4 stars for Tales from the Cafe (Before the Coffee Gets Cold book 2) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
After reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold, I find myself at a loss on what's next. The book is so well written that I worry my next book will not be as good. In truth, my mind is still very much rooted in the time-travelling cafe Funiculi Funicula, and I want to spend more time with the cafe and its owners. In the end, I decide to go with Tales from the Cafe.
As with the earlier book, this book also comprises four stories and together, they form the novel. By now, I have witnessed eight coffee pouring rituals that will send a person in that seat back to the past. Because of that, I am very much impressed by the author's fluid descriptions of the series of actions performed each time. Even though the same ritual is being performed time and again, the author never describes it the same way but present it differently each time. It feels as if this is the author's way of telling us that each individual who opt for the time travelling experience can go through the same coffee pouring ritual, but will experience the same event differently. And that is so true of real life.
Since this is cafe where you can travel back in time, so technically, you can travel to the future too. What I mean is the time travelling should work both ways; not only can one be transported back to the past, one can also be paid a visit by another from the future. But for some obvious reasons, hardly anyone wants to travel to the future. But what happens when it does happen? That is when the line between the past, present and future gets kind of blurry. When I start to think deeply into how the future links with the present and how the past moves forward to the present and future, I start to wonder where the reality actually is. In short, my thinking gets all muddled up as the logic becomes no logic. It's complicated.
One thing I like to point out is while I am unnerved by the appearance of the intermittent "CLANG-DONG" in book 1, I actually look forward to seeing them in this book 2. Perhaps because they are uniquely applied in this series or because I have already gotten used to seeing them around, no matter how, I feel a certain comfort in seeing this catchphrase. I can say with much confidence that if there is a third instalment, this catchphrase will surely make a comeback.
Even as the novelty of a time-travelling cafe wears off, the stories brought to life in this book are as heartwarming and touching as those in book 1. Here, more characters are introduced and they all feel like a natural extension of the cafe and its patrons. You simply do not feel that the author is trying too hard to create the connection of customers with the cafe.
To be able to better appreciate this series, it will help if the reader is familiar with the Japanese culture or at least have some ideas about the Japanese way of life or social behaviour. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some Japanese in the past, and perhaps that is part of the reason I am able to enjoy and appreciate much the stories in this little Japanese cafe.
Once again, after reading this book, all I want to do is to find one such time-travelling cafe and be a regular there. Why is it that this kind of cafe only exist in books and not in real life?
What will you do if you are given the chance to return to the past?
Who will you want to meet?
Publisher: Picador; Main Market edition
Publication date: 17 Sep 2020
@}--->>--->>-----
In a back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time.
With faces both familiar and new, Tales from the Cafe follows the story of four patrons who visit to take advantage of café Funiculi Funicula's time-traveling offer and revisit moments with family, friends and lovers. Each one must face up to the past to move on with their lives.
Kawaguchi's wistful and heartwarming new novel once again invites the reader to ask themselves, "What would you do if you could travel back in time?"
*Blurb from FantasticFiction*
Add to:
Links to purchase:
No comments:
Post a Comment