Literary in the City

RATING: 4.25/5

“At the end of the day, whether one returns to the past or travels to the future, the present doesn’t change.”

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

We can thank Jack Edwards (YouTube’s resident bookworm) for making this review happen! In one of his videos, Jack raved about this book and I knew I had to get my hands on it. Cue up a quick trip to my local Barnes and Nobles and one sleepy afternoon spent on my couch, and Before the Coffee Gets Cold was finally scratched off my TBR.

Written by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold is about a mystical café that offers customers a strange opportunity: if you dare to drink a special cup of coffee, you can travel back in time. In the novel, four patrons looking to confront their past choose to embark on this special journey. There’s one caveat, though – they must return before the coffee gets cold…

This book was quite different from what I normally read. I’m usually fond of the thrilling, suspenseful novels that brim with action and adventure. However, Before the Coffee Gets Cold has a much slower pace. Kawaguchi’s writing is more emotional and sentimental. If you’re a literary analysis lover, this novel is like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Every line just teems with hidden symbolism and meaning to unpack. 

I recommend reading this book if you’re ready for some introspection. I like this story because it reminds us that, in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we tend to lose sight of what really matters. Sometimes, you just need to stop and reconnect with yourself.  

After finishing Before the Coffee Gets Cold, I was thinking a lot about the past, the present, and the future. This book made me ask myself a lot of questions. How do I choose to live my life? How do I make the most of the present? How do I deal with the regrets of the past? What kind of life do I want to build moving forward? What kind of life do I want to look back upon? While this book is definitely a little bit existential-crisis inducing (I did kind of stare into space afterwards), there are still little pockets of hope interspersed throughout. 

There are more books in this series, such as Before We Say Goodbye and Before Your Memory Fades. While I haven’t read them yet, they are on my miles-long TBR. Hopefully, I’ll get to them soon! 

If you’ve read Before the Coffee Gets Cold, or even any of the other books in the series, let me know how you liked them. As always, I’m curious to hear about your thoughts! ❤

Signing off,

H.