Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Description

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

An exhilarating experience is what the book ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ serves!

The author Toshikazu Kawaguchi has combined four beautiful stories in one book. However, the beauty of the book is the interlinkage of the characters and the stories. All the four stories are separate as well as connected in a special way.

The stories revolve around a café in Tokyo called Funiculi Funicula that has mysterious powers. The café is small with peculiar interiors and vibe. It’s located in a windowless basement and has three huge antique wall clocks, each showing different times. Not surprisingly, the café is always naturally cold irrespective of the temperature outside the café.

The café is unique in a way: it lets people travel through time as long as they return before the coffee gets cold. Claiming this opportunity is no simple task, as it requires following an excruciatingly detailed list of rules, dos, and don’ts before venturing to travel through time. One risky rule being:

“If you do not drink all of the coffee before it gets cold, you will become a ghost that holds the seat for the next customer.”

Although the hero of the stories is a time travel feature of the café, the book mainly depicts human feelings and the circumstances under which one feels the need to travel through time at the cost of risking one’s own life.

The characters are beautifully crafted and each brings a fresh approach to the story. Every character consistently compliments the larger plot and theme of the book. All the stories take us on an emotional roller coaster ride with unexpected twists. Human relationships, especially the ones that are contorted, confused and distanced are beautifully captured in all four stories. The simple trait that humans realize the value of the loved ones once they are gone is beautifully highlighted. The book’s main theme revolves around the profound impact of guilt, regret, and the desire to repair relationships and make amends.

Here’s a sneak peek at the story titles that capture the essence of the book:

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

“There is nothing you can do while in the past that will change the present”

The storyline and writing of the book are easy to comprehend and the stories cruise through easily while reading. The author has given a fresh feel to the already known concept ‘Time Travel’ and created a masterpiece with this book. Extremely engaging, relatable and an interesting concept. I particularly liked that each story ended with a twist or an unexpected statement. This book has surpassed all expectations and I highly recommend it.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is what happens when Magic meets Emotions!

 “Sometimes life is stranger than fiction, but sometimes it’s incomparable in other ways. Sometimes it’s heaven that the false fire of imagination could never capture.”

Additional information