Stories told with a difference
I thought the book's title was a metaphor for ageing and was about living your dreams but ‘Before the coffee gets cold’ is meant literally in the book. The 206-page book has 4 stories which are interconnected. So, you have to read it to understand it.
A retro coffee shop in the basement of a building in Tokyo, named after the title of a famous song, Funiculi Funicula, provides customers the opportunity to return to the past. There are rules, though: a) you can't change the present or the future after you go back, and b) you must not get up from the specific seat which allows you to return to the past. Only one of the seats in the cafe allows you to return to the past c) In the past you could meet only a person who has visited the cafe d) one of the waitresses serves you coffee once you sit on the seat, which you need to drink before it gets cold to return to the present. If you don't then you get stuck in the past.
The book has around six characters. Each of the four stories tells a little about the cafe's owners and four customers in the present, and through their visit to the past, allowing the reader to form a vivid picture of each of them.
The author highlights the intricate weaves in the relationships between a boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, sisters, and a parent and child. I found the first story lame and if not for the fact that it was a book club read or that I had signed myself up for a reading challenge on Goodreads, I might have given up on the book. I'm glad I didn't because the remaining three stories are moving and stick with you. They show that, although you can't change the present, the knowledge of the past july make you want to take steps to alter the future you envisioned.
The book is a quick read. While the language is simple and the stories are not new a woman unwilling to accept a breakup, a couple facing Alzheimer's, estranged sisters and an anxious mom-to-be, it's a unique and refreshing take that shows subtly, how assumptions and not being present in the moment can lead to misunderstandings in relationships and distance people.
Who should read the book? If you are an avid reader and like reading different genres of books, then this book is for you. Also, if you’re a writer, this is for you, as it’ll show you how a common story can be written differently.
