Before Your Memory Fades
A Novel
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4.6 • 20 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The third novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, following four new customers in a cafe where customers can travel back in time.
On the hillside of Mount Hakodate in northern Japan, Cafe Donna Donna is fabled for its dazzling views of Hakodate port. But that’s not all. Like the charming Tokyo cafe Funiculi Funicula, Cafe Donna Donna offers its customers the extraordinary experience of travelling through time.
From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s previous novels, readers will also be introduced to:
A daughter who begrudges her deceased parents for leaving her orphaned A comedian who aches for his beloved and their shared dreams A younger sister whose grief has become all-consuming A young man who realizes his love for his childhood friend too late
Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and featuring signature heart-warming characters and wistful storytelling, in Before Your Memory Fades, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?
Meet more wonderful characters in the next captivating novel in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, Before We Say Goodbye!
Read the rest of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series: Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The third mosaic novel in Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold series (after Tales from the Café) is melancholy and uplifting by turn. This installment moves north of Tokyo to Hakodate on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands. There, in Café Donna Donna, customers can travel to the past following very specific rules: they must sit in a certain chair, they cannot leave the café and can only interact with past moments that have taken place within its walls,, and they must finish their coffee before it gets cold or they'll be stuck in the café as a ghost. Four travelers decide to risk it anyway—The Daughter, The Comedian, The Sister, and The Young Man. Three of their four stories concern visiting those who are now dead and, though their actions in the past cannot impact the reality of the present, their conversations do change how they feel, leaving each with a more positive take on their situation. Kawaguchi reinforces the time travelers' lesson of living without regret by having the café patrons read and discuss the fictional book What If the World Were Ending Tomorrow: One Hundred Questions. Meanwhile, the beautiful backdrop of Hakodate creates a lovely atmosphere. Readers looking for a nudge to live life to its fullest will find one here.
Customer Reviews
4/5
Although I really enjoyed this book, I did start to find some of the aspects of each story (including the stories in the previous 2 books) a little repetitive. Here I thought the Japanese are generally in good health compared to Americans, but my god every other person is dying of some un-heal-able disease that cannot be explained. I do still very much enjoy the stories and how they are told - the last one even made me tear up - so it being repetitive just keeps it from being the perfect book. Still solid and good.