The Midnight Library

“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?”

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.

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• An emotional roller coaster ride.
• To have their feels utterly broken and pieced back together.
• Lyrical, relatable prose that strikes a chord over and over again.
• A dark emotional plunge that somehow leaves you all warm and fuzzy by the end.
• An uplifting read about mental health that will give you a new perspective on life.

I’ve only ever read one other Matt Haig book, which was How to Stop Time, and I enjoyed it. Know what I enjoy even more, though? Following Matt Haig on Twitter. Seriously, do it. You’ll thank yourself later. Probably the best decision you’ll ever make on social media. Haig talks a lot about mental health and self-care on Twitter, as he does in many of his books, so I sort of had an idea of what to expect going in.

The Midnight Library is the story of a young woman who believes she wants to die when, really, she’s just looking for a reason to live. With gorgeous prose, it’s a sometimes heartbreaking, emotional read that has an uplifting, hopeful note.

As he does with his other book, Matt Haig takes the reader hostage, tortures their emotions, and then lets them walk away somehow feeling lighter, with a warm buzzing in their heart-space. I’m not sure how the heck he does it. I suspect blood sacrifices may be involved. If you can get through the dark content at the beginning, though, Haig’s novel is a raw portrayal of the struggle that goes along with mental health.

Nora’s plight will instantly be recognizable for anyone who has struggled with mental health.

Her life isn’t terrible. Not on the surface, at least. Not that depression particularly cares about that, does it? For anyone who hasn’t suffered from depression, it may be hard to get through the early chapters without being annoyed at Nora, because nothing in particular is wrong with her life. Nothing is particularly right with it, either, and it’s a series of not particularly right events that really set this book in motion.

Nora is such an everyperson that it’s really easy for the reader to put themselves in her shoes, because she’s not particularly unique. And in this context, I mean that as a good thing.

Just like Nora, most people have childhood dreams and aspirations that fall by the wayside. They carry around guilt over choices they’ve made or paths they’ve taken or maybe didn’t take. Even though Nora’s circumstances may be different to a reader’s, it’s really easy for a reader to see how Nora ends up where she is, especially someone who’s struggled with depression themselves.

I think that ability to relate is what makes this narrative so darn powerful, because hold on tight, dear readers. The roller coaster is just beginning. Arms and legs in the ride at all times, please.

“Between life and death there is a library” — this is the line that stole my attention right away in the blurb of this book, and this is still the line that plays through my head every time I think about it.

It’s such a powerful, evocative sentence, while still being so simple and unassuming, isn’t it? I mean, also, it’s kind of the bookwyrm’s dream, right? Heck yes to libraries! Can I just live in this weird purgatory forever? (The answer’s technically no, but you’ll have to read the book to find out why.)

The one constant in Nora’s story is her return to this library, which houses all her life stories. Every single one. Each time she made a decision in life, another book was added to the library to represent the infinite ways her life could have turned out.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of them, and you get to experience some of them through the book, which is more fun than it might seem. Each life is very different, but Nora learns something new from all of them. I enjoyed seeing how one little altered choice lead to such a vastly different life for her. It really makes you wonder about your own choices and how things could be different … though not always different for the better.

Through Nora’s journey, the reader is forced to reflect on their own life and assumptions.

My favorite thing is that in the library there exists a book of regrets, things Nora assumes she would change and do differently, if only given the chance. Buuut … it’s not quite as it seems. Sometimes regrets aren’t actually changeable. There are certain inevitabilities in life, as Nora learns the hard way. Sometimes regrets are just a matter of perspective.

What I love most about the way Nora’s arc unfolds is that the reader gets to experience some of this healing with her. As her assumptions are challenged, so are the readers’.

This is a book that doesn’t just tell a story but invites the reader to journey with the character, and I loved that about it. There were so many things to ponder and feel that I was just emotionally exhausted by the end, but in a good way.

There isn’t a lot of action in this plot. It’s a very character-driven story, which can be good and bad.

There were times when it was very slow, and then there were times, especially toward the last quarter or so, where it felt like too many things were skipped and it raced forward at breakneck speed after having meandered for so long. Still, even though I tend to be pulled toward more plot-driven books, I found the journey really enjoyable.

There are no major plot twists in this book. You can probably correctly predict most of the course of this novel, including the conclusion going in. The real art of this book, though, isn’t in shocking the reader with plot revelations, rather emotional revelations.

Sometimes what a soul needs is a bit of quiet introspection with a solid, uplifting conclusion, and this book provides that.

Other Reviews:

• The Bookish Brunette
• She’s Full of Lit
• Sparkly Pretty Briiiight

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