Before Your Memory Fades

A Novel

By: Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Narrated by: Kevin Shen

Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

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 listener to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Meet more wonderful characters in the next captivating novel in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, Before We Say Goodbye!

Listen to the rest of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series:

• Before the Coffee Gets Cold
• Tales from the Cafe

©2022 Toshikazu Kawaguchi (P)2022 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Terrific

I had not heard the earlier ones; really enjoyed this and easy to immerse. Highly recommend, it is uplifting, unlike too many samples of literary fiction/fantasy.

Once you start you really can't put it down

Or turn it off it's in the case of audible. Every now and then you come across a series in book form that you really long for it to just continue...

Another excellent book

I love this series, it’s deep, meaningful, and nostalgic. I hope they author has more! I didn’t enjoy this narrator as much as the other novels but overall they still did well

Wonderful continuation of the series.

It’s a vacation in your head with true glimpses into Japanese culture and relationships as well as descriptions of the cityscapes.

Great book from non- English author

It stands to reason that authors turning out good books are out there, but we are infrequently offered their work. A Man Called Ove springs to mind. it is interesting to observe the sheen of other cultures through their writings, though I'm certain translators are pressed to bring forth the subtleties of the native language.

lovely calming and intriguing short stories

I loved Kevin Shen's narration. I really enjoyed all 3 of these boos, the chapters are each sweet loves stories intertwined.

New Location, Same Stories

So we're three books into this series now and we've moved to a new cafe with largely the same set of characters. Instead of Tokyo, now we're further north in Hakodate, although the location doesn't quite play a big role just yet. We still have the same structure of different characters visiting the cafe and going back into the past and the many rules of the cafe are repeated in pretty much each story. As I've been listening to these stories as audiobooks, this part of the pattern is a little repetitive but at times also soothing in its familiarity.

While there's more of an effort to tie more directly to the recurring characters, there's also a larger sense of sadness that pervades the tales here. I know that the stories of the cafe have generally been more than a little maudlin, but this book feels a little extra somber for one reason or another. We have too many messages from the past for characters who have passed on.

Still a good series for the most part but I wonder if there's room for anything particularly new in the next title.

A series of parables

Time travel stories contain multiple paradoxes. That is why this book series needs to be considered a series of parables. That eliminates the need to criticize the details and allow the listener to enjoy the simple human insights that the author has incorporated in each chapter.

A Bit Simplistic

I have not read/listened to any other books in this series, but I think it's probably not necessary. The premise is explained clearly enough. You may travel to the past to visit someone who had visited the café at least one time. You may do this by sitting in the chair that a ghost gentlemen is sitting in (when he gets up to go to the bathroom). You will be served a hot cup of coffee and are transported into the past to visit the person on your mind. Once there, you may not get up from the seat, and you have to drink the entire cup before it gets cold. You will then be returned to present day.

The basic message for all of these stories was that loved ones that die want you to be happy after they're gone. The secondary message was that you must say and do what's on your heart while you can.

It was a well intentioned book. There were a lot of characters so I had a bit of a problem keeping up at times. I thought there was too much dialog, but I think that's because it was originally written in Japanese and then translated to English. This book is suitable for pretty much any age. I probably won't read/listen to the others in the series.

So Bittersweet. So very Japanese.

I love this series, even though each book is bittersweet. The time travel aspect is fantastic and the rules truly bring out the depth of people's motivations and feelings. If you are looking for an exciting time travel story, this is not for you. If you enjoy stories about people and love and friendship and family and all of the deep emotion that goes with it then you will enjoy these stories.

My only complaint is that I didn't remember that there was a sister who also owns a coffee shop. So I was confused in the beginning. So there are 2 time traveling coffee shops one in Tokyo and one in Hokkaido. But once I got over my shock of there being 2 shops. I just sat back and enjoyed.

Each of these 4 stories were more tightly woven together and progressed easier than the previous books. They really felt like one story led into the next.