Book Review: Before the Coffee Gets Cold #1

“If you could go back, who would you want to meet?“

I took this book from the library as it was free to borrow, and I have seen it around on goodreads and on some blogs. I had no expectations, judging from the cover I thought it would be a light, entertaining novel.

The idea of time traveling sounded interesting.

The book consists of four chapters, each is a separate story of someone time traveling. The stories are loosely tied together. The time travel takes place in a café named Funiculi Funicula. There are a set of rules, and you can travel in time. Each chapter deals with basically the same characters, but different relationships are being explored. The chapters are named

1. The Lover
2. Husband and Wife
3. The Sisters
4. Mother and Child.

The four stories are different, but after a while it gets repetitive. You get to know the rules in the beginning, but they are repeated several times. Also, the ceremony is always the same.

Although the question, if you want to travel in time because there is a regret or an unresolved issue, is intriguing, I find the novel a little superficial. The personal fate of each time traveler is sad in its own way, and they deserve compassion for their situation, but I cannot feel other than that the narration is exaggerated, and all in all it was way too much drama for me. I like it better, if a story is narrated more subtle. ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ is a rewritten play and maybe that is the reason, why it did not feel like a novel.

The writing style did not inspire me, because the author is telling too much. There are some lengths in the narrative, so it gets boring very quickly. I guess, the idea is good, but the stories did not work for me. There is a second book in this series, but I would not read them. After finishing it, I asked myself if I wanted to go back in time? I am still thinking, I am not sure. Maybe the book taught me to live every moment of my life mindfully.

Reviewed Title

Toshikazu Kawaguchi: Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Picador, 2019 (Cover).

川口俊 和: コーヒーが冷めないうちに. 2015.