Before the coffee gets cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The book brings together four stories that ultimately come together at a single point, in a chair, in a café, which can take the protagonists to a past that cannot change their present
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"No matter what difficulties we face, we will always have the strength to overcome them"
This quote never comes at a better time... Being able to go back to the past could change the history of one or an entire civilization, as long as what was altered there had future consequences.
Since Herbert George Wells imagined a time machine, we have idealized time machines and portals to lead us to solve or experience situations that we have let go. Something that we should rethink, live in the moment, the present, without leaving loose cables, as the one who says, or procrastinating. Because such a device has not yet been invented, nor is the time to go back and forth to do what we should have done then... Anyway...
The history
The book brings together four stories that ultimately come together at a single point, in a chair in a café, which can take the protagonists to a past that cannot change their present. The plot of one of those stories is spread out at different points in the book, with the protagonists travelling to the past and the future at different times but for the same reason...
And this is the story that captivated me the most. In it, one of the protagonists travels to the future to which she will not belong, in a demonstration of self-sacrificing love, to make sure that what she does in the present will result in a happy future.
[watch the whole episode in Dramacool, Japanese with English subtitles, 1:57h]
Stage
With this book I think I found my favourite time machine, a chair in a retro café!
The café is called Funiculí Funiculá, inspired by an Italian song written in 1880 for the inauguration of the first funicular of Mount Vesuvius.
The café is located downstairs in an alleyway in Tokyo. Without much charm, beyond the clocks on the wall, a few tables and unfriendly staff, they are there to serve breakfast, period.
It has the omnipresence of a woman sitting at one of the tables, and nothing gets out of her reading, only the physiological need from which we cannot escape, especially if you are constantly drinking coffee...
The book
It is very portable. It has relatively few pages, is light and the perfect size to carry in your bag.
Furthermore, it was first published in Japan in 2015, now with thousands of copies sold and an adaptation for television. The first publication here in Spain, in 2019, by Plaza & Jane, now the Penguin Random House label.
It is gastronomic literature because
Although I'm not about recipes or anything like that, I consider it gastronomic because of where it's set, a cafeteria, and because one of the main elements is the cup of coffee. It is inevitable that you feel like going to a café, and she is there for a long time reading as the protagonist of the book… I have an appointment pending at the Usagui Café (Calle Santjoanistes, 28, Barcelona, Spain), which a friend told me about, with purely Japanese delicacies, and it is highly valued on TripAdvisor.
«It just takes hearts. And if the chair can change someone’s heart, it clearly has its purpose» | toshikazu kawaguchi
My impression
I loved the plot, the stories are emotional and you can relate perfectly. The plot is complex, travelling through time, interfering with the present or the future... but the way they are narrated makes them very close, as if one could go there and try to make their own journey.
It is a book of happy endings. More than solving difficult situations, the most significant is that it makes us understand and accept our own circumstances, that sometimes we have to adapt and respect the moment of others.
"And if the chair can change someone's heart, it clearly has its purpose."
Recommendations,
There are some very interesting reviews, I recommend you to broaden your perception of Japanese books and literature a bit, the reviews from the Japans Time and Books and Bao, it recommends other Japanese titles and there is an interesting article "Japanese literature in twelve genres where to start."
In addition, there is a very interesting literary initiative in Litsy, where the participants share the reading of the book, it is passed (via regular mail) from one person to another when one finishes reading.
Data Sheet
ISBN: 9781529029581 | edition: 2019 | author Toshikazu Kawaguchi | category: science fiction | style: rustic | editors: Picador/PanMacMillan| measures: 20 x 13 cm | number of pages 214 | original language: japanese | translator: Geoffrey Trousselot