SBN: 978-1-5290-2959-8
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Publisher: Picador
You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analysing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened … or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move on.
– Tupac Shakur, (1971-1996)
A few weeks ago, I finally had the chance to meet a book collector at an independent bookstore in New York. The meeting had been long overdue, and the store was just as beautiful as I remembered from 2018. I was determined to purchase a first edition of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, with a special stamp on it, as a surprise gift for my wife, who is a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA).
Then, a 208-page book titled “Before The Coffee Gets Cold” caught my eye. Its cover perfectly illustrated the setting of Funiculi Funicula, a small café located in a narrow back alley in Tokyo, established in 1874. Little has changed about the café, aside from a few minor renovations and the addition of electricity. The current owners are a married couple, Kei and Nagare, while Nagare’s cousin, Kazu, a university student, helps out when she’s not on campus.
Written by Japanese author Toshikazu Kawaguchi and translated into English, this book revolves around a cafe that offers a unique time-traveling opportunity.
“If you could go back, who would you want to meet?” This epigraph is simply all that needs to be asked before stepping into the cafe. Customers have to sit in a particular seat and return to the present before the coffee gets cold.
There’s an exception: a woman in a white dress always sits at the same table, absorbed in her book, “The Lovers”. She is, in fact, a ghost who neglected to follow the café’s most important rule — to finish drinking before the coffee gets cold.
That certain chair at that certain table serves as a time portal. Only when its usual occupant vacates the seat to visit the restroom (yes, even ghosts need relief) can a living customer attempt a temporary visit. There are many rules, but the most crucial one is tied to the coffee.
Time-travelling and coffee? Totally my thing! Of course, there’s a catch.
The rules for going back in time are:
• The person you meet must have visited the cafe before.
• Customers have only one chance to go back in time — be mindful of who you want to meet and why you want to meet them.
• You can’t change the present.
• You’ll be stuck in the past forever if you miss the chance to return to the present. And if you haven’t figured out how, it’s in the book title.
This incredible book is less descriptive and more dialogue-based.
As a first-time novelist, Kawaguchi’s writing isn’t quite comparable (yet, I think?) to some of his globally revered compatriots — think Haruki Murakami, Yoko Tawada, Banana Yoshimoto, and Kenzaburo Oe. His narrative is occasionally uneven and tends to meander — readers might wonder why Kazu is the only one able to pour the brew, for example, while the description of Hirai’s family’s historic business could have omitted a few irrelevant details.
The book consists of four chapters, each featuring a unique story and detailing four different reasons why the characters want to return to specific points in their lives.
All four stories were touching, each more heartwarming than the ones before and as I read deeper into the book, I started to reflect upon myself.
Although the main character changed with each chapter, the same recurring characters who ran the cafe would pop up now and then. Each character was tailored to perfection so you just have to love their personality from the overzealous Fumiko to the cool and collected Kazu. Each character balanced the others out.
What I found with this novel is that it left me wanting to know more. I wanted to know what happened to the woman who sat in the chair and why she never left. I wanted to know why the cafe had this magical power. This book toyed with my imagination more than I ever thought it would.
I don’t wish to spoil (or spoil more) so I won’t talk through the stories. However, I am absolutely sure everybody can relate to the stories.
And to me, love is the reason why the characters are willing to risk getting stuck in the past.
I often reminisce about my past. As I get older, I think about my childhood, school days, my university memories, and having fun with my friends when I did my postgraduate studies.
Whether they are happy memories or sad ones, sometimes I do wish I could travel back in time.
Believe it or not, there are mistakes I make, things I wish I could undo or words I wish I never said.
Hence, I got emotional reading this book. It’s definitely a touching read.
I’m trying to be more positive now and take the advice “Forget the past, leave it behind and just move on” and apply it to every part of my life.
“No 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.”
Words are easy to say, it’s hard to actually take action but I’m trying. So as I read the book, I ask myself, do I really want to go back in time even if I can’t change the present? Unfortunately, I still don’t have the answer to that.
