As indulgent, decadent and sweet as a chocolate fondant or Affogato from a late-night Tokyo bakery.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Genre: Magic realism, Fiction.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
This is the perfect transportive holiday reading. An uplifting and psychedelic novel about a mystical and ephemeral cafe-on-wheels that appears on the full moon where gigantic cat waiters serve human passers-by with coffee, cake and an astrological reading of their past, present and future. If it sounds cosy, well it really is! It’s a bit like a Murakami novel but less dark and forboding and more heavy on the kawaii-cute.
“The Full Moon Coffee Shop has no fixed location. It might appear in the middle of a familiar shopping arcade, by the station at the end of the railway line, or on a quiet riverbank. At the Full Moon Coffee Shop, we don’t take your order; instead we bring you desserts, meals, and drinks—selected just for you. Who knows—maybe it’s all a dream.”
The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
My favourite parts of this book were when the cats materialised on the full moon, and their playful, prophetic antics were the most satisfying and enjoyable parts of this short novel. The window dressing and peripheral aspects of the book were the human characters and their trials and triumphs in navigating the harsh human world of love and career achievements.
Perhaps this says more about me than it does about the novel itself, that I’m a cat lover who enjoys seeing cats shown in fanciful ways in fiction. The human characters always felt at arms length to me though, the interwoven and loosely connected stories of the various human characters in the novel felt less lively and vibrant than the fantasy parts.
The fantastical and surreal moments of the cat waiters and the Full Moon Cafe were truly mesmerising, totally silly and I found myself smiling from ear to ear.
“I turned around—and now found myself facing a huge tortoiseshell cat. It was proffering a tray in my direction. What the…” My mouth gaped as I looked up at the cat. The creature must have been more than six feet tall. It was standing on its hind legs and wearing a navy-blue apron. Its face was perfectly round, its smiling eyes like crescent moons.
The cat was talking.
The cat was holding a tray.
Most of all, the cat was…enormous.
Could it be someone in an incredibly life-like animal suit? I could feel myself go goggle-eyed as I tried to make sense of the scene.
The cat was very fluffy, and I found myself briefly thinking how soothing he’d be to hug. My mouth simply opened and closed silently, like a goldfish gulping for air. No words would come.
The cat smiled. He seemed thoroughly entertained by my bewilderment. “Thank you very much for dropping by. Sorry if this is all a bit of a shock!”
I shook my head slightly, trying vaguely to reassure him.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” he said, setting a glass down on the table. “Welcome to the Full Moon Coffee Shop.”
– The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
“Remember how just now you compared life to the journey taken by a cup of tea? Cold water becoming hot, hot water becoming tea, and so on? Well, different people start from different places. Some might start out as milk, not water. Or maybe something entirely different, like earth. For example, that earth might become clay, which might one day become a building,” said the master, still looking up at the horoscope. “And this chart tells me whether you started as water, or milk, or earth.” – The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
“We usually serve coffee to people who’ve been through all the highs and lows of life—who’ve experienced both the bitter and the sweet.”
– The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Overall this is a rollicking fun read that is well worth your time if you are seeking out hours of pure escapism.
One drawback is that the threads of interwoven narratives between the human characters don’t gel together very smoothly. The ending seems rushed and self-conscious in my opinion but many others have said that they absolutely adore this book. Overall this is a fantastic read and well worth your time and attention, it has a high 4.2 out of 5 rating on Good Reads! If you love cats, love Japan and don’t mind a feel-good fur-ball along with your daily coffee, make sure you grab a copy!
“The Persian cat clapped her paws together. “Now then, you two. We’ve got some desserts lined up for you. First, Satsuki,” she said, setting a large glass down on the table. Next she produced a cooler bag, from which she extracted two spheres of yellow ice cream and placed them into the glass. They seemed to have been sprinkled with some kind of gold dust, and twinkled in the moonlight like a miniature constellation.
“This is Venus Ice Cream—unparalleled in its sweetness,” said the Persian cat.
Next, the tuxedo cat brought over a glass coffeepot. “And if I pour this Moonlight Coffee, our house specialty, over it, the result”—he began pouring the coffee over the ice cream, causing it to melt irresistibly—“is a Planetary Affogato.” He moved the glass toward Satsuki.
Satsuki tried a spoonful of the affogato. “Wow…” she murmured eventually. “The ice cream is so sweet, but the slight bitterness of the coffee balances it out perfectly. What a combination!”
Maybe the Planetary Affogato was a kind of message from the two cats. Satsuki couldn’t just give in to the sweetness of temptation—she had to remember the bitter consequences, too.
“And Akari, this is for you,” said the Persian cat.
I turned and gasped with delight. On a white plate, topped with a ball of vanilla ice cream, was a devilish-looking chocolate dessert.
“This is a Lunar Chocolate Fondant, with a rich chocolate sauce…” The Persian began pouring the sauce. The mere sight of the fondant made me salivate. “There you go,” she said, smiling as she set the dessert in front of me.”
– The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Content Catnip 
Most of all, the cat was…enormous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great line hehe…this book is incredibly enjoyable 😉
LikeLike