Spoiler Free Review

This book was a part of my TBR list of July, but then I couldn’t stop myself from reading this. I mean, listening to this. Yes, this book was my first experience of an Audiobook as well!

And it was pretty exciting as well. Both, the experience of listening to the book and the story as well! Without further ado, here goes the review.

The Unofficial Synopsis

The synopsis of this book was perfectl that would attract anyone! And, being a fan of time travel and magic realism (Thanks to Murakami), this book delivers both of them.

The story is set in a coffee shop that offers a unique experience of travelling through time! (Urghhhh… Cliche! So what?) But, this cafe has a few rules, the most important being that you cannot change the present. Whatever one does in the past will not affect the present. One can only meet those who have visited the cafe and one can go back to the past only when one sits on a particular seat and must not move from it! Now, you’re in a fix. Would you go back in time then? This makes the entire endeavour futile. But this book is a collection of four stories which are interconnected where four people through time to meet their loved ones and family and this is just about as much as I can tell without spoiling the story!

Oh… Just to make it even more interesting… Anyone who travels through time must return Before the Coffee gets Cold.

My Thoughts

The story is simple and a delight! I really liked the fact that there are a handful of characters which I could relate to! The story gives just enough information that ensured I stuck around until I got the explanation!

This book relies mainly on dialogues instead of descriptions, and the descriptions were enough to make me feel a part of the story. Going through the plight and joys of the characters through the story is something I really loved.

It is amazing how the author brings tiny valuable lessons out of each of the narratives which range from gut-wrenching, bittersweet to warm and leave an aftertaste of hope. I’ve been reading quite a lot of non-fiction these days that somehow trained my brain to search for links and I’m glad I could take back a nice lesson from this book as well! The rules of the coffee shop are not something we are new to. We travel into the past for tiny durations, stuck there within our thoughts and memories to a point where any what-if situation does not change our present! But we do it nevertheless! This story is more or less gives a physical nature to what we do!

Kazu still goes on believeing that, no matter what difficulties people face, they will always have the strength to overcome them. It just takes heart. And if the chair can change someone’s heart, it clearly has its purpose.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi – Before The Coffee Gets Cold

My Recommendation

Anyone who is into the time travel genre, a smooth storyline would love the read! The language is simple and it is in this simplicity that brings out the beauty of the story.

Anyone in a reading slump could use this to help themselves out of their current predicament. Oh! And sure is a book best read with coffee around. Just don’t let the coffee get cold!

I would rate this

I would also suggest you take a look at Books and Others! This review convinced me to pick this, and sure was time well spent.

Before you go, perhaps you could listen to this!

Going to the past may not change the situation in the present, but it does change the people.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi – Before the coffee Gets Cold

Would you travel through time in such a cafe?