Before your memory fades: a novel

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
2022.
Language
English

Description

The third novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, following four new customers in a cafe where customers can travel back in time.On the hillside of Mount Hakodate in northern Japan, Cafe Donna Donna is fabled for its dazzling views of Hakodate port. But that’s not all. Like the charming Tokyo cafe Funiculi Funicula, Cafe Donna Donna offers its customers the extraordinary experience of travelling through time.From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s previous novels, readers will also be introduced to:
  • A daughter who begrudges her deceased parents for leaving her orphaned
  • A comedian who aches for his beloved and their shared dreams
  • A younger sister whose grief has become all-consuming
  • A young man who realizes his love for his childhood friend too late
Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and featuring signature heart-warming characters and wistful storytelling, in Before Your Memory Fades, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?Meet more wonderful characters in the rest of the captivating Before the Coffee Gets Cold series: 
  • Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Book 1)
  • Tales from the Cafe (Book 2)
  • Before Your Memory Fades (Book 3)
  • Before We Say Goodbye (Book 4)
  • Before We Forget Kindness (Book 5)
  • Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Boxed Set (Books 1-3)

More Details

Contributors
ISBN
9781335429285
9781488215315
133542928
9780369722690

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Also in this Series

  • Before the coffee gets cold: a novel (Before the coffee gets cold Volume 1) Cover
  • Tales from the cafe: a novel (Before the coffee gets cold Volume 2) Cover
  • Before your memory fades: a novel (Before the coffee gets cold Volume 3) Cover
  • Before we say goodbye (Before the coffee gets cold Volume 4) Cover
  • Before we forget kindness: a novel (Before the coffee gets cold Volume 5) Cover

Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These moving, leisurely-paced literary fiction novels (translated into English) both portray individuals struggling with inner turmoil that involves doppelgangers (Septology) and time travel (Before the Coffee Gets Cold). -- Andrienne Cruz
Although the melancholy, slightly dystopian Visit is bleaker in tone than the uplifting, magical realist Coffee, both of these series' inventive explorations of time and thematically related characters will appeal to readers drawn to unconventional, genre-bending novels. -- Michael Shumate
While Before the Coffee's plotlines rely on a touch of magic and the power of Kamogawa Food Detectives lies in the sleuthing of its title characters, both of these engaging series will appeal to readers of heartfelt translated fiction. -- Basia Wilson
Readers may catch themselves longing for a cozy seat at Before the Coffee's cafe or wishing to visit Cerulean's enchanted island when reading these series. Both are feel-good series whose magical elements inspire hope. -- Basia Wilson
These feel-good and character-driven gentle reads follow the moving adventures of the residents of an Edinburgh apartment house (44 Scotland Street) and visitors bonding in a Tokyo neighborhood cafe (Before the Coffee Gets Cold). -- Andrienne Cruz
These moving series by Japanese authors appeal to fans of easygoing and emotionally rewarding reads led by protagonists who receive a new lease on life after relocating (Forest Novels) and bouts of time travel (Before the Coffee). -- Basia Wilson
These slice-of-life stories that unfold in prose (Before the Coffee Gets Cold) and graphic novel format (Since I Could Die Tomorrow) feature likeable Japanese characters reflecting on pivotal emotional moments of their lives. -- Andrienne Cruz
These series have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subject "loss."
These series have the appeal factors bittersweet, and they have the themes "coping with death" and "time slip"; the genres "magical realism" and "literary fiction"; and the subjects "time travel," "loss," and "coping."

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors moving, bittersweet, and reflective, and they have the subjects "time travel," "loss," and "regret."
These books have the appeal factors bittersweet and lyrical, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "loss," "grief," and "interpersonal relations."
These books have the appeal factors bittersweet, and they have the theme "coping with death"; the genres "literary fiction" and "translations -- japanese to english"; and the subjects "loss," "grief," and "coping."
NoveList recommends "Cerulean chronicles" for fans of "Before the coffee gets cold". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Forest novels (Shion Miura)" for fans of "Before the coffee gets cold". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the appeal factors moving, bittersweet, and atmospheric, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "loss" and "family relationships."
These books have the appeal factors moving, bittersweet, and evocative, and they have the subjects "loss," "regret," and "grief."
NoveList recommends "Kamogawa food detectives" for fans of "Before the coffee gets cold". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "44 Scotland Street" for fans of "Before the coffee gets cold". Check out the first book in the series.
These books have the appeal factors bittersweet, reflective, and stylistically complex, and they have the genres "literary fiction" and "translations -- japanese to english"; and the subjects "loss," "regret," and "grief."
NoveList recommends "Septology" for fans of "Before the coffee gets cold". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Visit from the Goon Squad" for fans of "Before the coffee gets cold". Check out the first book in the series.

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These authors' works have the genres "magical realism" and "literary fiction"; and the subjects "time travel," "options, alternatives, choices," and "loss."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving and lyrical, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "families," "options, alternatives, choices," and "loss."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, and they have the genres "magical realism" and "literary fiction"; and the subjects "loss," "interpersonal relations," and "regret."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, and they have the genres "literary fiction" and "mainstream fiction"; and the subjects "options, alternatives, choices," "loss," and "regret."
These authors' works have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "loss" and "interpersonal relations."
These authors' works have the appeal factors bittersweet and lyrical, and they have the genres "magical realism" and "literary fiction"; and the subjects "options, alternatives, choices," "loss," and "interpersonal relations."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, hopeful, and lyrical, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "families," "options, alternatives, choices," and "loss."
These authors' works have the appeal factors moving, and they have the genres "literary fiction" and "mainstream fiction"; and the subjects "loss," "interpersonal relations," and "japanese people."
These authors' works have the appeal factors lyrical and stream of consciousness, and they have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "families," "family relationships," and "japanese people."
These authors' works have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "options, alternatives, choices," "young women," and "japanese people."
These authors' works have the genre "literary fiction"; and the subjects "options, alternatives, choices," "loss," and "interpersonal relations."
These authors' works have the genres "literary fiction" and "mainstream fiction"; and the subjects "loss," "interpersonal relations," and "regret."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

In the third installment of the internationally best-selling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, some of the familiar crew from Tokyo's Café Funiculi Funicula move to Hakodate's Café Donna Donna on Hokkaido after its proprietor, Yukari Tokita, leaves indefinitely for the U.S. to help a young boy find his vanished father. In the meantime, Yukari's son, Nagare, has come up from Tokyo to fill in for "his flighty and capricious" mother, along with his cousin Kazu and her seven-year-old daughter, Sachi, the newest coffee pourer. Just like Funiculi Funicula, Café Donna Donna is a portal for time traveling. New regulars appear here: wannabe comic Reiji, who initially asked for Nagare's help to keep Donna Donna open; psychiatrist Saki; and local university student Nanako. Kawaguchi repeats his four-part format to introduce another time-defying quartet: a woman who lost her parents, half of an award-winning comedy duo mourning his late wife, an older sister missing her younger sister, and an all-too-unaware lovesick lover. Once more, translator Geoffrey Trousselot provides English readers an opportunity to bask in another of Kawaguchi's gently winsome soul-warming tales.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

The third mosaic novel in Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold series (after Tales from the Café) is melancholy and uplifting by turn. This installment moves north of Tokyo to Hakodate on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands. There, in Café Donna Donna, customers can travel to the past following very specific rules: they must sit in a certain chair, they cannot leave the café and can only interact with past moments that have taken place within its walls,, and they must finish their coffee before it gets cold or they'll be stuck in the café as a ghost. Four travelers decide to risk it anyway--The Daughter, The Comedian, The Sister, and The Young Man. Three of their four stories concern visiting those who are now dead and, though their actions in the past cannot impact the reality of the present, their conversations do change how they feel, leaving each with a more positive take on their situation. Kawaguchi reinforces the time travelers' lesson of living without regret by having the café patrons read and discuss the fictional book What If the World Were Ending Tomorrow: One Hundred Questions. Meanwhile, the beautiful backdrop of Hakodate creates a lovely atmosphere. Readers looking for a nudge to live life to its fullest will find one here. (Nov.)

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Library Journal Review

Kawaguchi returns with the heart-warming third installment of his internationally best-selling series (following Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe). Instead of taking place at the small Tokyo café Funiculi Funicula, this story occurs at café Donna Donna in Hakodate, a city on the island of Hokkaido. As at Funiculi Funicula, Donna Donna customers are given the opportunity to travel back in time, but they must follow a list of rules, the most important one being they must return to the present before their cup of coffee gets cold. Like the two previous books, this title follows four new customers wanting to travel back in time: a daughter, a comedian, a sister, and a young man in love. The first and last stories, "The Daughter" and "The Young Man," are the standouts in this book. VERDICT Fans of Kawaguchi's series will enjoy this latest installment. While the stories are similar to previous ones, readers will enjoy reading about a new group of customers and seeing some familiar faces. Kawaguchi's comforting and thought-provoking book is perfect reading for cold winter nights.--Anna Kallemeyn

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Booklist Reviews

In the third installment of the internationally best-selling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, some of the familiar crew from Tokyo's Café Funiculi Funicula move to Hakodate's Café Donna Donna on Hokkaido after its proprietor, Yukari Tokita, leaves indefinitely for the U.S. to help a young boy find his vanished father. In the meantime, Yukari's son, Nagare, has come up from Tokyo to fill in for "his flighty and capricious" mother, along with his cousin Kazu and her seven-year-old daughter, Sachi, the newest coffee pourer. Just like Funiculi Funicula, Café Donna Donna is a portal for time traveling. New regulars appear here: wannabe comic Reiji, who initially asked for Nagare's help to keep Donna Donna open; psychiatrist Saki; and local university student Nanako. Kawaguchi repeats his four-part format to introduce another time-defying quartet: a woman who lost her parents, half of an award-winning comedy duo mourning his late wife, an older sister missing her younger sister, and an all-too-unaware lovesick lover. Once more, translator Geoffrey Trousselot provides English readers an opportunity to bask in another of Kawaguchi's gently winsome soul-warming tales. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.
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Library Journal Reviews

Kawaguchi returns with the heart-warming third installment of his internationally best-selling series (following Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe). Instead of taking place at the small Tokyo café Funiculi Funicula, this story occurs at café Donna Donna in Hakodate, a city on the island of Hokkaido. As at Funiculi Funicula, Donna Donna customers are given the opportunity to travel back in time, but they must follow a list of rules, the most important one being they must return to the present before their cup of coffee gets cold. Like the two previous books, this title follows four new customers wanting to travel back in time: a daughter, a comedian, a sister, and a young man in love. The first and last stories, "The Daughter" and "The Young Man," are the standouts in this book. VERDICT Fans of Kawaguchi's series will enjoy this latest installment. While the stories are similar to previous ones, readers will enjoy reading about a new group of customers and seeing some familiar faces. Kawaguchi's comforting and thought-provoking book is perfect reading for cold winter nights.—Anna Kallemeyn

Copyright 2022 Library Journal.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal.
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PW Annex Reviews

The third mosaic novel in Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold series (after Tales from the Café) is melancholy and uplifting by turn. This installment moves north of Tokyo to Hakodate on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands. There, in Café Donna Donna, customers can travel to the past following very specific rules: they must sit in a certain chair, they cannot leave the café and can only interact with past moments that have taken place within its walls,, and they must finish their coffee before it gets cold or they'll be stuck in the café as a ghost. Four travelers decide to risk it anyway—The Daughter, The Comedian, The Sister, and The Young Man. Three of their four stories concern visiting those who are now dead and, though their actions in the past cannot impact the reality of the present, their conversations do change how they feel, leaving each with a more positive take on their situation. Kawaguchi reinforces the time travelers' lesson of living without regret by having the café patrons read and discuss the fictional book What If the World Were Ending Tomorrow: One Hundred Questions. Meanwhile, the beautiful backdrop of Hakodate creates a lovely atmosphere. Readers looking for a nudge to live life to its fullest will find one here. (Nov.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly Annex.

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly Annex.
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