Still like this series, though it sometimes takes me a little while to remember who is who and if I've "met" them before. Is my memory fading? ( )

If you enjoyed the first two volumes in this series and want more, then this book will provide that. But if you're looking for more variety, then it's better to look for a different book. While I enjoyed this volume, it was the same formula as the first two books, and that formula is getting old for me. If you're okay with getting the same story told over again with different characters, by all means read this book. It's good at what it does. But I want more variety, so I won't be continuing any further with the series. ( )

First sentence: "Why are you in Hokkaido?" Kei Tokita's voice sounded tinny coming from the handset.

Premise/plot: Before Your Memory Fades is a book of connected novellas. It is the THIRD book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. The premise of the series is that there is a cafe with special, 'magical,' powers. There is one chair that will allow the occupant to travel forward or backward in time. But there are rules, of course there are rules. They have to stay seated, of course. They have to return to the present before the coffee turns cold. They can only meet people who have visited the cafe. Nothing they do in the past (or the future) will effect the present. Each story focuses on a journey (to the past or to the future). The 'main' characters are the staff of the cafe AND cafe regulars. (Think the sitcom Cheers). One of the running elements of this one is that one of the characters is ALWAYS reading a book--it is a book of questions (100, I believe) that pose various questions each with the premise of if the world was ending tomorrow...would you choose answer 1 or 2.

My thoughts: I picked this one up thinking it was book two. It wasn't. When did I realize this? Not until I was halfway through. Do I think it would have made more sense if I hadn't skipped book two (by accident)? Probably. Maybe. Do I think it would have been less confusing if I jotted down a list of characters? Definitely. Also I think if I had read the books--all three--in order and close together. I just had a hard time keeping track of the characters.

I liked the premise well enough. Though apparently there are two cafes with this magical ability? I had a hard time following some of the plot because the characters kept getting tangled up in my mind. ( )

My Rating : 3.5⭐ (Audio Narration 4/5; Book: 3/5)

“People’s true feelings are not in plain sight. The other person might not be thinking anything, but there is a tendency to just assume what the other is feeling without reaching out and asking.”

DA-DING-DONG

Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot), Book #3 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series takes us back to a special café where customers can embark on a journey to a different time. However, unlike the first two books of the series which were set in Café Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo, we meet Nagare and Kazu along with her seven-year-old daughter Sachi at Café Donna Donna in Hakodate. Nagare’s mother, Yukari who owns and runs the café is currently traveling, leaving Nagare and Kazu to fill in. The rules of time travel are the same (among which are the fact that nothing can change the present and the time traveler needs to return to the present before the specially brewed coffee served to him/her gets cold) and the time-traveling chair is only available when its occupant (the ghostly figure of an elderly gentleman) temporarily leaves his seat.

“Things that you put off saying until tomorrow are sometimes never said.”

As the narrative progresses, we meet the café staff, regular customers and those who come into the café for an opportunity to travel back/forth in time among whom is a young woman who desires to meet her deceased parents who she lost when she was just an infant, a renowned comedian who wants to share the news of an accomplishment with his deceased wife, a woman who is unable to cope with the loss of her sister and a young man who wants to share his feelings with the woman he loves. We also get to meet, Sachi, Kazu’s seven-year-old daughter whose fascination with the book,“What If the World Were Ending Tomorrow? One Hundred Questions” leads to quite a few interesting conversations.

In simple yet elegant prose, with elements of fantasy and magical realism and an interesting cast of characters, the author touches upon themes of love, loss, grief and moving on. While I did enjoy the characters and their stories and some beautifully penned passages, I felt the narrative to be repetitive (at this point there was no need to repeat the rules of time travel so many times throughout the book) and lacking in depth as compared to the previous installments. The characters, their emotions and their motivations could have been explored further. I also wanted to know more about the occupant of the time travel chair. I’m guessing I’ll have to wait for any future installments to satisfy my curiosity.

Overall, while I did enjoy this book, I didn't find it as emotionally hard-hitting or satisfying as the previous installment, Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café, which remains my favorite among the three books in the series.

I paired my reading with the wonderful audio narration by Kevin Shen which I thoroughly enjoyed. To fully appreciate the stories and the characters, I strongly recommend reading/listening to the books in series order.

“Inside every person is an inherent capability to make it through any kind of difficulty. Everyone has that energy. But sometimes when that energy flows via our anxiety valve, the flow can be restricted. The greater that anxiety, the greater the strength needed to open the valve and release the energy. That strength is empowered by hope. You could say that hope is the power to believe in the future.” ( )

The third book in the Before The Coffee Gets Cold series, and what a great book.

If you haven't read any of this series yet then i really, whole heartedly, suggest you get back to the beginning and give them a go.   The time-travelling-chair-in-a-cafe really is such a great story telling device, especially with the rules that come along with it.

And it's in those rules that the stories shine.   The main one being that you cannot change anything in the present by going back to the past.   This rule really does sort the wheat from the chaff and creates stories that are deep and meaningful for all of us.

This third book takes us away from the first cafe to another cafe in Japan with it's own chair and ghost.   The owner has gone away so some of the crew from Tokyo have taken over because only a female over the age of 7 years, from their family, can pour the coffee.

A lot of this book is about death, and how we all deal with the death of a loved one, and the ending is incredible: Toshikazu really nailed the ending, it's so perfect and so moving.   It's not often that my eyes get soggy at the end of a book, but this one did it perfectly.   While the whole book is really good, it's only when you get to the ending that you realise that it's all been about building up the ending, where Toshikazu brings everything to a perfectly sharp focus.

And don't forget, the next book in the series, Before We Say Goodbye, is coming out in September 2023, so be sure to put that in your diary.

Bye for now. ( )