This is the second book by a Japanese author to feature as a book of the month this year. This time the author is Toshikazu Kawaguchi, a playwright who is also the author of a series of short novels about a Tokyo café where patrons can time travel.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is the first book in the series, and also the most important instruction to the would-be time traveller. You get a magical cup of coffee and you have the length of time before it gets cold to drink it, or get trapped in the past.
There is no explanation given for why people can travel through time in the café. For me, the story is better for not trying to explain it. The mechanism is mysterious and magical and ultimately, it doesn't matter how people time travel as much as who travels and why.
There are four stories in this book - a girlfriend wanting to see her boyfriend again, a wife wanting to see her husband before dementia took him away, a woman who wants to see her sister, and a mother wanting to see her daughter. They are all poignant. The wife's story packed the biggest emotional punch, but they were all a blend of hopeful melancholy.
My only criticism would be the occasional 'fact drops'. For example, the author references Pablo Picasso and then includes a potted history of Picasso's career and transitions between his artistic styles and periods. I don't think the story needed that, but this was written for a Japanese audience originally and I simply don't know how au fait that audience would be with Picasso or the concept of artists having different stylistic periods. (Being honest, the context was probably necessary for the majority of English readers too.)
I bought this book in TK Maxx on a bit of a whim, won over by the cover blurb. The overall design of the cover is very attractive too. However, while I enjoyed the concept and the stories of the different time travellers, I don't plan to seek out the rest of the series.
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