Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Picador (2023), Edition: Main Market, 224 pages
Description
If you could go back, who would you want to meet? In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee--the chance to travel back in time. Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. But time travel isn't so simple, and there are rules that must be followed. Most important, the trip can last only as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold. Heartwarming, wistful, mysterious and delightfully quirky, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's internationally bestselling novel explores the age-old question: What would you change if you could travel back in time?
Media reviews
In four intertwined chapters, Kawaguchi invites readers to accompany four intrepid adventurers who desire a second chance at a crucial conversation in their lives.... Interwoven into what initially feels like a whimsical escape are existential conundrums of love and loss, family and freedom, life
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and death. “[N]o matter what difficulties people face,” Kazu muses at book’s end, “they will always have the strength to overcome them. It just takes heart. And if the chair can change someone’s heart, it clearly has its purpose.” Show Less
Before the Coffee Gets Cold, the debut novel from playwright Toshikazu Kawaguchi... inventively limits the mechanics of its time travel to the confines of a small cafe, and is all the more resonant for it.... Although the characters are unable to alter the past, the implications they bring forward
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into the future are real, and the experiences the characters undergo carry real weight on the narrative, which is reflected as the stories progress. While not usually one to shy away from spoilers, I think the real enjoyment of the novel comes not from the way the narratives are told, but the individual narratives in themselves. They are at times a bit sappy, and don’t go in expecting many twists – but this doesn’t take away from the emotional weight behind these moments. Show Less
In four connected tales, lovers and family members take turns sitting in the chair that allows a person to travel back in time for only as long as it takes a single cup of coffee to cool.... The characters learn, though, that even though people don’t return to a changed present, they return
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“with a changed heart.” Kawaguchi’s tender look at the beauty of passing things, adapted from one of his plays, makes for an affecting, deeply immersive journey into the desire to hold onto the past. This wondrous tale will move readers. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member briandrewz
A delightful book with an interesting twist. Go to a specific café, sit in a specific chair, drink a cup of coffee, time travel. The twist is you must return before the coffee gets cold. Four interconnecting stories bring us stories that resonate. They deal with relationships and changed hearts,
This book was originally written as a play and then adapted into a book. As it is a translation from Japanese, I don't think it translated very well in places. In a few spots in the book, the writing seems to amble this way and that. I'm sure a few phrases were "lost in translation".
However, it is beautiful book.
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and ultimately, changed lives.This book was originally written as a play and then adapted into a book. As it is a translation from Japanese, I don't think it translated very well in places. In a few spots in the book, the writing seems to amble this way and that. I'm sure a few phrases were "lost in translation".
However, it is beautiful book.
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
Perhaps it is just me, but I find some Japanese authors are challenging to read, but well worth the time in the end. Time Travel is being offered in a small restaurant, but so many rules are involved few people can do it. Nothing will change even if you go back and apologize or redo that one period
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in time. And by then end I was left both sad and happy. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
A metaphysical device — time travel by means of a cup of coffee — presents the opportunity for four stories set in a café in Tokyo. Although the stories are independent, the characters in each story are connected through their presence in the café, either as staff or customers. The trick to
The writing here is straightforward. Not surprisingly the stories are affecting, even sentimental. But the other strictures involved in the journey which lasts no longer than the time in which a cup of coffee gets cold, prevent sentiment spilling over into melodrama. And that rescues the stories, somewhat, I think. They may, in a sense, be predictable, but they are always kind and full of care. An antidote to somewhat troubled times perhaps.
Gently recommended.
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remember is that travel to the past cannot change the present. So why go at all? That question, perhaps, gets answered through the way in which each of these temporal engagements affects the time traveller. Change it seems, as presented here, is primarily change of oneself.The writing here is straightforward. Not surprisingly the stories are affecting, even sentimental. But the other strictures involved in the journey which lasts no longer than the time in which a cup of coffee gets cold, prevent sentiment spilling over into melodrama. And that rescues the stories, somewhat, I think. They may, in a sense, be predictable, but they are always kind and full of care. An antidote to somewhat troubled times perhaps.
Gently recommended.
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LibraryThing member RealLifeReading
“With the coffee in front of her, she closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. It was her moment of happiness. As per his insistence, the coffee had been made from mocha beans with their distinct aroma, which coffee drinkers either love or hate. Those who enjoy the aroma, like Kohtake, can’t get
A book about time travel. But one with limits. It takes place solely in a cafe. And there are very strict rules. There is one particular seat at the cafe that allows time travel. The person cannot move from the seat. And the time traveler must return before the coffee gets cold (and also drink said coffee).
It all takes place in Cafe Funiculi Funicula (if you aren’t familiar, Funiculì, Funiculà is a song to commemorate the opening of the funicular railway on Mt Vesuvius back in 1880). There are a few regular customers of the cafe which is owned by Kei and Nagare, who are married. Kazu, who is Nagare’s cousin, helps out when she’s not at university. Kazu is the one who has to pour the cup of coffee that allows the time travel.
In this book, there are four time travellers in this book – and also another four in a separate book titled Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe (although known as Before Your Memory Fades in Japan).
It was only after reading the book, then reading a review of it that I learnt that this book was originally a play. That may explain why I wasn’t enamoured with the writing. The writing was fine, nothing to shout about, and you have to put aside your doubts about the way the time travel works (why is it only Kazu who pours the coffee? was a constant question for me!). But I really appreciated the thoughtfulness put into how their stories unfolded, the emotions touched on.
It was a slightly quirky, quick read that doesn’t feel like a quick read. It’s a gently told tale. It made me long for a day when I can finally go sit in a cafe and read a book – no indoor dining or even outdoor dining at the moment in California.
It made me think of the days when I worked at a newspaper in Singapore. I worked odd hours. At first, for the online edition, working the early shift, starting around 6am I think? Then later, sub-editing which meant we put the paper to bed and finished after midnight. Also, that meant I had to always work either Saturdays or Sundays, and had a weekday off. All those weird hours meant I would often find myself having time off but no one to hang out with. I would often take myself out to a cafe, sit down with a book, and enjoy a flat white.
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enough of it. In fact, you could say that the coffee picked the customers.”A book about time travel. But one with limits. It takes place solely in a cafe. And there are very strict rules. There is one particular seat at the cafe that allows time travel. The person cannot move from the seat. And the time traveler must return before the coffee gets cold (and also drink said coffee).
It all takes place in Cafe Funiculi Funicula (if you aren’t familiar, Funiculì, Funiculà is a song to commemorate the opening of the funicular railway on Mt Vesuvius back in 1880). There are a few regular customers of the cafe which is owned by Kei and Nagare, who are married. Kazu, who is Nagare’s cousin, helps out when she’s not at university. Kazu is the one who has to pour the cup of coffee that allows the time travel.
In this book, there are four time travellers in this book – and also another four in a separate book titled Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe (although known as Before Your Memory Fades in Japan).
It was only after reading the book, then reading a review of it that I learnt that this book was originally a play. That may explain why I wasn’t enamoured with the writing. The writing was fine, nothing to shout about, and you have to put aside your doubts about the way the time travel works (why is it only Kazu who pours the coffee? was a constant question for me!). But I really appreciated the thoughtfulness put into how their stories unfolded, the emotions touched on.
It was a slightly quirky, quick read that doesn’t feel like a quick read. It’s a gently told tale. It made me long for a day when I can finally go sit in a cafe and read a book – no indoor dining or even outdoor dining at the moment in California.
It made me think of the days when I worked at a newspaper in Singapore. I worked odd hours. At first, for the online edition, working the early shift, starting around 6am I think? Then later, sub-editing which meant we put the paper to bed and finished after midnight. Also, that meant I had to always work either Saturdays or Sundays, and had a weekday off. All those weird hours meant I would often find myself having time off but no one to hang out with. I would often take myself out to a cafe, sit down with a book, and enjoy a flat white.
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LibraryThing member whitreidtan
"I wish I hadn't done that. I should have done this instead." It's easy to look back to the past and want to adjust what we did or said to change our present. In fact there are many novels that deal with time travel in just this way. And almost as many that show multiple or alternate realities
There is a tiny cafe in Tokyo where you can travel to the past but no matter what you see or do there, it will not change the present. And there are multiple additional rules to this time travel: you must sit in a specific chair, you cannot leave the cafe, only people who were in the cafe at the time you go back to will be there, you can only stay until your coffee gets cold. Unappealing and restrictive rules for sure, and yet, four different people choose to drink the coffee and return to their pasts. The story is really in the why of this decision rather than the traveling itself since their present won't have changed.
The writing here is simple and quiet, reflective. It feels quintessentially Japanese (at least to this Westerner) and a little old-fashioned, or out of time. Written as a play first, it feels theatrical in an interestingly subdued kind of way and is highly visual and descriptive. The four tales of the time travelers start off connected only through the fact of the setting but in the end they do come together into a more unified story. There is a lot of repetition here in the recitation of the time travel rules and the description of the cafe and the regulars that can be a bit unnecessary, especially in such a short novel. And there's an odd ghost character that seems to only exist to move people into or out of the time travel seat but have no larger importance to the story. Each of the time travelers is filled with a regret or sorrow that drives them to want to go back to the past. Their trips teach them something about themselves and allow them to see that although the present can't and won't change, the future is not so settled and how they choose to live moving forward will make all the difference. At heart, this is a book about love of all sorts, romantic, filial, paternal, familial, and about responsibility, to oneself and to the ones we love. It's perhaps not a book for everyone, just as the time travel that cannot change anything is not for everyone, but it's a lovely, contemplative novel for those with the patience to let it unfold completely.
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based on a different decision or action. Most time travel is predicated on aany change in the past changing the present. Why would you ever want to go back to the past if you couldn't change the future? This is the intriguing premise of Toshikau Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold.There is a tiny cafe in Tokyo where you can travel to the past but no matter what you see or do there, it will not change the present. And there are multiple additional rules to this time travel: you must sit in a specific chair, you cannot leave the cafe, only people who were in the cafe at the time you go back to will be there, you can only stay until your coffee gets cold. Unappealing and restrictive rules for sure, and yet, four different people choose to drink the coffee and return to their pasts. The story is really in the why of this decision rather than the traveling itself since their present won't have changed.
The writing here is simple and quiet, reflective. It feels quintessentially Japanese (at least to this Westerner) and a little old-fashioned, or out of time. Written as a play first, it feels theatrical in an interestingly subdued kind of way and is highly visual and descriptive. The four tales of the time travelers start off connected only through the fact of the setting but in the end they do come together into a more unified story. There is a lot of repetition here in the recitation of the time travel rules and the description of the cafe and the regulars that can be a bit unnecessary, especially in such a short novel. And there's an odd ghost character that seems to only exist to move people into or out of the time travel seat but have no larger importance to the story. Each of the time travelers is filled with a regret or sorrow that drives them to want to go back to the past. Their trips teach them something about themselves and allow them to see that although the present can't and won't change, the future is not so settled and how they choose to live moving forward will make all the difference. At heart, this is a book about love of all sorts, romantic, filial, paternal, familial, and about responsibility, to oneself and to the ones we love. It's perhaps not a book for everyone, just as the time travel that cannot change anything is not for everyone, but it's a lovely, contemplative novel for those with the patience to let it unfold completely.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
Imagine a coffee shop where you can visit the past, but you must return before your coffee gets cold. The premise is just irresistible. This slim Japanese novel explores that idea with a quiet insightfulness.
A few nuances get lost in the translation, and the Japanese culture is not as effusive as
“People don’t see things and hear things as objectively as they might think. The visual and auditory information that enters the mind is distorted by experiences, thoughts, circumstances, wild fancies, prejudices, preferences, knowledge, awareness, and countless other workings of the mind.”
“Kei understood for the first time how hard it must have been for her father. Her heart tightened at the thought of how devastated he must have been, knowing that his time was up and he had to leave his family.”
A few nuances get lost in the translation, and the Japanese culture is not as effusive as
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America’s, so the interactions can feel cold. But that’s all part of the charm. The four interlocked stories play out beautifully and the overall message is one of hope. “People don’t see things and hear things as objectively as they might think. The visual and auditory information that enters the mind is distorted by experiences, thoughts, circumstances, wild fancies, prejudices, preferences, knowledge, awareness, and countless other workings of the mind.”
“Kei understood for the first time how hard it must have been for her father. Her heart tightened at the thought of how devastated he must have been, knowing that his time was up and he had to leave his family.”
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LibraryThing member RullsenbergLisa
This was such a beautiful elegant collection of interwoven narratives.
LibraryThing member runner56
In a little back alley in downtown Tokyo lies a small cafe and for the price of a cup of hot coffee you the customer can be transported back (or forward) in time. You may select this occasion to see a loved one, or revisit an event of your choosing. Told in the free flowing style reminiscent of
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such esteemed Japanese authors as Murakami and Ishiguro, Before the coffee get cold, is a delightful little story that will make you smile. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written. Show Less
LibraryThing member sleahey
A subtle novel about time travel, this is divided into four sections, each featuring a story about a character's wish to either return to the past or move ahead to a future. The cafe where the time travel happens is a character in its own right, providing a kind of still-life tableau where
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customers can choose to follow the rules and be in the same location at a different time. Although the present can never be changed, missed opportunities may be experienced in new ways. The prose seemed awkward to me at times, perhaps because of the translation, but the Japanese sensibility was most evocative. Fans of the Netflix program Midnight Diner will appreciate the mood of these vignettes. Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Cute stories, confusing set up, and what I'm guessing to be the fault of the translation from the original Japanese does the narrative no favours. I did like the concept of going back - or forwards - in time over a cup of coffee, though, and some of the reasons were very sad - the woman losing her
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sister and the wife whose husband has Alzheimer's in particular. The message seems to be that you can't change the past but the future is up to you, which seems fair enough! Show Less
LibraryThing member mzonderm
Yes, you can travel through time at that café, but there are rules. Very specific rules, the reasons for which aren't readily apparent, except as plot devices. But an author is allowed to create his own rules, and as plot devices they work well to deliver tension to the narrative, which works
This could have been a touching and tender story. Unfortunately, and I don't know whether to attribute this to the writing or the translation, the language was very stilted. The characters were sympathetic enough, but the wooden dialogue and strained narrative put a barrier between me and them, even between me and the story itself. Some of this might be due to the fact that Kawaguchi is a playwright before he's an author, but making the transition to writing a novel requires more than just changing stage directions to sentences.
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well, as this book isn't about the rules as much as it is about the characters. Each character has their own reason for wanting to travel in time, and, although one of the rules is that you won't change the present, each person comes back changed in themselves in some way.This could have been a touching and tender story. Unfortunately, and I don't know whether to attribute this to the writing or the translation, the language was very stilted. The characters were sympathetic enough, but the wooden dialogue and strained narrative put a barrier between me and them, even between me and the story itself. Some of this might be due to the fact that Kawaguchi is a playwright before he's an author, but making the transition to writing a novel requires more than just changing stage directions to sentences.
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LibraryThing member LisCarey
In Tokyo, there's a little coffee shop, old-fashioned, unpretentious, but with a startling secret. In the Funiculi Funicula café, under the right circumstances, if you follow the rules, you can travel in time.
The rules aren't complex, but they must be followed exactly. You can only time travel in
Oh, and you need to finish your coffee--and return to the present--before the coffee gets cold.
The final catch--nothing you do or say in the past will change the present. So why bother?
The stories here are of people who did bother, for their own reasons, and with different impacts on themselves.
There's very little action here. Everything happens inside the café, with a small cast of characters. Emotions are contained, and only gradually revealed. The big changes here are changes of perspective, seeing the other person's point of view, telling them what you need them to know, rather than being frustrated that they don't guess. It's a gentle, thoughtful look at the world, and at the important relationships in people's lives.
Recommended.
I bought this ebook.
The rules aren't complex, but they must be followed exactly. You can only time travel in
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one chair in the café, and you can't get out of that seat while "traveling." That chair is normally occupied by a ghost, and only once a day, when she gets up to use the bathroom, can you sit there and "travel." You can only meet someone in the past who has visited the café.Oh, and you need to finish your coffee--and return to the present--before the coffee gets cold.
The final catch--nothing you do or say in the past will change the present. So why bother?
The stories here are of people who did bother, for their own reasons, and with different impacts on themselves.
There's very little action here. Everything happens inside the café, with a small cast of characters. Emotions are contained, and only gradually revealed. The big changes here are changes of perspective, seeing the other person's point of view, telling them what you need them to know, rather than being frustrated that they don't guess. It's a gentle, thoughtful look at the world, and at the important relationships in people's lives.
Recommended.
I bought this ebook.
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LibraryThing member Maydacat
There is a small cafe down a back alley in Tokyo, and if you manage to sit in the right seat, you can travel in time. But if you want to get back and be as you were when you left, you have to follow the rules. And one rule is you must drink your cup of coffee before it gets cold. This quirky tale
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is a cross between a fairy tale and a fable. The time travelers can’t change the present by trying to alter the past, but they can come to an understanding of what has happened and through that understanding, they can accept their present circumstances in a better frame of mind. The cafe is strange and out-dated. The staff and the customers are mostly the same people. The time travelers are only four. But this book is certainly a thought-provoking one and a page-turner even though it is not a thriller or a mystery. But in its own way, it is mysterious and magical. And it will likely leave you wishing for another one to continue its magical journey through time. Just be careful where you sit when you order that next cup of coffee in a back alley cafe, unless you are ready for a really long journey. Show Less
LibraryThing member mbmackay
An excellent shorter time travel book set in a cafe in Japan.
Time travel doesn't actually play a big part in the story, it is there mostly just a vehicle to tell stories of people and relationships.
I coulldn't put the book down and finished it in a day.
Time travel doesn't actually play a big part in the story, it is there mostly just a vehicle to tell stories of people and relationships.
I coulldn't put the book down and finished it in a day.
LibraryThing member Tinwara
Kawaii is a Japanese word that means cute, or lovely. Kawaii is what Before the coffee gets cold by the Japanese (play) writer Toshikazu Kawaguchi certainly radiates. It is a sweet book, a real escape from the violence of the news and the evil outside world.
The book is set in café Funiculi
In the book, which actually consists of four short stories, we follow the people who, despite all the limitations, still decide to go back in time. Or ahead. And who, although they cannot change the present, can of course change themselves.
It's a nice book to read, but not mind-blowing. What bothered me is that the book is based on a play, and that you read this back a little too much in the text. The setting - the café - is small, like a stage. The author always tells us exactly where the characters are in that setting, how they move around and what they are wearing. In that respect it leaves very little to the imagination and would have deserved a bit of extra editing.
I found the (Japanese) moralistic undertone of the book more objectionable. What the time travelers (coincidentally also all women) learn? Sacrifice yourself for your boyfriend, your husband, your family, or your child. Do not go for your own dreams, but do what others expect of you and make them happy. Well, I managed quite well to suppress the annoyance about that message and just immersed myself in the story, and I would certainly still recommend the book to those looking for just a sweet book for in between.
The book is set in café Funiculi
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Funicula, a small underground coffee shop in an unnamed Japanese city. There is one chair in the café that can transport you to another time, for just a moment, until your cup of coffee has gone cold. There are some limiting conditions, perhaps the most important of which is that whatever you do will not change the outcome of events. The present remains the same. That is the condition that discourages many customers, because what's the point of going back in time if you can't change anything anyway?In the book, which actually consists of four short stories, we follow the people who, despite all the limitations, still decide to go back in time. Or ahead. And who, although they cannot change the present, can of course change themselves.
It's a nice book to read, but not mind-blowing. What bothered me is that the book is based on a play, and that you read this back a little too much in the text. The setting - the café - is small, like a stage. The author always tells us exactly where the characters are in that setting, how they move around and what they are wearing. In that respect it leaves very little to the imagination and would have deserved a bit of extra editing.
I found the (Japanese) moralistic undertone of the book more objectionable. What the time travelers (coincidentally also all women) learn? Sacrifice yourself for your boyfriend, your husband, your family, or your child. Do not go for your own dreams, but do what others expect of you and make them happy. Well, I managed quite well to suppress the annoyance about that message and just immersed myself in the story, and I would certainly still recommend the book to those looking for just a sweet book for in between.
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LibraryThing member eklein86
Despite my confusion at one point, this story pulls together quite well. With each chapter, the story changes character viewpoint. Thankfully, the main characters revolve with them. The characters we meet at the beginning of the book all tie in through each chapter until the end. It brought a very
The flow of the book is a little slow and somber. There are not comedic moments, action scenes, or great mysteries. The book takes place in a dark, little retro cafe. The heart of each chapter is based around some heartbreak. The time travel parts being the most suspenseful and fastest flowing due to the time constraints. That being said, this book is gripping and emotional.
My biggest note going into it is to remember characters. Others have said that they get confused about the characters. There actually aren't that many key characters. Basically if they talk, they're a character to remember.
While I struggled with the characters after the first chapter, I think that was due to being thrown off with the viewpoint swap. I'm pretty sure I thought it meant each chapter was totally unrelated, and I promptly erased my short term memory of the characters from the first chapter. It took a little to remember who everyone was, but it wasn't due to the number of characters.
I plan to reread this shortly. I think it will make more sense and I'll notice more connections. You always notice things in the rereads, because now you know the flow and outcome.
Overall, I would definitely recommend.
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nice closure to book.The flow of the book is a little slow and somber. There are not comedic moments, action scenes, or great mysteries. The book takes place in a dark, little retro cafe. The heart of each chapter is based around some heartbreak. The time travel parts being the most suspenseful and fastest flowing due to the time constraints. That being said, this book is gripping and emotional.
My biggest note going into it is to remember characters. Others have said that they get confused about the characters. There actually aren't that many key characters. Basically if they talk, they're a character to remember.
While I struggled with the characters after the first chapter, I think that was due to being thrown off with the viewpoint swap. I'm pretty sure I thought it meant each chapter was totally unrelated, and I promptly erased my short term memory of the characters from the first chapter. It took a little to remember who everyone was, but it wasn't due to the number of characters.
I plan to reread this shortly. I think it will make more sense and I'll notice more connections. You always notice things in the rereads, because now you know the flow and outcome.
Overall, I would definitely recommend.
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LibraryThing member ToriC90
Very lyrical writing; written in a way that reminds me of oral tradition or oral lore. Some people have said it can feel repetitive but I didn't get that, I felt the repeated nature was purposeful when it was done. The stories built on each other and let you get invested in the characters.
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Beautiful and charming; heartbreaking, but hopeful. Would definitely recommend and will probably reread. Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
There is a small cafe in Tokyo where, it is said, you can travel in time. This book, follows 4 people who choose to make the trip: Fumiko, who wants to relive (and perhaps avoid) the time her boyfriend broke up with her; Hirai, who wants to be nicer to her sister after her death; Kohtake, who wants
The rules for time travel in this cafe are simple, the primary one being that the time traveler cannot change the present. Also, the time traveler can only meet someone who has also been in the cafe. And the time traveler can only stay in the past as long as it takes for their cup of coffee to get cold.
This was a charming story. Obviously, the time travelers could not change the present--Kohtake's husband still has dementia--but each returns from their time travel a changed, for the better, person.
Recommended.
3 stars
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to revisit her husband before his dementia sets in; and Kei, who wants to see her daughter grown up.The rules for time travel in this cafe are simple, the primary one being that the time traveler cannot change the present. Also, the time traveler can only meet someone who has also been in the cafe. And the time traveler can only stay in the past as long as it takes for their cup of coffee to get cold.
This was a charming story. Obviously, the time travelers could not change the present--Kohtake's husband still has dementia--but each returns from their time travel a changed, for the better, person.
Recommended.
3 stars
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LibraryThing member avanders
I think I might not have enjoyed it quite so much if I had eye-read the whole thing, but I listened to most of it and the narrator does such a lovely job. So I highly recommend the audio version. It’s a little heartbreaking and a lot hopeful and very sweet.
LibraryThing member Pepperwings
I did enjoy this, however, it's a much quieter story than I expected. It's a little bit of "what if" but mainly about what would you communicate if you knew you couldn't change anything? Can the messages change anything? It seems to be about how people act without thinking, or stay quiet when they
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should be more mindful. Show Less
LibraryThing member Damiella
This was an adorable book. Really sweet. The premise of this story is that there's a cafe from which you can travel back in time. But only if you sit in a particular chair (and never move from it while you're away from your own time) and you can only stay until just before your cup of coffee goes
This is told in a series of four short interludes, each focusing on a different person. They build one on top of another to get to a really fitting conclusion.
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cold. Oh... and nothing you do can change the present.This is told in a series of four short interludes, each focusing on a different person. They build one on top of another to get to a really fitting conclusion.
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LibraryThing member alanna1122
This is such a funny little book. I wanted to like it more than I did.
The whole time that I was reading it, I kept thinking that it really felt like I was reading a play. And more over - I could picture it strongly as a Studio Ghibli type film. It had the strong sense of gentle humor and
The whole time that I was reading it, I kept thinking that it really felt like I was reading a play. And more over - I could picture it strongly as a Studio Ghibli type film. It had the strong sense of gentle humor and
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bittersweetness that I associate with some of those stories. It felt very self conscious to me. Even though it was a pretty short book - it often repeated descriptions. I am not sure what the function of that repetition was - it was like a show coming back back from commercial again and again. It was also very predictable and much more sentimental then I was suspecting. I liked the premise of this book a lot but was disappointed by the execution. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheEllieMo
A delightfully whimsical piece that explores what we could learn if we had the chance to revisit past meetings.
LibraryThing member forsanolim
At Cafe Funiculi Funicula, sitting in a specific seat allows customers to time travel, but with lots of restrictions: they cannot change the present, they can only visit people who have also visited the cafe, they must stay in their seat the entire time, and they have to come back before their
I really enjoyed the idea of this book, though I was hoping I'd connect with it a little more than I ultimately did. The writing didn't really work for me (I really do think that it may have to do with the translation), and I also didn't love the pacing. The book is divided into four parts, for the four different time travelers, and each section felt like a fairly slow initial thirty pages followed by a tear-jerking ten pages. Definitely a clever concept, but I thought that this was just ok.
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coffee gets cold. Four customers visit the shop, each seeking some sort of clarity about an aspect of their life, or seeking to change themselves in some way through visiting a different point in time.I really enjoyed the idea of this book, though I was hoping I'd connect with it a little more than I ultimately did. The writing didn't really work for me (I really do think that it may have to do with the translation), and I also didn't love the pacing. The book is divided into four parts, for the four different time travelers, and each section felt like a fairly slow initial thirty pages followed by a tear-jerking ten pages. Definitely a clever concept, but I thought that this was just ok.
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LibraryThing member bragan
In Tokyo, there is a cafe with a chair that has the ability to transport someone who sits in it through time. You can't change the past while you're there, but you can talk to people who are (or were, or will be) in the cafe at the time, giving at least a few people the opportunity to revisit
It's a fantastic premise, packed with possibilities for both whimsy and real emotional punch, and I'd seen the novel described as both moving and charming, so I was hoping for something rather lovely. But, boy, did it not live up to expectations. The writing was just... Well, look. Quite possibly the translation from Japanese did it a bit of a disservice, and maybe differences in cultural expectations for pacing and such don't help, either, but even after making allowances for all of that, the writing is just... not good? It's incredibly repetitive -- we're told the not-actually-very-complicated rules about the time-traveling at length probably nine different times in the course of 272 small pages -- plus it's almost exclusively telling us things it should be showing us, and not even doing that especially well. The specific situations of the characters and the reasons they want to make use of the time travel chair should actually be really affecting, but the characters are so unbelievable and impossible to sympathize with that, for me at least, it all just falls flat.
At least it's a quick read. And I still think it's a fantastic premise. But I find this novel's popularity befuddling.
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certain moments, or conversations, or loved ones.It's a fantastic premise, packed with possibilities for both whimsy and real emotional punch, and I'd seen the novel described as both moving and charming, so I was hoping for something rather lovely. But, boy, did it not live up to expectations. The writing was just... Well, look. Quite possibly the translation from Japanese did it a bit of a disservice, and maybe differences in cultural expectations for pacing and such don't help, either, but even after making allowances for all of that, the writing is just... not good? It's incredibly repetitive -- we're told the not-actually-very-complicated rules about the time-traveling at length probably nine different times in the course of 272 small pages -- plus it's almost exclusively telling us things it should be showing us, and not even doing that especially well. The specific situations of the characters and the reasons they want to make use of the time travel chair should actually be really affecting, but the characters are so unbelievable and impossible to sympathize with that, for me at least, it all just falls flat.
At least it's a quick read. And I still think it's a fantastic premise. But I find this novel's popularity befuddling.
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Awards
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — Fiction — 2020)
LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — November 2020)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2015
Physical description
224 p.; 8.11 inches
ISBN
1035032287 / 9781035032280
Local notes
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. We meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café's time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.