Tales from the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

If you want to get out of a reading slump, this, this is the right book to pick up.

This little book reminds me more of a play - I say that because I could see some being thrown off by the writing and dialogue style. That being said, it's simple, elegant, and heartbreaking. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey through magical realism this book took me on. I'll admit I picked it up as a quick, easy read and put it down wishing I had more time to spend here.

A wholesome read. The simplicity of this is what makes it good, and it's quite remarkable that such a straightforward setting never becomes dull and that the often-overused fantasy concept of time travel felt so unique. The last story (Mother and Child) is the one that brought tears to my eyes and left me with a lump in my throat.

Yes, you can travel through time at that café, but there are rules. Very specific rules, the reasons for which aren't readily apparent, except as plot devices. But an author is allowed to create his own rules, and as plot devices they work well to deliver tension to the narrative, which works well, as this book isn't about the rules as much as it is about the characters. Each character has their own reason for wanting to travel in time, and, although one of the rules is that you won't change the present, each person comes back changed in themselves in some way.

This could have been a touching and tender story. Unfortunately, and I don't know whether to attribute this to the writing or the translation, the language was very stilted. The characters were sympathetic enough, but the wooden dialogue and strained narrative put a barrier between me and them, even between me and the story itself. Some of this might be due to the fact that Kawaguchi is a playwright before he's an author, but making the transition to writing a novel requires more than just changing stage directions to sentences.