Before the coffee gets cold

ISBN: 9781529029581 90500

First published 2019

Translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot

213 pages

Publisher: www.picador.com

Cover illustration courtesy of Sunmark Publishing Inc.

7 / 5 Stars

Very rarely, perhaps once every two or three years, there comes a book that transforms your outlook on what writing can be. The possibilities of the written word expand and your level of understanding of the word, and the world, is never the same.

This is one such book.

Translated from the Japanese, the writing is tight, without ever leaving the reader unfulfilled. The characters are well drawn and sympathetic. The plot is outstanding. The pacing is never dull, always exciting, and the story always heart warming.

And the trick is to do so much with so little!

A windowless coffee shop, somewhere in Japan (never named). Three employees, with their own backstories. We get to know them. And ten the concept (the hook) is time travel. But time travel with rules, a lot of rules. The customers of the little coffee shop ask ‘Is it an urban legend?’, ‘Is it believable?’, ‘Is it fake?’ You, as the reader, ask the same questions, but asking these questions serves the purpose of making the book more believable.

Be warned this book will make you cry and laugh!

You will be surprised and stunned. Readers will be upset and at the same time, your instincts will be validated.

At the end, everything is resolved, tied together with the most beautiful of bows. Everything, except the mystery of time travel.

Read it, now.

Note 1: There are, as of 23/07/2022, two sequels to this book. “Tales from the Café ” and “Before your memory fades“. I hope to never read these books. Such a wonderful original book should be left as an icon, not a franchise.

Note 2: There is one aberration, one slight flaw in an otherwise perfect diamond. In the translation a character, Hirai, is described as having a motto “Treat them mean to keep them keen“. I cannot believe the Japanese with such a nuanced and subtle style of grammar, can ever have such a clunky and brutish expression as the English do. Geoffrey Trousselot needs a more delicate translation, with all the relevant Japanese context.