Before The Coffee Gets Cold (Review)

 Before The Coffe Gets Cold (コーヒーが冷めないうちに?, Kohi ga samenai uchi ni) is the first novel by Japanese writer Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

The novel is about the events that take place in a Japanese bar about which an urban legend has been spread. The legend was that anyone who sat in a particular chair and drank coffee had the ability to return to the past. There are rules, however:

-Whoever decides to return to the past cannot move from the chair.

-Time travelers must drink the coffee before it gets cold or they will be hit by a curse.

-Everything they do will not change the present.

The book follows four different stories that are all intriguing and full of emotion (I won't hide the fact that I cried a lot reading the second and fourth). What makes these stories so exciting is the way Kawaguchi manages to write the emotions of the main characters, their anxieties and worries.

So what can I say, this is a wonderful book for those who love to read stories of lives broken by bad events and the thought of not being able to make up for it. There remains, however, the desperate hope of seeing their loved ones one last time and telling them what they hope they said years ago.

And remember not to let your coffee go cold while reading these stories.