by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

This was an interesting concept and quirky in the way of Japanese stories in translation. The difference in sentence structure actually serves to place the reader in a Japanese coffee shop.

Apparently it's a second book of a series, but it stands alone just fine! The general premise is that you can travel back in time in a particular coffee shop, though you can't change anything. You are given a cup of coffee and have until the coffee goes cold, at which point you will be pulled back to your natural time. A very original time travel concept!

The character development was good and reminded me of my experience of the Japanese people when I visited Tokyo many years ago. The stories were charming and entertaining for those who enjoy Japanese media.

I had completely missed out on Before the Coffee Gets Cold earlier. But when I was visiting my sister in London (a month ago - but due to Corona quarantines this seems much longer) this book was staring me in the face everywhere. And it had a cat on the cover (spoiler alert: the cat does not feature in the book) and it is about Time Travel (and have I ever been able to resist Time Travel?). Let's say it was not a big surprise when this book ended up in my suitcase to bring home.

If you could travel into time for the duration of one cup of coffee and without a single chance of changing anything in the present, would you?

The little amount of Japanese books I have previously read, made it clear to me that plot is not the main feature of Japanese literature. I read that Before the Coffee Gets Cold was meant as a play, and it reads that way. But I liked it nevertheless, since I like plays. We follow four people who for various reasons take the trip, and the stories are becoming more and more intimate as the book progresses.

There is a lot of repetition, but since I read the four stories on different days (treating them as a short story each), this did not bother me. I was surprised by the amount of emotion that was conveyed through these 200-odd pages. It touched me more than I expected. Do not however, expect to be given an explanation of the time travel, since there is none.

I still haven't made it through that story and my tea is very very cold at this point :)

I'm reading another story with my morning tea, before it gets cold!