Genre: Science Fiction, Published: 1966 Pages: 266 Tags: science fiction, epistolary novel Now, How do i explain to you guys that this book scratched a particular part of my brain that i didn't think was possible. Sorrow, anger, helplessness - what am i feeling? This is how you will feel while reading this book. The story is about charlie, a 32 year old man with intellectual disability, has an IQ of 68, works in a bakery , his uncle's friend runs. Charlie is insanely driven to get smart and miraculously he comes across an opportunity to be part of an experiment which could increase his IQ and make him the most intelligent person in the room. A little about the procedure, this has been already performed on a rat named 'Algernon' and results proven to be successful. Charlie was going to be the first human subject in this experiment. In the book, the story unfolds through a series of reports written by Charlie while he was a part of this experiment. The progre...
Genre: Time Travel
Fiction
Published: 2015
Pages: 232
Tags: Fiction
Imagine yourself seated in a cozy cafe, with window view to your side and there's rain pouring outside, you are sipping your coffee, reading your book while listening to the soothing sounds of downpour. That is how I felt while reading "Before the Coffee Gets Cold".
Funiculi Funicula is a small cafe placed in the back alley of Tokyo, run by Nagare along with his wife Kei and his cousin Kazu. while from the outside its a normal cafe serving freshly brewed coffee to its customers, it also possesses a unusual chair that can grant you a wish to travel across the divisions of time. Many have heard the urban legend, but only a handful of the customers have sat in that chair, thanks to the tedious list of rules. Naturally, the cost of bending the laws of nature comes with a heavy price: if one fails to consume the coffee before it cools, they will be stuck as a ghost forever barred from returning to either the past or the present.
Explore four stories connected by a cafe, where characters are given a single opportunity to travel beyond the fourth dimension. Fumiko, a young and intelligent woman makes the bold choice to journey into the past to meet her lover, Goro with a question in her mind -"why could they not be together". Kohtake, a dedicated nurse, keen on reading a letter in the brown envelope written by her husband Fusagi who no longer recognizes her. Yaeko Hirai, free spirited women who did not get a chance to apologize to her sister Kumi for abandoning her. A mother who wanted to ensure that her daughter is living a happy life.
Throughout the novel, a lingering mystery surrounds the purpose of the café, a specific chair, and the silver kettle. While the novel maintains the theme that altering the future is impossible, it is evident that at the end of each story that the characters although could not change the tragic events that is going to unfold, they could change the way they responded to these events. The emotional journey of each character unfolds that all the characters had a change of heart post-time travel which gave them the hope and strength to carry on in their lives focusing on shaping a slightly better future for themselves and their loved ones.
Before the Coffee gets cold is a warm and cozy novel, the journey of the different customers in the cafe are described in a genuine and fresh perspective. Kawaguchi does not go heavy on the science fiction part of the time travel, readers might be left with certain questions like who was the legend that granted this cafe such a magnificent wish, why are they not allowed to change the past. Toshikazu Kawaguchi also asks what would you change if you could travel back in time?
I am more intrigued about Who would you want to meet if you could go back in time? For me maybe I would want to meet myself.
Who would you want to meet if you could go back in time?
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