Before the Coffee Gets Cold

But I digress. This book was alright. I'm not sure if it was just the translator's doing or if it's how it was originally written, but with what should be some heavy moments, it just felt devoid of emotions. This comes across as a cozy book but I've read other cozy books that still have emotional topics that allow you to feel those emotions while still feeling it's a cozy read.

I was sucked into it at first because the premise of it was so interesting and refreshing. You can travel forward or backward in time for as long as the freshly poured coffee is warm, cannot have any influence on what has already happened, and the chair that you must use is only available for a short period of time once a day because it's occupied by a ghost lady until she needs to use the bathroom. Which, I really want to know more about the ghost lady honestly.

I did appreciate the overall flow of the books and the structure of the chapters because it made it very easy to follow along and not get lost, even with new characters being introduced and seeing how the previous ones are utilized. I don't think I'll be continuing with the series, though.

This book reads like stage directions, and perhaps it would be even better suited as a play.

The book tells 4 stories about 4 different women and their experiences sitting in a special chair in a special cafe drinking a special cup of coffee (after they the moody ghost woman goes for her daily pee) and going back in time.

Each person goes back to speak to someone they know and love, and in all cases, as is repeatedly emphasized, they are not able to change anything that happened between that time and the time they sat down to go back. But they all come back changed. In story after story, we see how although looking back and interrogating the past can't change what's already happened, it can change where go in the future.

My biggest critique of the book is that it suffers from "women written by men" syndrome. The women are described by their attractiveness, their attitudes feel like a male-centered cliche ('tears are just a weapon to manipulate men', 'oh I'm a woman I don't need friends or an email'). The last story also has some deeply misogynistic undercurrents.

Overall an interesting book with a solid and distinctive time-travel premise, and a solid message supported by that narrative tool.

Je repars au Japon le mois prochain… alors, pour me mettre dans l’ambiance, j’ai décidé de lire ce succès de librairie japonais (plus d’un million d’exemplaires vendus !)

Quel étrange café que le Funiculi Funicula. Pour nous, il est étrange car exotique (un café, minuscule, en sous-sol, cela n’étonnera sans doute pas les japonais… mais c’est étonnant selon nos critères européens) mais aussi, et surtout, à cause cette capacité qu’il a à permettre, sous conditions drastiques, de voyager dans le temps.

"Dans une petite ruelle de Tokyo se trouve Funiculi Funicula, un petit établissement au sujet duquel circulent mille légendes. On raconte notamment qu’en y dégustant un délicieux café, on peut retourner dans le passé. Mais ce voyage comporte des règles : il ne changera pas le présent et dure tant que le café est encore chaud."

Vous aurez compris que, vu les conditions, il n’est point ici question de paradoxes temporels (puisqu’on sait dès le départ que le voyage ne modifiera pas le présent) ou d’aventures à la Dr Who (on ne voyage pas longtemps, et on reste assis à la même place tout du long). Plus qu’un roman fantastique, c’est un prétexte à s’interroger sur les raisons qui poussent à vouloir voyager dans le passé.

Dans ce roman, nous suivrons quatre femmes. J’ai d’abord cru que ce serait quatre nouvelles indépendants mais, finalement, elles sont liées (et c’est très bien comme çà).

Comme souvent dans les romans japonais, l’écriture est simple, et le rythme est lent… mais, néanmoins, le roman dégage une atmosphère particulière, et même si le message est (un peu) simpliste, il n’en est pas moins vrai : Le présent importe d'avantage que le passé. Comme le café, il faut en savourer chaque gorgée.