentadas las reglas lo cierto es que la novela se centra mucho más en el aspecto emocional. Esto quizá pueda ser algo decepcionante si buscar algún tipo de paradoja temporal o pico de tensión en la historia. Before the Coffee Gets Cold es, en este sentido, una historia claramente más emocional que emocionante.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold se ha publicado en ingles en traducción del japonés original. Esto explica que algunas expresiones o párrafos no tengan las estructuras o expresiones que podría utilizar un autor original inglés. No sé si es cosa de la traducción o que en el original estaba escrito de esta manera, pero lo cierto es que la lectura a ratos me ha parecido algo simplona y básica en sus descripciones.
En definitiva, he pasado un buen rato leyendo esta curiosa novela. Before the Coffee Gets Cold me ha gustado porque es directa, sencilla, y cada historia te va aportando matices a las reglas que rigen el viaje en el tiempo del local protagonista del libro. Literariamente me ha resultado simple y la última historia me ha parecido algo ya redundante con todo lo que habíamos visto en los tres primeros capítulos. Sin embargo, los personajes secundarios y descubrir las características de los viajes en el tiempo me han resultado lo suficientemente interesantes como para recomendar esta breve lectura.

Wouldn't we all love to go back in time, but to change the path we're on but to do or say something, or not do or say something.
The cafe is a lovely quaint little place I want to visit, yet whilst I loved the back story of this novel, I struggled to build any connection with the characters until nearly the end. I'd love there to be a sequel to this, just to tidy up the stories with the characters as it didn't feel finished.

What a beautiful book. It brought tears to my eyes at times. Short but sweet. Tales of love, forgiveness and memory. A gem.

What a wonderful read! Set in a Tokyo cafe renowned for its ‘unusual’ atmosphere, the central female characters take advantage of the cafe’s offerings in an attempt to set right past misunderstandings between loved ones in four short interconnected ‘stories’, I loved the elements of fantasy and optimism in the setting and central themes of the novel. Brilliant!

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book! Initially I had difficulty imagining the scenes and characters as there was not much to go on, but as the book progressed more description was added and the characters became more rounded and identifiable. I don't consider the characters or setting to be well written - a little too flat - but what really intrigued me was the plot. I have read widely in this genre but I have never read a book quite like this. The four chapters are separate stories but all build on the same characters, whom I began to feel I got to know by the end. Their stories are unexpected and deal with difficult subjects in a delicate way.
This book is sensitive without being sentimental. In the beginning, I wasn't sure whether to continue reading, but it is worth persevering with to discover the outcomes for the characters in this unusual book. I recommend it.

In a little Japanese basement cafe, it’s possible to travel back in time... though the possibility is hedged about with so many rules and restrictions, most people don’t bother. This book tells the story of four people who do.

The beginning was quite confusing to me, with many characters and a lot of unavoidable exposition. After a while, I had the characters mainly sorted out in my mind... though still had to remind myself at times. Interestingly, all the characters who choose to time travel are women, and I wasn’t always quite sure about how the (male) author chose to portray them - there was perhaps a little too much harping on appearance, attractiveness and self-sacrifice - but it wasn’t overly jarring.

The time-travel element doesn’t stand up to much analysis (you can’t change the present by whatever you do in the past, but it’s never explained whether the people from the past remember their encounter - if so, surely that in itself has potential to change their future behaviour). It doesn’t matter really though, because the idea of time travel is just a vehicle to explore relationships, regrets and what we would say to the people lost to us in various ways, if only we had the chance to see them one more time.

I wanted to know more about the story of “the woman in the dress”. She’s a constant presence, but what happened to her is never really explained. And how does a ghost need the toilet, anyway?

Some reviewers have complained of the translation being “clunky” at times - I didn’t find it so, though, and thought it fitted the story well. (Although note to editors : “piqued” not “peaked”.)

Ultimately this felt like a sweet, if a little slight, read with an unusual premise and a very engaging setting.

I requested this book as I was so intrigued by the description. I wasn't disappointed. I am a complete sucker for time-travel books anyway, but this story is so charming, and moving, and such a clever idea. My only gripe is that the Japanese names make it hard to remember who is who, but I would thoroughly recommend this very unusual book.

I tend to enjoy books translated from Japanese and stories with an element of fantasy. This piqued my interest on both counts, as well as being set in one of my natural haunts...a coffee shop! Add the phrase "time travel" and I was sold. The book turned out to be far more involving than I had expected, held my interest throughout and I have yet to leave this world behind. Really good, but you may need a box of tissues.

I wasnt sure what to expect when I started reading Before the Coffee gets Cold. I’ve read many time travel type books and so thought goody! Another! Well I wasn’t disappointed. An interesting take on time travel, a gentle book with great character describing. I very much enjoyed it,

This was quite a quirky book and the second Japanese book I have read. Not sure why there is a cat on the front as there isn't a cat in the book.

It was a little difficult to get into, a bit of scene setting at the beginning but as the book progressed it was much easier. There were some oddities with the translation, but nothing that particularly detracted from the story.

It is not Sci Fi, just as well as that is not my genre at all. A bi of fantasy maybe, a what if we could go back in time to speak to someone for that last time, or go forward and make a decision that we don't know how to make.

I thought it very cleverly done.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The best way to describe this book is wandering. Its pace is wandering, strolling through the story, rarely getting to the point or including the key event until towards the end. It feels a little like a short story was stretched out to an almost full novella. It's a book that feels like a lot of meaning got lost in translation, so you didn't get the full effect. I feel as though something was missing.

A short, quirky little novel which I really enjoyed. It has to be said that the translation is a little clunky in places but, in some ways, that adds to its charm. The plot is set within a small coffee shop in Tokyo where customers can travel either back or forward in time providing they adhere to a certain set of rules: nothing they do when they time travel can affect the future; they have to sit in a particular seat and they must return to the present before the coffee, which has been poured for them, goes cold.

The story is told in four sections, the lovers, the husband and wife, the sisters and the mother and child and the first three character has made a decision to return to the past. The lover wants to react differently to the news her partner is going to work overseas, the wife wants to return to a time before Alzheimer’s had stolen her husband’s memory, and the sister wants to change how she spoke to her little sister. The final character, the mother, wants to travel to the future to meet her daughter. Each story is told in such a sweet manner and they are very touching. There is an element of regret, grief or doubt in each which is really moving.

I liked the idiosyncratic characters and the gentle humour which comes through every now and again. If you are looking for a brief and different read, this is one for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There's a cafe in Tokyo, older than cafes ought to be and rather mysterious, that offers anyone the chance to travel back in time. Few choose to because of the many rules that have to be followed. Such as you can only go back to the cafe and you have to stay in the same seat; you can therefore only meet with someone who has visited the cafe. You can't change the present, however hard you try, and you have to return by drinking your coffee before it gets cold. At this point most give up. Only a few continue. One who tried didn't come back in time and is now a ghost who occupies The Seat until she needs the toilet, then she gives it up to someone else.

The writing seems, at first, incredibly naive, 'So and so entered the cafe. They were called this and they were that.' But that is merely style and there are, slipped in among the childish observations, insights that are sophisticated and clever, human and in some cases heartbreaking. In fact, the people whose stories the novel charts, those who frequent the cafe and return, increase in emotion until the final one is searingly poignant.

A complex subject handled in an apparently simplistic way, this is a novel that you can't forget. As much as the names are more other worldly care of being unfamiliar (unless you speak and understand Japanese) the emotions conjured are universal and eternal - love, in all its forms: fresh and young, mature and settled, .a mother and her unborn child. Every mother will shed a tear at this one.

Utterly delightful and with a depth that is surprising. A wonderful book.

This is such an absolutely beautiful book. It was a joy to read. Delicacy written, beautifully told. Just absolutely beautiful.

Just. Oh. Adored.

Thank you Netgalley and Picador for the advance copy...

Before the Coffee Gets Cold has a science fictional premise but it is one that is so loose that to call this book science fiction would be stretching the friendship. A certain chair in a certain underground café in Tokyo (called Funiculi Funicula) is the key top travelling through time. But before anyone gets any ideas of a Back to the Future-style romp, they are introduced to the rules. So many rules. The rules make sense in light of what author Toshikazu Kawaguchi is trying to convey but they take all of the fun out of the premise.
So, the rules: you have to stay in the seat, nothing you do while you are time travelling can affect the present, you can only do it once, and you have to return before the cup of coffee you are given goes cold or be damned for eternity. The story itself focusses on staff and regulars at the café and four stories in particular. A woman whose boyfriend has left her for a job in the US who she wants to see again, a woman whose husband has Alzheimer’s, a woman who wants to see her estranged sister again after she is killed in a car accident, and a woman who wants to go into the future to see her as yet unborn baby when they are a child.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold started life as a play and it shows. It is hard to tell if it is the writing or the translation (by Geoffrey Trousselot) but the who thing feels stagey (a movie version came out in Japan in 2018). Even the rules are designed to keep the characters locked in space while engaging with each other.
Time travel as a literary device is not new. Before the Coffee Gets Cold takes a very Japanese approach to this trope. Time travel becomes a way of unearthing secrets and being able to say things that were unsaid. None of the four characters who time travel get exactly what they want but all four find a kind of resolution from their encounter, a catharsis and a way forward by re-examining a past event through fresh eyes. The stories themselves are sweet but slight and the outcomes quickly become predictable. But for those looking for something a little different - the story, its setting and the way it is told adds a new and different note to the range of Japanese fiction available in translation.