However, while I adored the descriptions I did sometimes think they went on a bit long here and there, sometimes less is more. The descriptions are so poetic and beautiful – I can easily picture the cafe and the characters, I can smell the brewing coffee and hear the dripping from the back room. It was a satisfying read, it made me emotional and made me think about my own choices and actions in life. Your heart bleeds for them and soars when they’re happy, you can see yourself in their position and end up wondering what you would do if you had their chance. You meet all of the characters in the first story and they each get their moment, their backstory and more. The tone of the story is nostalgic and bittersweet. I literally finished it in two days so I think that’s a positive, it’s thought-provoking and to the point – I wouldn’t want it to be any longer because it’s all tied up so beautifully by the end. I won’t be going into detail and writing about each of these stories – instead I’m going to review the book as a whole. Like I said before, the book is split into 4 stories – ‘The Lovers’, ‘Husband and Wife’, ‘The Sisters’ and ‘Mother and Child’. But, we all know the cover is not the book! The Gorgeous Cover It even shimmers in the sun! It sounds pretty good until you learn about the countless rules and what happens if you don’t follow them.įirst of all, the cover is gorgeous! It’s simple, classy and even sparkles in the sun.

You see, there’s a legend that from within the cafe you can travel back in time to the past. It seems perfectly normal if not a bit old, small and intimate – but, it’s far from it. The story takes place in Japan in a small, underground cafe. It was originally written in Japanese where it became a bestseller, however it has been translated to English by Geoffrey Trousselot. “Before the coffee gets cold” is a short, 4 part novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Yup! I’ve decided I want to start reading more of a variety of books, I don’t know how many of these I’ll do but I felt like I needed to speak about my most recent read.

Before the coffee gets cold book review