Summary:
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.
My take: 5 looks
Read in less than a day, this book had me from the beginning!
Nora is having a hard time. She cancelled her wedding at the last minute, just lost her job, is estranged from her brother, and finds her beloved cat dead on the side of the road. After all of this, she really doesn’t want to live, and takes an overdose of pills.
That’s when she arrives at The Midnight Library. Surrounded by books filled with stories of parallel lives, she is surrounded by “what ifs”, and suddenly, she may have more to live for than she imagined. After looking through the painful Book of Regrets, she begins to choose books from the shelves of possibility, and realizes what a huge impact a tiny decision can make, not only on her own life, but the lives of those surrounding her.
Well written, with compelling characters, and eye-opening life lessons, this is the best of feel-good storytelling. Taking the reader from desperation to hope to possibility to a renewed lust for life. It was the perfect way to start 2021.
Highly recommended.
