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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Would you have done anything other than follow the path you followed? That’s a hard question and I have’t answered it yet. This book made me think about a few things, though. Fantasy mixed with spiritual––I used to joke that I don’t have a spiritual bone in my body. I’m not much for fantasy either, but I got into this unusual world. Listened to the audio book. Well done.
DNF. What a disappointment. I love the endless library trope from Borges and Carlos Ruiz Zafon, but Haig cannot come close to these heights. The prose is juvenile and the plot is filled with cliches. It almost wants to be a self-help book. Read like a first draft, or even an outline for a really good story, but there was just not enough to hold my interest, especially when masters have already told this story much better before him.
I enjoyed everything about this book. Great premise and good characters.
Whoa, this book definitely started in a very different place than I expected. For all the reviews about this being a feel good story, it starts in a very dark, miserable, desperate place that I wasn’t quite ready for when I picked it up. If I wasn’t reading this for a book club, I probably would have picked it up as the dreariness continued for the majority of the book. It ended in a pleasant place, but overall I’m not sure if I particularly liked this. The messaging was a bit heavy handed, but I can see how it would be a good read for others. CW: parental, sibling & animal death, suicide
This book is amazing. The story is one that will stay with me for a long time to come. Matt Haig did an amazing job of layering the story so that you are always interested in the next part and then the ending was perfect for me (I don’t want to say anything about it) just it tied everything up in a nice package for me. There is a reference to a quote by Thoreau that I had to write down so I can go over it again and again. ” It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” Matt Haig writes ” You can be as honest as possible in life but people only see the truth if it is close enough to their reality.” This blew my mind so true and well written. Here are two more quotes from the book “Music doesn’t get in. Music is already in. Music simply uncovers what is there, makes you feel emotions that you didn’t necessarily know you had inside you and runs around waking them all up. A rebirth of sorts.” and “People you love never die. That is what Omai had said, all those years ago. And he was right. They don’t die. Not completely. They live in your mind, the way they always lived inside you. You keep their light alive. If you remember them well enough, they can still guide you, like the shine of long-extinguished stars could guide ships in unfamiliar waters.”
The audiobook is narrated by Carey Mulligan and he is wonderful. Carey has a voice that is perfect for this story.
When Nora’s story moved forward the book was interesting, intriguing, even amazing. When Nora philosophized or others rationalized or analyzed her behavior or otherwise stagnated the story’s momentum with some “…izing” her thinking, strategy, wants, desires, etc …
…this is when the story became boring–for me.
Perhaps there are readers who struggle with the meaning of life, or knowing their purpose in life, and would appreciate the road the book takes, (I can’t really say it is Nora’s journey. I’d have to say its Noras’s journey.) There is a lot of exceptional advice. Great counseling for those who are hurting. For these readers, this is a great read, something they can grab onto and use in their struggles.
The story was well written. I read a library copy.
Loved this book. I highly recommend reading it!
Charming, bittersweet, gently funny and thought-provoking, The Midnight Library feeds our curiosity about what might have been when a woman who really wants to die is confronted with infinite possibilities of how she might have lived. Her “Sliding Doors” existence hinges on small and large decisions that brought her to the point of despair – could she have been an Olympic medalist? A rock star? Or simply happy? Or, after fantasy meets physics, is it a wonderful life after all? We kind of know where the story is going, but when life seems especially short, this lovely novel’s small reassurances are part and parcel of its pleasures.
This was a really original idea. Loved the concept of working through the Book of Regrets. Once Nora started jumping into different realities, the story really opened up. I might have wished she’d ended up in a different life, but the ending seemed to fit the story.
A thought provoking and philosophical read.
I really enjoyed this book. Along the lines of Breakfast with Buddha. A great reminder to spend less time dwelling on regrets and more time appreciating the life we have.
First of all this isn’t my normal genre, however, the concept of the book sounded interesting and everyone seemed to be loving it, so I dived in too. I listened on Audible. The narrator was fantastic (she sounded like Finola Hughes on General Hospital) and the narration is what kept me going. The beginning had me intrigued, the middle lost me in a few stories, but the ending was good. Definitely a good concept that makes you think about regrets and what it means to live.
Trigger warning this book does deal with suicide but I found it so entertaining to read about all of the different worlds that may exist depending upon the choices we make in the world.
4.6
Totally understand how this was a 2020 goodreads choice winner, I loved the concept and ATE IT UP. Looking forward to checking out more from this author!!!!!
Magical. Moving. Thought-provoking. I’m a fan of Nora & Mrs. Elm.
great for book club
I took my time with this book, vowing not to rush through it. Sometimes I had to put it aside just to think about what I’d read. It moved me.
Everyone lives with regrets, everyone wishes they could have a do-over in some aspect of their life. Nora Seed gets the chance to live those lives, fix those regrets, in the Midnight Library, moving from life to life, seeing what would have happened if she hadn’t made one decision or another. An interesting concept that forces you to take a long hard look at your own life and wonder how your life could have been different. But do you really want the life you could have had or do you want the one you have? Read this book and see what happens when your choices lead you down a different path. I highly recommend this emotional, incredible read.
Loved the premise, very readable with a heart-warming message BUT…. ultimately I was dissatisfied, even annoyed. The over-endowment of talents of the main character would make said message hard for anyone with even half the number of talents to feel close to. Negative stereotypes of excelling in those talent areas were trite; and the single positive life depicted was depressingly white, liberal and mainstream. Much more could have been made of the negative/positive consequences of small actions. Would love to see how the story would look with a more average protagonist living a grittier life. Will not be reading any more of this autor’s work (unless he does bring out that alternative version).
I listened to this intriguing story on audio with a fabulous narrator. Her voice, combined with the gorgeous British accent, added to the pleasure of this captivating novel that had me digging in to my own life. Do I have regrets? Would I want to live a different life, if I had the chance to undo them? I imagine the author had a wonderful time creating so many settings and stories for his protagonist to live her alternate lives and I had a wonderful time following her to each.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was wonderful.
Nora Seeds decides she doesn’t want to live. In between life and death is The Midnight Library where she can choose different lives based on certain life decisions.
The writing is great, the story well thought through and I loved the ending.