The Midnight Library

This book has an unexpected start but then the rest just rushed over me. The ebb and flow of Nora's decisions are believable and feel so personal. Regret over the roads not taken is common but Nora let herself be ruled by it, worn down to her last thread of sanity. The Midnight Library is an interesting concept elevated to an exploration of Self, identifying internal and external motivators, and a search for happiness that almost reaches Odyssean proportions. Nora's journey feels truly earned as she realizes throughout her many lives that her decisions and their consequences extend beyond herself. The definition of a “perfect” or “good” life is completely subjective and this book fearlessly runs the gamut. I'll definitely be reading this one again!

The perfect book at the perfect time. What a great book to read at the end of 2020 with so much hope and relevance. As you can see, I devoured it - I just started it yesterday.

It may not be the most helpful review or make sense to anyone but me, but this book feels like my favourite kind of book. Dreamlike and not always making sense. The Coma by Alex Garland, More than This by Patrick Ness both fall in to this category hugely. And from a totally different genre: Tony Soprano's dreams. In all of these cases I devour the content non-stop. Now I need to find the next one.

The protagonist dies, she kills herself. Then she is taken to a limbo-like place where you can live your life again, starting from any point way want, and making different decisions.

There are infinite possibilities, the book makes it very clear the ~6(?) ones it will focus on.

I could comment on the merits of the idea, the wisdom of the author in reflecting the paths she choose and the consequences. I already know how this will play out, because it is a standard kind of plot. The protagonist will make every possible decision and in the end she will realize that no matter what she does, her her original life was the better one.

But regardless of that, this is just a very boring book. It's like a “Groundhog Day” time loop, except the base “day” for the loop is a boring story, and every other variation is boring as well.

Of course by boring I mean there isn't anything I like. No brainiac moves, no fantasy, no cool science fiction. Its just a woman, talking about her life. Her love affairs, her family, her work.

Read 3:28 / 8:50 28%

Random unstructured bits ‘n' bobs from my brain, having just finished this lovely story:
- The pacing of Nora's understanding was a little bit annoying. Like, in the beginning, she just seemed a bit thick, needing the same thing explained to her countless times. But then, in no time at all, she developed this astonishing self-awareness and recovered an inordinate amount of self-worth. It was a bit whiplash-y.- The story pace is great. The writing is simple and things move along very quickly. Sometimes I love getting lost in the prose and sometimes I appreciate that the words simply escort me to the world and leave me to get lost in there.- I was enjoying experiencing each one of Nora's lives. The transition to yeah-so-then-she-basically-lived-hundreds-of-lives felt rather abrupt.- I *get* why Nora felt the best life wasn't her own and ultimately had to give it up, but I don't have to be happy about it.- I appreciate that Nora ultimately recognised that she wasn't worthless, that without her bad things happened in other people's lives, BUT the tidy ending with the glimpses of the lives she'd experienced was just a bit too saccharine.- The message of you-don't-know-what-you're-missing-if-you-check-out lesson felt really heavy-handed at the end. I don't know about you, but for me it also completely missed its mark. On the contrary, almost-suicide seems *much* more appealing now. Living hundreds of lives, seeing the world, a choose-your-own-adventure version of my own life, all in a single minute, and returning to this version of me with the memory intact of all those lived experiences? Are you kidding me? That would be amazing.

tl;dr: Definitely not flawless, but a great story and one that will stay with me for quite some time.

I'm still processing this book but i think i really liked it
– feb 2021

– edit march 2022. –
after a long think, i've updated this to a generous 3 stars. there were a lot of things that resonated with me in this book (as i'm sure it would for any one with mh issues) and a magical library with a sweet older librarian looking after you sounds like a dream - but ultimately it hasn't really stuck with me. the premise is very interesting but it didn't seem to go anywhere with it and was quite formulaic/repetitive. the message, while important, was a bit heavy handed to say the least. i'm usually one who needs things spelled out a bit for me and even i found it overplayed. i did like seeing the different AUs and imagining mine is always a fun pass-time of mine so it was cool to see it done in a book in this way. discussion re and act of suicide is a large part of this book, and it may be triggering if that's something you've grappled with.

in the end, it was ‘just fine'

Down on her luck and with one negative event after another, Nora decides to take her own life. But as she slips into unconsciousness, she’ll find herself in the Midnight Library. A place where each book is a different version of her life, led by the decisions she never made. Poised between life and death, Nora has the ability to see the different paths she could have taken. And as she journeys through each of these lives, if she can find one where she is truly happy, she can stay to live out the rest of her days.

Nora is able to reflect on all the decisions she made in her life. From break ups to chosen careers path, each book in the library will show her how life could have been. Not all are filled with happiness. Nora will find some of her decisions were for the better as the life she could have lived ended in heartbreak and suffering. And some of the more glamorous paths, painted over the cracks in her life in order to make them seem whole. It was fascinating to see the string of possibilities with each new journey Nora took and the positives and negatives each life revealed. It brought to light the notion that there is no perfect life, yet happiness can still be found.

There were some encounters in Nora’s journey that seemed out of place. In particular, when Nora runs into another person traveling through lives there was a quick romantic encounter with no charisma or spark. The focus of the story is on Nora overcoming her regrets and learning what would truly make her happy. There was no lead in or foreshadowing to say this encounter would help Nora along in her journey. If anything, bonding with another traveler on a more intimate level should have enhanced the experience, but not enough time was spent between the two characters.

However, there is a pivotal point in The Midnight Library where Nora faces an immense adversary. And while adrenaline and fear are running through her body, she comes to startling clarifications about herself and what she wants to achieve. In this moment Matt Haig personified Nora’s battle against mental illness. The way it can creep up on a person and take hold, not allowing them to take action and fight. Yet despite it all Nora fought her way through the fear and found it within herself to fight for her life.

The Midnight Library is a fascinating look into what can happen in alternate lives. Please note this book may be triggering to some as the catalyst is Nona taking her life. But it also contains messages of hope. Each life Nora experiences drives her towards a better understanding of happiness and how to let go of past regrets. This is a book for readers who enjoy motivational stories with a hint of sci-fi.

“The prison wasn't the place, but the perspective.”

This was a genuinely uplifting book. I loved the way the story unfolded. How we got to see Nora fall into despair and come out of it.

It talks about how regrets tie you down to people or moments you didn't get to live, decisions you wish you had made differently, friends you wish had kept in touch, the simple yet complex feeling of wanting to be a better version of yourself.

And consequently it also talks about how you can still do all of that. The impossible happens via living.

There was a lot of philosophy talk in this (Kant and Plato) - I know about them thanks to Chidi (The Good Place)

Great audio by actress Carey Mulligan. It got a bit repetitive and the conclusion was clear about halfway through, but it was uplifting in a way that feels particularly needed now. Read a little about the book/author after completion and it added a little more complexity knowing Matt Haig is open about his own mental health journey and how that informed the book.

This riff on the It's a Wonderful Life concept never strays too far from the expected. There's a certain fun to seeing Nora's alternate lives, but it gets repetitive fast. The author's preoccupation with the relative flatness of her stomach strikes me as a particularly masculine way of gauging the levels of fitness of the versions of Nora. It is, naturally, the experience of motherhood that almost tips her in to an alternate existence.

I'm not qualified to speak to his treatment of her depression, but I was interested in the fact that the character seemed to stop noticing whether her versions were on antidepressants, only to pick that thread up again at the very end. Whether this is purposeful or shoddy editing, who is to say?

This was an utterly heartwarming novel that was and will always be available for those who are in despair, getting lost in this so-called life thing, and grieving upon it. It surely has a self-help sort of nature with it, which I don't find it the least bit annoying. Rather, I would say it was quite necessary to have a book focusing on that topic, especially for the time we are in.

I like the way how philosophers are being quoted throughout the book, and I found it even more compelling to see how a philosophy graduate cannot help herself even after studying about the subject. To me, it seems like it is a notion of ambiguity that Nora has, that she was actually willing to live and die at the same time; not loving others but actually wanted to be cared for; wanting to achieve something or to commit but eventually stop midway... I wouldn't say this is an absurd idea to put in a novel, but that is what life is—you get stuck sometimes, and for me it's how you're going to get through the rigmarole and to seek a meaning from it.

It helps me to realise, also, what a life I would like myself to be in. But then there's no ends if you skip the process, and yet it's still long way to go for all of us, isn't it? So a few more words to go, this book helps to alleviate the pain you're experiencing at the moment, and it's not some sort of inundated self-help guru recommended type of book. I think there's still the essence of it, as speaking of the book alone.

Give the book a read, there's surely some enlightening ideas for you to grab some bits of.

Extremely easy to read, great if you're in a slump. the beginning was the one part i really disliked, it gave off an edifying air and i was worried the book would be more of a lesson than a satisfying work of literature. But I was wrong
A very predictable book, but considering that it's YA(?) I think the ending was an understandable choice. A bit too easy, I think, more of an ideal than a realistic ending, but I get it, especially if the author has struggles similar to Nora

Later edit: unfortunately, my opinion has changed over time. I don't get the hype. Asides from being an enjoyable read, there isn't much outstanding or thought-provoking about the book at all.

Predictable

Whilst I've come to highly respect Matt Haig and his books, even re-reading The Humans (which is unique for me), as I read this book I started to remember what I wasn't so keen on in his last book - which repeats itself in this.

The book reads like I'm watching a movie. That might be fine for some, but for me I want the written medium to challenge my imagination, not feed me visuals from a film.

The story in general is well written and is respectful of its subject: suicide. I've always been a little wary of female lead characters written by men (I've not had great experiences), but Haig does Nora Seed proud. Nora is a well rounded, messed up, individual and if I didn't have my personal dislikes for some of the story aspects or the method of story telling, I'd say this is a decent book to read on holiday (not that any of us are holidaying during the pandemic times...).

Nora Seed is depressed and lonely, and everything around her has failed in some way, and so she decides she wants to die. In her journey to death, she lands in limo, The Midnight Library, where she can (effectively) try on alternative lives where she had made a different decision and see if she would like to stay and continue that life instead.

The story inevitably leads to the idea of the multiverse but kind of does it in a half cocked way. Since Nora can switch universe and in she decides this isn't the life for her, she reverts back to midnight to reselect. This is also effectively time travel (though the book doesn't acknowledge it). So since she can time travel and jump universe, we're now talking about infinite space and time, which apparently Nora isn't allowed... it just feels a bit... like there's gaping plot holes.

But then after trying all the lives, she finds one that she believes she's happy in (which apparently the absence of anti-depressants is the main requirement) she feels guilt for having taken the place of a Nora mother and happy wife and successful educator. Inevitably she bounces back to The Midnight Library, confused, wanting, when it all comes crumbling down, she realises she wants to live. In the last desperate moments as the Midnight Library comes crashing down, she chooses her own “root life” (which also makes no sense in a multiverse) and chooses to live.

Sadly predicable. Throughout the book I didn't really feel like I was learning anything as Nora went through her journey.

Despite my lack of enjoyment from the book, one message did manage to work it's way through. Nora felt happy (and perhaps content) to know that she was capable of all the “successful” versions of herself. Though she doesn't particularly tread that path, she realises that she could have done and that notion itself is strong enough to dispell a lot (if not all) of her regrets.

This is a good book. In an alternate universe — if the author had made some different choices — it would be a great book.

I liked “The Midnight Library”, and was grateful to have read it. Honestly, it's exactly the book that I need for my life right now. I've been having some of the same thoughts and experiences as the main character, Nora Seed. I thought the overall concept was clever, and I liked some of the philosophical stuff that Haig explored.

That said, the book has a couple of glaring faults that drove me nuts.

First, there are parts that are tremendously awkward. Nora's conversations with characters in alternate timelines are often clumsy and frustrating. These moments (and there are many) don't contribute anything to the story after the first instance. We get it. We get that going to a new timeline is disorienting. We don't need to be shown it every single time.

Second, the climax is awful. It's as if it were written with film (bad film) in mind, not the written word. It's lame and kind of undermines everything that has come before. So frustrating.

Still, I'll end up recommending this book (with caveats) to many people, especially folks looking for something interesting to read for book clubs. This would prompt great discussions, I think. And, this is a book that I'll read again in the future. When I do, though, it won't be on audio. I need to be able to skip all of the repetitive, awkward transition scenes that ought to have been edited out (and probably were in the universe where this is a great book instead of okay).

I don't even know how to rate this book. I loved the beginning and loved the end. Both made me cry. The middle was much less moving, and it was so hard for me to feel invested in those alternate lives. I think that my issue was a lack of connection to Nora as a character, I didn't feel I knew enough about her base life to care about the alternate versions–even if the realizations were moving. I think I would have liked this more as a shorter story / novella with more detail about the base Nora and less detail in each individual book life.

This book was totally fine. I'm a sucker for this kind of premise, but the plotting feels like the very first ideas for story beats that you would obviously come up with given such a premise. It's not bad, it's just not very exciting and a bit too cute/precious.

It was still engaging enough though, the writing mostly flows well and is easy to read, and the audiobook is well narrated by the actress Carey Mulligan. It was a good breezy read between other books, even if it feels a bit like a flash-in-the-pan beach-book-club pick (nothing wrong with that though I guess, I really liked The Help too).

** Mild Spoilers Below **

The decision to jump into a consciousness without any related memories and having to make sense of your new reality on the fly is fun... the first couple times. It feels like a huge portion of the book is just the main character trying to reasonably pass as her new self and it just isn't that interesting a lot of the time and is just a predictable way to hit us with a shocking revelation. However I did like how it was used in the conversation with Molly.