Chapter 1: Brown (from ワタル’s point of view, Tokyo)
Young male waiter, ワタル, just got a job at the cafe マーブル・カフェ
Young woman, customer at the cafe, likes to drink cocoa, has an English speaking pen-pal called Mary
Chapter 2: Yellow (from 朝美’s point of view, Tokyo)
朝美, working mom, usually full time, not housewife type
拓海 (たくみ), her son, goes to kindergarten (5yo)
輝也 (てるや), the dad, is a stay at home dad, also an artist and showing his paintings in an exhibit, also did some daytrading
えな, teacher at the kindergarten
添島瑠々, one of the kids at the kindergarten
Chapter 3: Pink (from えな’s point of view, Tokyo)
萌香 (もえか), kid at the day care
泰子 (やすこ), teacher who’s been at the kindergarten for 15 years
マコ, cousin of えな, studied in Australia during highschool, now an English conversation teacher
Chapter 4: Blue (from 泰子’s point of view, Tokyo)
理沙 (りさ), 泰子’s friend, now married
ひろゆき, the husband, recently divorced
Chapter 5: Red (from 理沙’s point of view, Sydney)
Couple married for 50 years, daughter is ピー
Chapter 6: Grey (from 美佐子’s point of view, Sydney)
進一郎, her husband
ヒロコ、their daughter, nickname ピー, had her at 36歳, 36 years ago, has a lingerie shop on the same river as the Marble cafe (where 泰子 bought lingerie in chapter 4), 美佐子 has been to the coffee and had friendly chats with ワタル, thinks he might like a customer that wrote 秋の桜 on a Tanabata wish
幼なじみのあっちゃん, got married in Sydney 2 years ago
陽介, someone she liked / dated at work where she met her husband
A waitress, long black hair, wearing a green bracelet
Chapter 7: Green (from 優’s point of view, Sydney)
Was interviewed for(?) an article called ワーキングホリデー体験記 for CANVAS
Likes a writer called ＭＡＣＯ from CANVAS (see characters from chapter 3)
Sandwich seller older man (おじさん) with an orange apron at the botanical garden
Was told by the gallery owner of a gallery she was visiting in her home city of Kyoto while in her second year of college, that the green painting she liked was of the botanical garden in Sydney, a friend of his had painted it. The man (ＭＡＳＴＥＲ) had a big mole in the middle of his forehead and the exhibition was not of famous artists but of people the owner liked (see chapter 1 & 2)
man in late 20s who gave back her handkerchief that fell on the floor at the botanical garden
Chapter 8: Orange (from Ralph’s point of view, Sydney)
Ralph, former banker, now owner of a sandwich shop near the Royal Botanical Gardens
Cindy, went to the UK for 3 years, upon returning immediately went looking for Ralph
Chapter 9: Turquoise (Cindy’s point of view, Sydney)
Grace, plant expert and aromatherapy teacher
Mako, Cindy’s classmate
Chapter 10: Black (アツコ’s point of view, Sydney)
Atsuko, new character!, translator, penpal of Grace, childhood friend of Piichan
Mark, husband, bought painting from 優 / You
Blonde woman, spotted writing a letter to Mako, says Mako saved her life
Chapter 11: Purple (Mary’s point of view, Sydney)
Mary, host sister of Mako
Character name readings
kanji
reading
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I was quite disappointed by the open ending. After reading about so many characters and their brief, superficial stories, it felt as though the writer simply wanted to cash in on the story of Cocoa-San and the waiter by writing another book about them to continue the story if this book received positive feedback. Thinking back, this also reflects my preference for deep connections with a few close friends rather than having many acquaintances who made no significant impact on my life.
overall, an easy and light-hearted first novel! I’m glad I read it, and I probably missed a fair amount of nuance so I’m not so much judging it here as much as relating my thoughts on the book overall
Summary
I have mixed feelings. I feel like the book I wanted and the one this sometimes was, was a collection of small vignettes on how small positive interactions can affect others. And we will probably never know how much we have affected others, perhaps in larger ways than we could have realised with small actions.
Some of the earlier chapters achieved this. On this note, though, that’s why I was a bit put off by some of the more fantastical elements, as it undermines that message. As if you need the mystical or magical for that, although in a couple of places it explicitly spelled out the idea that it’s quite an ordinary thing to affect others in this way.
So I appreciated Mara’s thoughts on seeing this from a magical realism angle. Maybe I’m not used to that genre, I certainly know nothing about it. For me it didn’t go deep enough into those themes or relationships to really feel like the book immersed me in it. So whereas for my former point about seeking this butterfly effect, superficial connections work, I felt like to get at something else, maybe more depth is needed?
I didn’t mind the ambiguity in the end, but I found the love letter rather unrealistic written for the reader if that makes sense. I liked the concept of it coming full circle
Like @xnd521 and @Akashelia said in the home thread, I enjoyed everyone’s comments and the mystery unravelling we did together most.
Okay, so I was away doing a music intensive, but during my work-exchange shifts I would always read two or more pages and I ended up finishing the chapter (and thus the book) before the end of the week! Each time I read it something made me smile or sigh or laugh. I loved the way that everything came full circle and I was invested enough to not feel critical of anything in the final chapter. That doesn’t happen too often, so I’ll take it. (Actually, I think it probably happens a lot more for Japanese books than books in English, but anyway.)
a few notes I wrote down while reading because I couldn't contain myself
This sentence stopped me in my tracks and I had to write it down to get past it. I didn’t know what it meant and still don’t, but hope to come back to it sometime, even if it is just some future day when I am rereading or something. うち気持ちごと消えていってしまう seems to be the main source of my confusion.
For those who thought the short stories were too short or didn’t enjoy the magical elements but otherwise enjoyed the book, you might really like お探し物は図書室まで | L30 by the same author. If I remember correctly from reading the English translation, each character gets more time and there’s nothing overtly magical.
I already bought the Mondays Matcha Cafe book which is (loosely?) a sequel to this one, so I’ll probably read that first, but I’m really looking forward to reading お探し物は図書室まで in Japanese for the first time (eventually)!
What is probably tripping you up based on how you parsed it is the うち applies to the previous fragment (xうち meaning within the time to x). The other grammar trick in there is てしまう: something regrettable is happening, or something happening completely.
And maybe this parsing helps:
でも思ったとき進まなければ
ずっと止まったままで、
それどころか、
その願いは果たせないうち
気持ちごと消えていってしまう
かもしれない。
What I do when I get stuck is parse fragments as above, then figure out each fragment from back to front, then let it settle and let the brain do its jedi thing to get a main feeling out of it
でも思ったとき進まなければ
But if you don’t move forward at the time you think/ feel
ずっと止まったままで、
In the state of (まま) stopped continuously (stuck)
それどころか、
Far from that
その願いは果たせないうち
While/ in the space of (うち) not fulfilling that wish
気持ちごと消えていってしまう
Every ごと feeling extinguishes
かもしれない。
Perhaps
I’m not an eloquent translator, but my understanding “if you don’t move forward when the feeling is there, not only will you get stuck, perhaps all the feelings extinguish as the wish is not fulfilled”.
Good tip! I’ll be watching this author. I enjoyed this club a lot, thank you!!
I feel like this a book you either really connect with or you don’t; I happen to be in the latter camp.
I love magical realism, but the author’s decision to use it in some chapters but not others made the story feel really contradictory and in-cohesive to me. Red and Blue were the most baffling to me in this regard. Mary and Mako, Grace and Atsuko, and even Cindy and Ralph—the entire premise seemed to be their connections were deeply intertwined and fated. Yet some odd chapters before, Blue and Red pragmatically denies the idea of fate. Yasuko struggles to grasp why her and Risa were even friends. Risa gets laughed at for mentioning the red string of fate at the zoo. What makes the future of Risa’s marriage so uncertain, but Cindy’s relationship to Ralph clear? What makes the origins of Yasuko’s friendship to Risa inconsequential, but Mary and Mako’s a rekindling of past lives?
I agree with what others wrote that the narrative would have been a lot stronger and more enjoyable with less chapters and more character building.
Thank you so much to everyone who liked and commented on my posts even though I’m here after the club had ended.
I really enjoyed reading everyone’s thoughts and opinions! Even if this book wasn’t my cup of tea, it was interesting seeing what other people did enjoy about it. While I’m glad to be done with the book, it’s bittersweet the discussion ends here.
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written for the reader if that makes sense. I liked the concept of it coming full circle
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