Before We Say Goodbye

The Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is delightful, giving customers to café Funiculi Funicula the opportunity to revisit the past to meet a loved one. There are many rules, but the main one is that you must drink your coffee before it gets cold otherwise you’ll end up as a ghost at the café. In the fourth instalment of the series (a fifth looks to have been published in Japan earlier this year), the formula hasn’t changed but the stories are still tender and heartbreaking.

Once again, the story is about four characters who come to the café for different reasons to speak to someone from the past. A man wants to tell his wife something important, a daughter wants to be kinder to her father, a woman wants to clear things up with show more her ex-lover and saddest/sweetest of all, a woman wants to see her beloved dog once more. All the customer’s stories are well fleshed out, tugging at the heartstrings. The stand out for me was the story of the woman who wanted to apologise to her dog for not being awake for him when he died. This chapter explores the love between people and pets and how they are a core part of the family. (Although I do think the woman wouldn’t have felt so guilty if she had shared her feelings with her husband – there’s a miscommunication which makes things a little irritating).

The timing of this novel seems to be a little out of line with the others (although I suppose you can’t really criticise a time travelling café series for not having linear time!). In this novel, Kazu’s daughter is not mentioned, nor is the previous trip north to help with another café. I also got the feeling that both Nagare and Kazu were a bit younger. But overall, it doesn’t matter too much. I was a little disappointed that very little was mentioned about Kazu and Nagare’s characters and that they were just there to run the café.

Is the premise of this series wearing a little thin? Not really for me. I am a little over the rules being explained in great detail, but that was reduced a lot in the latter half of the novel. The stories of the customers don’t get old though, they are still just as magical. I’ll keep reading and keep looking forward to tales from the café. They are engaging and heartfelt. A good heartwarming read you can devour in one day, or savour chapter by chapter.

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4.5⭐️

“There are many crossroads in life. All regrets stem from what happened at one moment we never imagined would happen to us. When our own action brings about an unexpected result, how can we not experience huge regret? After all, do we ever get another shot?”

Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) is the fourth installment of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series and personally one of my favorites (along with Book #2, Tales from the Café ).

Set in Café Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo, we meet an interesting cast of characters (both old and new) – café regulars, owners and staff and first-time visitors who come to the café for the unique experience of time travel. The rules are the show more same and no one can change their past. Then why go back? Love, regret, nostalgia, guilt, the need to say goodbye and to share what was left unsaid. In four interconnected stories we meet a former professor who spent most of his life busy with his career desires to speak to his wife who is now bedridden after an accident; a husband wants his wife to take the opportunity to say goodbye to their beloved dog Apollo who passed on while she was dozing; following a cryptic message left by her deceased former boyfriend a young woman visits the café to meet him for the last time and finally a young woman hopes to say goodbye and apologize to her deceased father for her behavior toward him during their last meeting.

The beautifully written, insightful and heartwarming stories inspire pause and reflection. This short novel left me with a lump in my throat and a smile on my face. Definitely recommended for fans of the series and can be read as a standalone.

Many thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Before We Say Goodbye was published in the United States on November 14, 2023. show less

‘’So, there’s nothing one could do to change the present?’’

In the fourth instalment of our beloved Tales From the Cafe series, the focus turns on family, parenthood, the relationship between daughters and parents, and the regret that comes to haunt our step once our bond with those we love- be it kin or lovers - is shuttered by misunderstanding, prejudice or plain denial to accept the truth.

‘’You cannot change the present no matter how hard you try…what a cruel rule.’’

The Husband: A rather inquisitive professor wants to return to the time when his wife was healthy, for there are things left unspoken…What do you do when you know the future and the misery it will bring? Do you tell or keep everything locked within show more you, suffering in silence?

The Farewell: We often overlook the special bond, the adoration even, between a human being and their pet. In this moving episode, a woman visits the past to face her regrets over the death of her pet.

The Proposal: In an unexpectedly sad story, a young woman wants to meet the boyfriend whose marriage proposal she refused. One of the most moving moments in the entire Funiculi Funicula series.

The Daughter: This moment was equally heart-breaking and infuriating. A daughter who treated her father in such a manner makes it difficult for me to understand her. Making amends? There would be no need for that if you had tried to listen to your father and care for his feelings instead of being a megalomanic selfish shrew. I am sorry if I sound cruel but honesty always comes first.

Yes, Toshikazu Kawaguchi and his treasures keep breaking our hearts, but the hope, love, and sense of freedom surrounding you when you read his books last long after your coffee gets cold. Within these pages, Life awaits. You don’t want to miss it…

‘’When our action brings about an unexpected result, how can we not experience huge regret? After all, do we ever get another shot?’’

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ok this time the writing really drove me bonkers. it's just too detached and too many steps away from the emotions for me. the philosophical questions being asked in these books are still interesting, and actually in this one more so - it kind of addresses the loopholes and what-abouts that come up when reading the others, so i appreciated that for sure. but i really was bothered by the writing this time, and the number of things that felt like inconsistencies to me. like the way (for example) in one story she said she thought he was boring and wasn't really interested in him at all but then later in the story spoke as if the opposite was true? it was too all over the place. i don't know why i keep listening to these.

You can tell that Kawaguchi is trying to bring some variation into this series by focusing this book on the theme of saying goodbye to a loved one. Nevertheless, the premise can feel tiresome, and there are a few quite unlikeable characters here. However, I do like that Kawaguchi accounts for the main characters at the end of the book, such as the Professor's wife waking up from a coma. He doesn't leave you in suspense.

The fourth book from this rather enjoyable series: at least it had been rather enjoyable up to this book.   But i'm beginning to feel that Toshikazu is beginning to get a bit repetitive and the cafe is beginning to become a little stale.

I think that Toshikazu is simply rushing out books and not really making any effort to create something new and interesting, which is a shame.   I really feel that what this series needs is for Toshikazu to just put it down for a while and not come back to it until he has something new and interesting to bring to the cafe.

That's my thoughts on the matter, it really doesn't need to be ruined to meet a deadline, either with the publisher or with Toshikazu's bank account.

Bye for now.

These are such cute and quirky books. This is the second one I read and really, I wanted to read it because a woman wanted to back and visit her dog that had passed and I sobbed. I definitely think I liked the first book better and maybe, eventually, I'll check out the other two books in between the first one and this one...but besides that one story, I feel like this book didn't hit as well as the first one did.