Before the coffee gets cold

213 pages

English language

Published Jan. 7, 2019

ISBN:
9781529029581
Goodreads:
44421460

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4 stars (4 reviews)

[Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary] What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

7 editions

Quel étrange café que le Funiculi Funicula.

4 stars

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 …

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

4 stars

Read for our workplace book club of June (I'm a bit early). Based on a simple idea (being able to go back in time but inside a very strict set of rules quite different from usual), in a very small café setting, the author is able to draw several beautiful stories of the people going around, their lives, their wins and losses. It gives a big time for reflection and introspection and made me shed some tears.

"The first rule was: The only people you can meet while in the past are those who have visited the cafe. This would usually defeat the purpose of going back. Another rule was: There is nothing you can do while in the past that will change the present."