The Book Report #70
Episode #69
Before Your Memory Fades By Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The Book
Picador published the first edition of this book in 2022. My copy is a first print, paperback, which was published in 2023. Picador is an imprint of Pan Macmillan.
This book, as well as all of the other books in the series, has been translated by Geoffrey Trousselot.
This book has 246 pages, including an advertisement for other books in the series.
What Did I Think
Right off the bat, we are shown the other side of the coin. In the very first book, Kei travels to the future to meet her child, whom she would never get to see grow up. But she got her timing mixed up; instead of ten years, she went fifteen years into the future.
The story begins where the first book story ended, in the year 2030. Nagere calls the cafe and speaks to his dead wife while she visits her daughter. He cannot be there as he has to go on a trip. He doesn’t give her many details, but now we get the reason for being away.
Nagere has been asked to look after another cafe, which seems to be a family trade as his mother runs a cafe in another part of Japan.
The cafe Funiculi Funicula is not the only place where you can go for a coffee, and if needed, to travel back or forward in time. We leave the tiny cafe in a side alley, in a basement underground in Tokyo, for a new place called Donna Donna, located on the hillside of Mount Hakodate in northern Japan, near Hakodate Port.
This family-run business is where the bloodline of only the women, or children from the age of seven, can send people through time under certain conditions.
Nageres’ mother is the owner of Donna Donna but has had to travel to America to help someone find their father. She didn’t need to, but went anyway. So Nagere came to help run the shop while she is away. He brought Kazu and her daughter Sachi, who is now seven and has taken over as the coffee server for those wishing to travel through time.
Depressing
This time, we have four stories with four different people who end up travelling through time to help fix or deal with their problems. The only problem I see, which is depressing, is that every story ends with someone dying. Was there no way to help anyone or achieve a happy ending? Just one?
I read a brief article about how these types of stories could help people heal who are dealing with similar trauma. And I get it. Viewing the world from another perspective. Not allowing anyone, even with good intentions, to force their views on them by those they are close to, but to let them discover it for themselves.
But all of the deaths are a bit depressing. I did get a little hopeful with the last story, but it was dashed away, and I was sad because of this.
I like how Mr Kawaguchi is trying to change things up by trying not to make it feel repetitive, by changing the location. But nothing has really changed. I am interested in the relaxing stories of Nagere and his family, and learning how the coffee shop affects different people, but there is a limit.
I may leave the series for a while and return when I am ready again.
Another simple thing. I thought it was quite effective, it was during a visit from someone from the past, during a thunderstorm. The lights went out. To show this, the author inverted the writing. Instead of black wording on a white page, while the lights were out, white wording on a black page.
Would I Recommend
I will not stop recommending these novels as they are a great series of stories for those in need of a quick read and are short on time or do not need a heavy and deep story.
Please give this book a go.
Would you like to purchase your very own copy?
You could try these online stores: Amazon UK / USA. Waterstones. AbeBooks UK / USA, Barnes & Noble and eBay UK / USA.
Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.
