Tales from the Cafe: 2 (Before the Coffee Gets Cold)

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Despite a tantalizing premise the execution of time travel with ever added on new rules is sloppy. And the underlying morale of the four stories is basically highly conservative in my opinion. The short novel arguably occupies a space known as ‘magic realism’ as Kawaguchi adds fantastical elements to the familiar space of the coffee shop. Before the Coffee Gets Cold also speaks to the modern fascination with time travel writing as popularised by H.G. Wells’ novel The Time Machine. Not to be mistaken, the concept is nice, but the execution sloppy. Also after the first story the newness of the premise starts to wear off (despite some arbitrary rule changes all of the sudden) and things like the weirdly specific descriptions of people, focussed solely on the colour of their clothes, started to catch my eye. From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s previous novels, readers will also be introduced to: Mechanically, from a storytelling and writing point of view, Before the Coffee Gets Cold needs a complete overhaul.

This is a beautifully written novel happening inside a retro cafe where time travel is possible. It has four different stories interwoven together with characters who have their individual existence yet perfectly complement each other. Perhaps if I read the collection which preceded this, 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold', I would have appreciated or understood more about this book.I do not know what happened with the first book. I couldn’t get into it even after trying again. I just had to give it up sixty percent into it every-time.

But also in Japan it seems that being a ghost is pretty good - you can read books, drink coffee and you even need to go to the toilet - though admittedly only once a day - being dead in Japan seems a pretty minimal change of physical condition, this probably why Japan's population is ageing rapidly - too many people retiring to Japan in the hope of an active afterlife.

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Meet more wonderful characters in the next captivating novel in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, Before We Say Goodbye, releasing November 14, 2023!

As Kawaguchi is a playwright, the writing is clumsy and awkward at times despite the brilliance and romanticism of its pivotal scenes. The Japanese preference of overt sentimentality can be overwhelming and difficult to digest — the writing is sometimes abrupt and poor with detailed descriptions of tourist destinations or scenery that does not further the plot. However, the shortcomings are counteracted with the tantalizingly slow and gentle narrative progression, which focuses on the themes of human emotions and the human condition rather than dramatic, suspenseful subplots. A question that defies rational thought but the answer of which lies in the hearts of those who are grieving for the people they have lost, regretting all that was left unsaid, those experiencing guilt over past actions or words that haunt them and prevent them from leading their lives to the fullest and those who want to see their loved one(s) just one more time. On the hillside of Mount Hakodate in northern Japan, Cafe Donna Donna is fabled for its dazzling views of Hakodate port. But that’s not all. Like the charming Tokyo cafe Funiculi Funicula, Cafe Donna Donna offers its customers the extraordinary experience of travelling through time.despite the characters in this story being given a “second chance” to approach situations/people, the overwhelming feeling of knowing nothing can be done just hurts so badly, and i don’t want to delve any deeper into that, considering it would spoil way too much, but it sits in my chest, and it feels SO heavy. it felt so real, and being faced with reality sometimes feels a little too overwhelming, but as i mentioned before, the manner in which the author approaches this is so soft and so gentle. i felt safe