The New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year “A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits.”—The Washington Post The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The … into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
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 blockbuster 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.
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A little bit sci-fi, a little bit philosophical, fascinating concept. So different, very well written.
The Midnight Library is wonderful! So rich with meaning and so real. I loved it.
Thought provoking. Pivoting points of life. What if…
I did not enjoy this book, despite all the hype. I felt it trite, trivial, boring and poorly written.
This was really heavy, much heavier than I anticipated from the synopsis. Between life and death is one thing, but I wasn’t prepared for how sad this was, I was just excited for parallel universes x libraries, because those are two of my favorite literary devices. It was good, and I liked how much Nora learned from all of her other life experiences. The end was satisfying, and made sense.
I never read a book like this. I read The Alchemist and Four Agreements, but don’t compare these books to Midnight Library. It’s unique in story. Which life would you pick and for what reason? This book made me think about my “Book of Regrets”. It would be a long book.
I recommend this book highly.
I love the premise of this book, that there are alternating lives that you could be living if you had made different choices. And also being able to change some of the decisions that you regretted later. While I liked this book, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. It does make you appreciate the little things in life that are sometimes overlooked.
This book is about regrets and letting them go. We all have regrets and think if we would have only done this or that our lives would have turned out differently… and perhaps better. This book is about a young woman who gets the chance to live multiple lives all based on past regrets and where she would have been had she made a different choice. While predictable in some ways this book was a pleasure to read.
*Trigger warning: attempted suicide and talk of overdose*
The Midnight Library
Nora Seed has a lot on her plate. She has just been told her cat had passed away, the only thing she had that she loved, then she is let go from the job she’s had for years, and then she loses her piano student. Both her parents are gone, her brother hasn’t spoken to her in years, and her best friend is in another continent and hasn’t spoken to her in quite some time. She questions her own existence. Why be in a life where you have nothing left to live for? With that, she decides to take her own life. She consumes some pills, and the next thing she knows, it is midnight, and she is in a library surrounded by books, and greated by her old librarian from school. This isn’t just any old library, it’s her library. There is a huge book filled with her regrets, and each book surrounding her is a path that she could have chosen differently than the one she chose in her root life. So here it is. She has been given the chance to choose a different path in life, any one at all, and can try as many as she likes. Here’s the catch, she can continue trying new lives so long as she is still alive in her root life, and she can remain in the new life so long as she is truly happy. Nora sets out to find the absolute perfect, happy and successful life. Is it really that simple? Will she find what she’s really looking for before she runs out of time?
I cannot say enough about this book! I saw several people post about it and bought it a while back, but then it sat on my shelf. Recently, I’ve had a lot going on and found myself being swallowed up by a black hole, and something just drew me to this book. It really was the book I needed and had such a huge impact on my outlook in life! What an absolutely amazing book! I highly recommend this book! I rate this book for not only being a truly spectacular book, but for helping me out of my black hole of depression. Matt Haig
I’ve long had a soft spot for stories where a character gets to live their life over and over again, trying to get it right. (Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life is one of my all-time favorites.) When I saw author Matt Haig say that this one was partially inspired by the classic film It’s A Wonderful Life, I knew it would be doubly up my alley—and a perfectly timed read as the holiday season approaches. The Midnight Library delivers an inventive, absorbing, and life-affirming story that is relatable, bittersweet, and a fantastic use of your time during this trying year especially. Highly recommended!
I’ll be honest, I have Matt Haig’s previous book How to Stop Time sitting on my shelf and I wasn’t in a rush to read it. Well after reading The Midnight Library I can tell you I will now be rushing to read it ASAP! This book was the most heartwarming and emotional read that I have gotten to in a while, and I loved it so much. I was in a crunch for time, so I listened to the audio, and Carey Mulligan has easily made it onto the list of one of my favorite narrators, just with this book! She was the absolute perfect Nora, and I loved the fact she was so easy to understand even with her accent. Now I just need her to narrate more books!
The Midnight Library is an enchanting, and sometimes sad, story about a woman who has decided she wants to die only to end up in the Midnight Library with her old school librarian, Mrs. Elm. Here she gets the opportunity to experience other possibilities in other lives she could have had, to figure out if she actually wants to be dead or if life is worth continuing to be lived. Clearly that in itself is heartbreaking, but her journey as she tours pieces of these other lives was thought-provoking, unique, and makes us as the reader appreciate the life we have. This book could have been depressing and awful, but instead it is a masterpiece that deserves to be read by everyone.
I read The Midnight Library as part of a group/buddy read and I think it will make for a wonderful discussion so I could easily see it being a great choice for book clubs. I loved Nora and many of the other characters, and even though it is a short book it really packs an emotional punch. It was also a very quick read so you could easily read this in one sitting. The Midnight Library is definitely going to make my list of top books for the year, and I highly recommend it if you are a fan of magical realism and books that make you think.
3.5 Stars…
I was reeeeeeeally looking forward to this book. Every time I needed a new book to read I came first to this one, constantly forgetting that it wasn’t coming out till the end of the month. As soon as it came out, I bought it.
Whelp, it was a bit of a disappointment. I did enjoy it, and I loved the idea of it, but it was kind of a letdown in some aspects. I won’t synopsize this book as it’s already been done here numerous times, but here are some of my thoughts on this story…
~ I didn’t really like Nora. I have a very…we’ll say…’full’ personality and I have trouble dealing with/relating to people who are ‘poor me’ all the time. The only person who can make positive changes in our own lives is US. WE are the masters of our own destinies, so Nora’s depression over the life she was leading based on all the choices SHE made was difficult for me to handle. She had some amazing opportunities that people would kill for, and she blew Every. Single. One. Of. Them.
Now, I understand anxiety. I have family members who suffer from awful anxiety and without the proper medication, I myself would be on the nightly news every time I have to get on an aeroplane (I hate them they’re the devils’ transport), but I deal with it. You see a doctor, you find what works for you and you try your best to go about your life. (I understand not everyone can do that, but that’s how *I* deal with it). I just couldn’t relate at all to Nora’s depression and her inability to try and do better for herself when she clearly had so much to offer.
~ I REALLY didn’t like the fact that every time Nora entered a new life, she was a complete stranger to it. Why? What was the point of making it that way? It was incredibly jarring and uncomfortable to sit through Nora trying to figure out where she was, who everyone was, and what she did for a living and knowing NOTHING about her life. Why make her go through all that each time?
How could she get possibly get comfortable in any particular life when within the first 15 minutes she could SERIOUSLY screw it all up by saying or doing the wrong thing? I didn’t like it and it kind of gave me anxiety every time I had to read about her floundering and flustering her way through a new life (I know, I know…hush).
~ The ending could be seen from space. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but just know that there are no surprises here. What you think is going to happen is exactly what’s going t happen. While I knew it was coming, I was still happy with the end result.
~ I LOVED the Midnight Library. I thought that entire segment of the book was brilliant and I loved the time we spent in there.
Overall, I did enjoy this book, but I didn’t love it. I think my expectations were a bit too high and it didn’t help that I didn’t get on that well with Nora. That said though, I would still recommend it. If you’re interested in Matt Haig, I REALLY recommend ‘How to Stop Time’! I absolutely loved that book. It’s still one of my favorites.
I have got a serious book hangover after reading this one in about 24 hours. Fantastic story that pulls you gently from one life to the next, with all the disorientation and uncertainty that would go with living your different lives. Loved it, will definitely want to read it again!