January 2, 2021 | No Comments
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
Date Published: September 29, 2020
Published By: Viking
Page Count: 288
Publisher’s Description:
Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
My Star Rating:
My Review:
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a book I thought I would like, that turned out to be probably not at all what I was expecting, but I ended up liking it even more.
This book is one that has this alternate reality/Schroedinger’s cat/multi-verse theme, but with a twist. It’s maybe a little dark in a not-too-too-heavy kind of way, and content warning for attempted suicide, but I found myself enjoying the heck out of this story. It was interesting and maybe even a little thought-provoking. I dare say it was even a little bit fun.
It makes me wonder if there are other versions of me out there, how many versions read this book?
Nora was a likable character that I quickly related to and could sympathize with. I mean, whose life doesn’t spiral out of control when their beloved pet dies? I think she, like many of us, carries a lot of burdens that have come with her choices as well as the choices of others in her life. So when she gets this opportunity, I thought it was interesting that she looked for lives that her parents were still alive, that she and her brother got along better. That the cat was still alive.
I also thought it was an interesting thing to think about, that we all tend to have many interests and talents, and the book explored a little bit of how different our lives could really turn out if we focused on that other thing instead of picking this one.
Overall, I don’t know. Maybe I can’t really pinpoint exactly WHAT about this book make me feel, but that is exactly what it did – made me FEEL. Great book for a book club discussion.