Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot
If I told you that you could time travel to a period of your choice and set something right, you’d probably be thinking about undoing what you did- restoring something as if it never happened, or going back in the nick of time to save all that would be lost. It is the usual trope we see in time travel fiction, and not following that trope is why this novel stood out for me. However, a line of forewarning: this is to be read with patience. With the lack of fast-paced, heroic, save-the-day narratives, this is a relatively slow collection of loose character threads that tie up in the end!
Make me close my eyes and imagine a quirky coffee shop in a busy city, and I’d probably think of a narrow back alley. A pretty little shop that stands quaintly, serves exotic coffee, and is unknown but to a few. You might think cliché; I’d say classic. Before The Coffee Gets Cold brings us to its premise in this classic setup.
Funiculi Funicula is a cafe in a quiet back alley in Tokyo, serving coffee brewed from the expertise of a hundred years and offering its customers a fleeting chance to get whisked away to a period of choosing in their life. However, as with all things magical, there are a suffocating host of rules- the major one being that they return to the present before their coffee gets cold. The writing is simple, and it takes us through the lives of four ordinary people- their pasts, feelings and emotions, and we travel with them where they wish to take their stories.
The novel is as less about the mechanics of time travel, as much as it is about the emotions and the stories of the people who time travel. However, the beauty lies in that Kawaguchi creatively masks the contours of his exploration of a maze of emotions under the garb of the rules for time travel.
Funiculi Funicula offers these four protagonists one special chair, a hot cup of coffee, and time travel with a rule that whatever happens in the past, the present cannot change. A rule that defines and explores the concept of ‘setting things right’ in a vein that is so very heartwarming and fresh. A rule that forces them to acknowledge their feelings of regret, their desperation to have done things differently, and to stay true to themselves. It fleshes out the vulnerability of these four people as they revisit a brief yet painful or bittersweet moment knowing they cannot change it. As a writer, I cannot help but admire the effective way Kawaguchi marries a premise of time travel fiction to writing that primarily deals with emotions.
After reading the novel, I learnt that Kawaguchi is a playwright- and, it adds up! The descriptions are short and straightforward. The characters are etched out thoroughly, and the tone is conversational. Visions unfold as you read. With the power to bring that picture in the reader’s head, the novel also brings a strong foot in its emotive setting, making you acknowledge the feelings of the protagonists.
You are not allowed to flit through stories of protagonists brushing their choices gone wrong under the carpet and soaring in the bravado of erasing the past, as if it never was. Instead, you stay with the people as they find the courage to acknowledge it. They enact to us how far a simple conversation takes people. I loved that it allows you to soak in the reality that, most of the time, the sorry you convey in time, or the mindful ‘thank you’ that you could say to make someone feel seen, is how you actually set things right.
All said, the stories are not narrations of emotions too strenuous to handle. The beauty lies in knowing they are ordinary people feeling ordinary things that are important to them. The novel is a quick, enjoyable read that is both bittersweet and hopeful. I’d suggest: grab this book one early weekend morning when you are ready to allow yourself to feel a bit, make yourself a hot cup of coffee, and settle back for a sweet read till lunch!
Also, I weirdly liked the ghost.