Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

If you are very fortunate, you may encounter a special coffee shop, but only when the moon is full—or if it’s a special time of year.  The Full Moon Coffee shop workers sometimes appear as cats, but they have to be humans in cat suits, right? Whoever they are, they are very fond of Western astrology and are prone to give customers advice and insights.

In this second book in the series, three young women are going to be fortunate enough to encounter the shop. Each one is troubled this Christmas season: Satomi is afraid she’s going to have to choose between a job she loves and her boyfriend; Koyuki doesn’t want to go visit her mother and her mother’s new husband over the holiday because she doesn’t feel as if she’s a real part of the family now; and Junko dreads going to visit her domineering father who has been hospitalized.  None of them can see an easy solution—not until they visit the coffee shop.

I’m a sucker for a book with a cat on the cover, so I’ve read several of these series from (mostly) Japanese authors which feature people who have a mystical experience that helps them resolve difficulties.  It may be having a special meal from childhood or going back in time as for as long as a cup of coffee stays hot or even asking a librarian for help on a topic, but any way they go, they find clarity and closure, while the reader wipes away a tear or two and feels better about the world.  There’s a reason such books are sometimes dubbed “healing fiction.”

I’ll admit I was a bit dubious at the first book, The Full Moon Coffee Shop, because there was a lot of talk about advanced astrology: this planet was in that house, there were planets in conjunction or opposition, and I thought I would just be overwhelmed.  Turns out I wasn’t but I had gained a little more understanding of astrology.  Whether or not you buy into astrology or just roll your eyes at mentions of Leo or Capricorn or Libra, this is still a fun and thoughtful book.  The theme this time is moon signs, which show a person’s hidden desire, the one true thing they want above all.  When asked, most people come up things like winning the lottery or becoming famous, but these things can obscure the real wish: maybe to win a parent’s approval or to forgive someone.

You needn’t have read the first book to enjoy this one, but some of the characters from the first book get a shout-out here.  The book reads very smoothly; sometimes a translated book can feel choppy or stilted, but this one doesn’t.

The author’s note said she didn’t intend to write a sequel but was inspired to do so from an illustration.  Here’s hoping another illustration will bring a third book.