This was a lovely follow up to the previous book introducing us to the mesmerising cafe that can transport you to the past. It's written in such a simple yet beautiful way that you feel as though you are being taken on a wonderful journey. I only wish that this cafe actually existed, I think customers would be queueing round the block if not round the world.

Thanks to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored the previous book and I was really excited to join the characters again for some more time-travelling adventures.

This instalment follows much the same format as the previous book. Visitors to the café have the chance to go back in time to meet people from their past. They can’t do anything to change the past, they can’t leave the café and they can only stay as long as it takes for their coffee to get cold.

Honestly, I cried a ton at the first book, but I think I cried even more this time around. Something about the way the author conveys the simple, human stories of loss and love is just so profoundly touching and heart-breaking. The stories are simple but there’s just something so beautiful about them.

Some of the little mysteries from the first book were tied up in this one too which I thought was a nice touch. This is an utterly lovely follow up to the first book.

This second volume of tales from Toshikazu Kawaguchi revisits the mysterious cafe in Tokyo where it is possible to travel through time. I really enjoyed the first set of stories, published last year, and these are in the same vein. Something of the Japanese culture and tradition expresses itself stylistically, even in translation; I really enjoy the style of writing which can appear mundane but then suddenly very moving.

In these tales we learn a little more of the lives of those working in the cafe, particularly Kazu, and they are in places carefully linked to those in the first volume. I did struggle to remember the details of the stories in the first volume, so it might be more enjoyable for the reader if they were to read the two volumes closely together. Nevertheless, this is once again a clever, original, escapist read.

The first book in this series, Before the Coffee Gets Cold, absolutely broke my heart and I adored it. I knew I needed more instantly. When I found out that there were 3 books already published in Japanese I immediately went to see if translations were going to be made! Thankfully they are doing so and Tales from the Cafe is the second book in this beautiful series!

Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot

In returning to Café Funiculi Funicula we get four more tales. Four more life stories which explore in even more depth the grief and regret these characters feel. I enjoyed that in comparison to each other and also to the first book, each individual had a different reason for sitting in the fated chair. Each of them had a different story leading up to this point, leading them to want to explore another time. Although the overall base themes of regret still run throughout each tale, as is expected when the subjects are wishing to play with time, the reasonings behind each feel unique and personal to them.

We do get to learn more about characters we have already met in the first book. I don’t wish to give too much away on this point, as I personally enjoyed discovering this for myself, but seeing some of our repeat characters get their turn in the chair as well as learning more about how their lives have progressed and developed was another aspect of the story I loved. It really adds to the overall feeling that the Funiculi Funicula presents to the reader and fleshes out the world around this impossible chair.

As with the first book the writing is very slow and intentional throughout. Also as with the first book, however, I read through this book so quickly and was loath to put it down when I had to! The pacing is very methodical and purposeful which leads one story into another. I have seen in another review someone stating that they did not like the repetitive nature of the rules each time. For me, personally, these repeated instructions add more texture to the world of the café, as I’m sure those words have been said within it many times. It also is part and parcel of the process. Just as in Doctor Who, the Doctor races around the TARDIS pressing buttons and flicking levers, just instead this method of time travel is more certain and informed. You know what to expect, as much as you can, and you know the rules laid out for you and the consequences if they aren’t followed.

I am incredibly excited for the third book to be translated! I already know that I will be so sad when there are no more books for me to read from this little series. I can’t wait to learn more about… well let’s just say the last character mentioned (I don’t want to give anything away!) as well as seeing the café family develop and how they react to new time travellers. I really do recommend picking this series up, there’s a reason that Before the Coffee Gets Cold was such a hit and I recommend diving into this beautiful and meditative world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Picador for a free eCopy of this book in return for an honest review.

After reading a loving before the coffee gets cold last year I couldn't wait to pick up and read the sequel.

As it had been a year since reading it, I had a hard time remembering some of the characters and didn't end up making some connections until later on in the book, would have probably been better reading them both close together.

I still really enjoyed these stories but found they wern't as hard hitting for me as with the first book.

As usual in my reviews on here, I will not rehash the plot (plenty of other reviews like that already if that's what you are looking for!)

This is the second book in the "Tales from the Cafe" series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. I have not read the first book, but it did not matter, as there is enough background in this book for it to be read as a standalone.

I love the idea of time-travel, so was drawn to the book by the intriguing premise - a small family-run cafe in Japan that allows customers to travel back (or forwards) in time for a once-only visit. There are strict rules surrounding the visit - including the fact that nothing you do in the past or future will alter the course of reality, and that you must return by drinking your cup of coffee before it goes cold (or become trapped!)

Who would take such a, short-lived trip and why? Well plenty of people as it happens (me included!). This book follows four customers and their voyages. We learn about their back-stories and reasons for wanting to make the trip - all so poignant and easy to identify with. We also learn more about the family who run the cafe, who are all interesting characters in their own right.

This is a nice slow-moving novel, with plenty of beautifully descriptive writing. It's translated from the original Japanese, and gives a flavour of the culture - measured and considered.

I loved this book, and will now seek out the first in the series - and look forward to reading the next!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Tales from the Cafe is the second installment of short tales from Kawaguchi's 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' series, which follows people on a journey into the past (or future) within a magical cafe. There are, as usual, an astounding number of strict rules to follow, but perhaps the most important to remember is to drink the coffee before it gets cold.

This time we follow a man wanting to visit an old friend who died in a car crash 22 years ago, a detective wanting to give his wife the birthday gift he was never able to give, a son wanting to see his departed mother one last time and a dying man wanting to see the girl he could never marry. Connecting them all are the staff of the cafe, a small family unit in themselves.

Already being familiar with the cafe environment and staff, I felt more of a connection this time around and found the stories to be more cohesive. Although they're all contained within their own story arc, the staff offer a more complex and slow building tale that connections everything together. We also discover who the enigmatic lady in the white dress is too, which added a bit of closure to some of the mysteries left open in the previous installment.

I've slowly grown to really like the staff at the cafe, and the endearing and complicated reasons people want to travel to a different time. Whether it's redemption, self reflection, guilt or just a need for some closure, every story is simply yet beautifully told, with every patron having a unique story to tell. The series really does have the potential to go on and on, with countless people visiting the cafe.

At times the constant repetition of the rules got a bit irritating, but on the whole I enjoyed this a lot more than the last one.

Subtitled “Tales from the Café” this is the second novel that takes the reader to this small simple café in downtown Tokyo. For the unaware this is an extraordinary place. Within the café there is a table with one occupied seat – when that seat is vacated a visitor can, if they choose sit there and be offered a cup of coffee. They will be transported back to the café in a previous year and might meet someone they knew in the past. They can make only one, visit their visit will not change the present, to return they must drink the coffee before it gets cold. If they choose to stay they become the new resident tied to the café chair until replaced by another.
The question is: why would people choose to return to the past, at such risk both of getting trapped there, possibly not meeting the person they wish to see – or perhaps seeing them and having to cope with a difficult conversation. Throughout the novel a collection of people who have heard the story will appear and be told “the rules” – the above – together with greater variations or complexities and will have to decide whether to wait for the chair to be vacated.
As the book unfolds we see the staff of the café in greater detail – seemingly only one female can serve the coffee that starts the journey back. We see their families, their friendship for each other, but also a slightly wider circle of local residents who come often to the place. But they will also link back to those seen in the “back stories” with some being travelled back decades. Back travellers can of course only meet people who have already been in the café before. So we are seeing a group of enmeshed people whose links might be deep or really quite slight. There are indications that travelling back will have ongoing impact, but it may not always be positive as people can ultimately only change themselves and not others.
Through the travellers we are given a series of delicate vignettes of the people involved, but also the actions that created the ongoing trauma, distress or stress that means they have to go back and talk to people – friends, lovers, parents - from their past. All of this after many years and knowing that they will meet these people as they were and they are so much older. These vignettes while talking to loss also refer to sometimes less than happy previous behaviour, opportunities missed, failure to seize or enjoy the place one is in, simple failures with large consequences and so much more. Needless to say these are not just fictional issues, or restricted to the Japanese.
So this is a book that explores the deepest themes of family and friendships and how we interrelate with people on both the greater and lesser day to day levels. It speaks to what we need and how these relationships are important and sustain us even through difficult times. It shows in fictional form that people can continue to change and grow, that life is essentially not static if someone has the courage of face themselves and their behaviour and move on.
But for the non- Japanese reader we get that set within a “foreign” setting, with characters living with a different and older, albeit changing, culture. This adds a layer of piquancy and creates a more “fairy tale” state of mind that allows the tale to have a deeper sense of possibility. The tales linger and it makes it harder to reject the deeper moral questions and answers posed in this book.

I read the first book in this series a few months back and I was overjoyed to be able to jump back in with this second instalment. These books are almost comfort reads for me. They’re the perfect size to binge in a day and the stories are just beautiful. The way the deal with loss, love, joy and sadness is almost simple and human, they’re not hugely dramatic or over the top, they’re just simple, beautiful life.

We get 4 more stories in this volume, and of course the cafe workers and regulars are there still, so we get to continue to learn about their stories and their lives. They make for great framework with their compassion and the understanding of those who wish to time travel.

Interestingly we get to see someone travel forward in time, which was fascinating to see the reasons behind this and how it works out. And each story always feels fresh and human. I just can’t get enough of them.

This is the perfect read to curl up under a blanket and enjoy with a cup of tea. They’re just so simple and beautiful and I’m so in love with these books.

I couldn't get into this book I'm afraid. The concept is a good one - a cafe where people can go back in time and a host of characters with various reasons to do so.

And the book is well written (the part I read of it). But for some reason it just didn't really grip me, and I found myself not very interested in the main character.

The concept of this book was very promising, but I found that it did not live up to my expectations. Each chapter is a short story of a single customer in the cafe that allows them to travel back in time, and this made it easier to get through, but I found it simplistic and repetitive.

The story dragged and there was a lot of build up resulting in not very much. I can certainly see the potential and the appeal, but for me it just didn't land. The author wrote this book, as well as it's predecessor, as a play and I feel that format may have been more impactful.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Picador for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Tales from the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ by Toshikazu Kawaguchi in exchange for an honest review. It was translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot.

“In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time...”

This is a follow-up to his ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ that was published internationally in 2019 to wide acclaim. It again relates the stories of four new customers, who enter Cafe Funiculi Funicula hoping to take advantage of its unique time-travelling offer despite the strict rules they have to follow.

The original novel was adapted from a play and knowing this it’s easy to see how the cafe setting would work well on stage.

I found this quite a melancholy tale yet also a hopeful, heartwarming one. It beautifully embodies the Japanese concept of mono no aware; the gentle sadness that contains an awareness of transience. In the novel the symbolism of the seasons is also employed to convey this as the promise of spring is contained within winter.

Both this and the original novel are exquisite and well worth reading.

After reading the phone box at the end of the world, I was of course drawn to this book of stories where people have exactly the time it takes for their cup of coffee to get cold, to reunite with a friend or lost love in the café in Japan.
To meet all the extenuating circumstances, takes preparation and determination.
This is a book of poignant stores of the short reunions between the living and the dead.
#Beautuful
#Poignant

thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

This is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. They are really lovely, magical books. I honest feel like everything in my review of the first book still stands (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2993481218?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1).

The stories are sweet and the characters are endearing. The concept itself is brilliant - a cafe where people can travel back and forward in time to have a brief chat (until the coffee gets cold!) with someone they love and care for. They only get a very short amount of time with the person, and anything they do cannot change the future, which makes the stories quick and impactful.

Again though, I don't particularly enjoy the writing/translation style. I'm not sure how well it mirrors the style of the original but at the end of the day, the stories are so lovely I manage to ignore it!

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book of ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ and couldn’t wait to read this follow up.

Once again a peculiar charm weaves its way through the pages of ‘Tales from the Cafe’ and each tale is a testament to the special little cafe’s gift for healing many a heavy soul.

While each of the mini stories were thoughtful and uplifting in their own right, upon revisiting the cafe on this occasion I found the customers’ time travelling experiences didn’t quite have the same impact as they did the first time around.

Yet it was still a comforting, gentle read with a kind and generous heart.

Not as good as the first, but which book ever is. Still a lovely read and well-worth purchasing to read with a cup of coffee nearby.

This story is so unbelievably beautiful and magical. I knew from the first book being one of my favourite books ever that this would be an enjoyable read for me and I wasn't wrong.
We follow short stories of peoples lives throughout the book but all intertwine with each other and also have meaning for those who work in the cafe and we see how these short snippets of other peoples lives affect the cafe staff.
The writing is so majestic and easy to read, you can't help but be sucked into the world and imagine yourself in the cafe, seeing each and every story take place and feeling the raw emotions that each character faces. Every story is deep and has underlying meaning, making it a fun read to try and decipher as you go.
If you enjoy well written stories and are a fan of literary fiction then this would be my top recommendation to you. Not only that but the covers of both this book and the first are some of my favourites.
Please lose yourself in this story, you won't regret it!

I read the prequel to this and wasn’t overly enthused but for some reason I felt obliged to see how this followed on . Unfortunately I couldn’t warm to this and lost interest half way through . I wasn’t a fan of the style and felt this probably came from it being translated and like the first book I found that the similar names of the characters added to confusion.

Thank you to the publishers for sending me this book to do an honest review. I absolutely adored the first book and couldn’t wait to get my hands on the second instalment. I have to say I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.

I sat down with my beautiful black kitten and sipped coffee whilst we entered Cafe Funiculi Funicula. This book is a must read and I honestly could not put this book down. I finished this in 2 hours.

Much like the first book there are 4 mini stories.

A story about man who goes back to the past so that he is able to speak to his best friend who died 22 years ago.
A son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
A man who travelled back to see the girl who he could not marry
And last but no least a story of an old detective who never gave his wife that gift..

You will smile, laugh, and get teary eyed. I loved this book more then I can say. I wont put any spoilers, my coffee luckily did not get cold.

Beautiful. It was wonderful to be able to read more stories from the cafe. This is a heart warming memorable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.