At Funiculi Funicula cafe you can travel in time. However, you must follow these important rules: you can only meet people who have been to the cafe – and you must drink your coffee before it gets cold.
If you fancy a short and light book, Kōhī ga samenai uchi ni may be what you are looking for. A bit fantastic, a bit romantic, a bit naive, it’s the story of an unusual cafe and its regulars who use the magical table that can transport them back to the past – to meet their loved ones again, to repair relationships, to stop regretting.
Curiously, Kōhī ga samenai uchi ni was written as a theater play, and only later did the author decide to turn it into a novel, which became a bestseller and was turned into a movie. It’s easy to imagine this concept working perfectly on stage, with a cosy cafe as a backdrop, a few bold characters (and a few barely sketched but important ones), and some loosely told stories. It is a pity that in the novel doesn’t make the story more complex or at least expand on character’s personal stories.
But maybe that was what he intended – a short story that is supposed to move and amuse equally, like a good romantic comedy (which is usually better left without a deep analysis…) An alternative to romantic movie or tv series which you can ready while drinking your coffee.
Also available in English and Polish. For fans of the Funiculi Funicula cafe, more stories are available in English, in the second (Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Tales from the Cafe) and third part (Before Your Memory Fades).
