Before the coffee gets cold a book talk (Non-spoiler! You're welcome)
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| Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Amazon.co.uk: Kawaguchi, Toshikazu, Trousselot, Geoffrey: 9781529029581: Books |
Dear Reader,
This review will not contain spoilers, so feel free to read if you haven't yet read the book, and with that let's begin:
These stories definitely build in intensity as you plough on, with subtly building engagement. The first two stories for me provided little interest, a point at which usually I would choose to DNF and call my loses. However, something about the writing, simple but almost translucent into the lives of these individuals, gave me the impression that it had more to give despite the seemingly stagnant story endings.
I think the best way to describe my growth to loving this book is recognising the beauty within its simplicity. As a predominantly YA reader myself, I couldn't help but expect this book to tie up in a perfect interloping knot at the end. My hope of this, I see now, may have blinded me to the crystal humanity being bared to me within these pages. When, as the reader, I was denied this ending, at first I was ever so slightly put out. It felt like a missed opportunity to my small little brain haha. When I moved onto my next read however, I noticed how my mind kept flipping back to these individual endings. Not just the ending all together, but each endings conclusion, as if I was reading them with fresh eyes. I observed the only way I was able to reflect on each ending was because the endings did not tie neatly together. Their sporadic nature, seemingly made me want to grasp onto them more and examine this invisible almost camouflaged interconnection they all shared, whilst also keeping them all within their individual sweetness.
By the end of the 3rd story the tears seemed to resemble a leaking tap. The little twists and turns all held such simple predictability, I was never shocked, however they still managed to spark strong emotion and that did shock me into recognising how subtly powerful the writing was. Another thing I found very poetic about this binding, was that I managed to find some small level of relatability in what for a young girl, are quite unrelatable stories. Even the last story which could not have been further from my reality just simply captured the emotion of love through loss. Almost, in its exact essence.
Looking back all of these stories appeared to represent a slightly summarised version of complex human motion; living with guilt, reconnection through grief, longing for a whimsical kind of love even when completely impossible. It was as if the stories were people-watching glass reflections for crafted and whipped up elemental versions of these emotions.
Normally when reviewing a book I tend to comment on character development, plot drive and such. These basic blog golden rules don't seem to apply to this read however. The only thing it lacked simply was high levels of engagement. But for what I considered a very un-engaging first half the lingering fascination I continue to feel when I reflect on this book, again, shines a lamp light on its wonder.
With that reader, I will let you experience this book for yourself. I hope it is one you learn to love and enjoy as I did. You will find the link to order the book below:
Till next time,
Love,
Izz x
