BEFORE YOUR MEMORY FADES
I’ve finally gotten my hands on BEFORE YOUR MEMORY FADES, the third installment in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD series. Each book in the series tells four short anecdotes about the patrons and employees of cafe Funiculi Funicula, where ordering a cup of coffee will allow a person to travel back in time. The caveat? They cannot change what has happened in the present, and they can only stay in the past for as long as it takes for the coffee to go cold. These rules make for an almost comically anticlimactic take on a time travel story, but it is how the characters take advantage of this narrow window of opportunity that makes the narrative sing. Kawaguchi’s mastery of the significance of a moment breathes lifetimes of happiness and sorrow into the brief minutes it takes for a character to drink a cup of coffee, making these books a perfect quick fix of emotion. Start with BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD to meet the cafe regulars, continue with TALES FROM THE CAFE to get to know the employees a little better, then catch up with me to read BEFORE YOUR MEMORY FADES so we can feel all warm and fuzzy together.
—Anna Lee, Development Intern
