コーヒーが冷めないうちに

カランコロン！

There are four things I want to say about this book. These are the four things that I'll write in a list.

This book is great for language learning because:

1. The characters only express simple ideas
2. The writing is very repetitive
3. There are asides about miscellaneous tasks (like making your own butter)
4. All of the women characters fit into tropes, so they do not say anything unexpected or difficult to parse

This book is terrible as a work of literary fiction because:

1. The characters only express simple ideas
2. The writing is very repetitive
3. There are asides about miscellaneous tasks (like making your own butter)
4. All of the women characters fit into tropes, so they do not say anything unexpected or difficult to parse

That's the list of things that I want to write. It's a list of the four things I think about the book.

カランコロン!

Language Learning

I listened to the audiobook version of this. It felt very approachable and I was able to follow the story with some lookups. There is a lot of repetition which helps the language learning side. Also a lot of describing characters' outfits.

Entertainment

My audiobook skills are still not 100% so I missed a lot and probably shouldn't be giving a detailed review; if I reread the book, I'll probably update this. As it was, I thought the first three stories were fine but really disliked the last story, enough to question whether I want to read this book later like I was planning to.

One of the easiest books in Japanese I've ever read

Well, the book isn't that great, and it's true that the characters are pretty one-dimensional and that it has a lot of plot holes when it comes to the time travel mechanics.

But if you're able to ignore those problems, it can be a pretty entertaining book for beginners, maybe the first novel you try in Japanese (I actually think it's better to start with this than with children's books). I had a good time with it, but I also treated it as something easy to read and didn't think too deeply about it.

The vocabulary is small and repeated a lot, the grammar is very simple, there is an audiobook which is amazingly well done, and each chapter is about a self-contained plot, although each character appears in several chapters. Even if you don't like one of the stories (for me it was chapter 4), chances are that at least one of the others will be entertaining.

You can also really feel that this is based on a play, in my opinion, in the way the characters speak and in the setting. If that puts you off, maybe that's another reason to skip this one.

Note, I listened to the audiobook version, but dropped it about 60-70% in.

This reads more like a light novel to me. The characters are extremely stereotyped and kind of unrealistic, which was probably amplified by the acting. The premise was interesting, but I found it hard to connect with any of the characters.

There is a lot of repetition, which can be good from a learning standpoint, but overall this was a bit of a disappointment personally.

A nice journey

I really enjoyed the book. The idea of it : a coffeeshop where you can go back in the past, while drinking a coffee. It is well written, It's like I was there with the characters. I could smell the coffee that Kazu was pourring, sharing the bell and waiting to see who was coming from the stairs. I could see the 3 old clocks and Mr Fusagi with his magazines.

I didn't really like the 1st story: the MC was too noisy and impolite.... But I loved the 3 other ones. It is very sad though. And another thing that really get on my nerves was the repetition of the rules : each time .....Ok I think I get it now ....

And if I enjoy description in books to have the feeling to be inside , sometimes, I felt like one one them were coming out if the blue just throw like that without being annouced .

That's why it misses a star .

Very Japanese...

The stories are short and nice, but very Japanese. I found myself getting irritated by the MCs. They don't speak their minds, they are self-sacrificing to a fault, ... My feminist heart was bleeding. 🥺 Mabye it's the author's way of holding a mirror in front of people and urging them to not be like this, but it can be a tad bit aggrevating while reading. 😅

I did not cry but that last story was tugging at my heartstrings for sure. Though getting pregnant on purpose, when you know it's going to kill you, seems a bit... weird. If you get pregnant and only then learn that it's going to kill you, that's much more plausible... but she and her husband knew beforehand... 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'd gotten the snip a long time ago if I were the husband.

Coffee and time travel make a good combination

A cafe where you can travel back in time, but with several rather troublesome rules, and for only a limited time (until the coffee gets cold).

If you are looking for your first full novel to read in Japanese this is a good option. The grammar is relatively straightforward if you are at N4/N3 level. There is also a well populated vocab sheet in the Wanikani Book Club. There’s an English translation too.

The book is broken into four long chapters. Each tells the story of one person’s journey back in time, and while there is a bigger story arc playing out, each chapter is fairly self contained.

It can be quite emotional - it is described as “the book that will make you cry four times” - and it can be hard to put down, especially as each chapter reaches its climax. Overall an enjoyable read.

As a note, I listened to the audiobook version, I do not own the text.

This felt to me as being very similar in both level and pacing as 世界から猫が消えたなら. Human drama with a bit of a magic to make the plot unique, a lot of happy/sad moments, and small digestible stories within the overarching one. Nothing really niche in terms of vocab.

As a quick summary: There is a chair in a cafe which you can sit in and travel back in time, but you can only meet people who have been to the cafe before, cannot change the future with your actions, and can only stay so long as your cup of coffee stays warm...among other rules you'll find out along the way.