Title- The Midnight Library
Author- Matt Haig
Series- N/A
Published- 2020
Page Count- 288 pages
Publishing House- Canongate Publishing
Genre- Modern Literature, Magical Realism
Rating- 3/5 stars
Trigger Warnings- suicide, depression, mental health, death
About the Author
Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmas was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library.
He has sold over three million books worldwide.
Taken from Matt's website.
Plot
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.
Taken from Goodreads.
Opinions
I think it goes without saying that this book is very hyped. It felt like this book was everywhere and you couldn't escape it. I had heard nothing but good things about this book. The blurb and premise sounded like something I would enjoy. So I decided to get it, to see what all the hype was about and if it was something I would love.
I really wanted to love this book, but for multiple reasons it fell flat for me. I do think the hype factor was one reason it fell flat. I hadn't heard a single negative thing about it. Friends had read and loved it. I finished and I just felt that it was okay. I thought the premise sounded incredible, yet it wasn't for me.
I will say that this was a very easy book to read. Matt Haig's writing style meant that you bounced from chapter to chapter at a nice pace. It was engaging and you didn't want to stop reading. Every time I picked this book up, I just wanted to find out what happened next. The series of lives that Nora ends up living through were interesting and it was a treat to find out where she would go next. I do think that Matt Haig is a solid writer.
Now let's get into the nitty gritty about why I didn't like this book. I thought the premise was amazing, but the execution frustrated me to no end. Each time Nora started a new life from the library, she would have no idea what she was doing and it got irritating. I would have found it more engaging if each time she started a new life, she knew who she was and the details of her life. It just meant that each life she tried was a train crash as she didn't have the necessary information to live it to the full. I found the repetition of Nora starting these new lives over and over with no information frustrating. I wanted more from this book and it just did not deliver. I haven't seen many reviews like this, so there is a chance this is just my personal preference. It could also be that I read this during my assessment period for uni and my brain was focused on how to craft a story and other writing things.
I have a feeling that I picked this up at the wrong point in my life. I think if I was maybe to read it again at a later point in my life, I might enjoy it more. The uni assessment period has got me very stressed so this might not have been the best book to take my mind off things. For now, despite the problems I had with this book, I am going to hold onto my copy to give it another chance in the future.
What did you think of The Midnight Library?
