“When they opened the heavy wooden door and entered, the café was refreshingly cool. Though it works well as a book, I can only imagine it flourishes on the stage. The chapters play out as acts, and there’s a distinct rhythm to the action. What evolved my approach to the book – from a cautious enjoyment of a twee tale about lost love and time travel to fervent and aggressive enthusiasm for these stories – was the clever way in which the book subtly and slowly eases the background characters into the foreground.īefore the Coffee Gets Coldwas originally written by Kawaguchi as a stage play before being adapted into a novel, and it shows: there’s a theatricality to it and the setting and characters are reminiscent of those who exist on the stage. Either way, Before the Coffee Gets Coldis comprised of four stories. You could call each one a chapter, an act, or even a short story that’s heavily interlinked with the other three. And what occurs from there on is an unexpected opening up of the book. It’s twee, it’s absurd, it’s clumsy, but it’s fun. Read More: Japanese Literature in 12 Genres: Where to Get StartedĪs I read through these opening scenes, I found myself both cringing at how contrived the ghost and time travel plot seemed to be, but also thoroughly enjoying the ride for how unabashedly it all played out - and what a delightful tone that set for the novel.
This woman was the last person who let the coffee go cold, and now remains there always as a ghost. Try to move her by force and she will curse you, as Fumiko finds out. She leaves the chair to visit the toilet once a day, and that’s when you can sit and travel back. If you don’t, you take the place of the woman who is almost always sat in that chair a woman who turns out to be a ghost. But that you cannot leave the chair, whatever you say or do will not alter the present, and that there is a time limit: the journey through time begins when the coffee is poured, and you must finish it before the coffee gets cold.
They yield and admit that there is, that you can travel back in time to a chosen moment in the café’s past. Soon enough she recalls the local urban myth surrounding the time-travelling chair, and desperately asks the café’s staff if there’s any truth to it. Goro moves to the US and a week goes by for the pining, mourning Fumiko, who continues to visit the café.
She hopes for a proposal, but he hits her with a break-up. Before the Coffee Gets Coldīefore the Coffee Gets Coldopens with Fumiko meeting with her boyfriend for what he calls a ‘serious conversation’. Offer: Try this book for free with a trial of Audible.
You can now also read the sequel novel Tales from the Cafe! As Before the Coffee Gets Cold begins, it seems to be nothing more than a twee, even slightly awkward tale that might make for a passable plot to a TV drama.īut as the layers are peeled back, the book reveals a far more earnest beating heart.
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