I read The Midnight Library primarily because I needed an upper and Matt Haig's books are pretty much guaranteed to be uplifting in some way. Bingo. Definitely a book that gives you hope.
The heroine in The Midnight Library has problems that she can't see her way out of. Nora Seed's lost her parents, her brother seldom speaks to her, her cat has died, and she's just lost her job. She can't find any reason to go on and decides to end it all but instead finds herself in a library, where she's told that she's between life and death by the woman who actually used to be her school librarian and helped her get through another rough time in her life. In this library, Nora can choose to relive her life if she'd made different decisions, large or small. All of them exist parallel to each other (so, it's a metaverse book). If she finds a life she prefers, she can stay. But, even the smallest thing that doesn't feel right will send her right back to the library.
At first, Nora relives changes to the most obvious regrets in her life. But, eventually Nora finds out that she can try things that are a bit outlandish. However, she doesn't have forever because it's possible that back in her known world, the body she tried to kill may die. If the clock in the library hits midnight, it's all over. Will she be able to find her perfect life and keep living it?
Highly recommended - The Midnight Library gets some pretty polarized reviews and I can see both sides but the bottom line, for me, was that I couldn't put it down and it makes a nice point about life being imperfect but worth living. It's schmaltzy, but I loved it. I gave it 5 stars. Having said that, the ending wasn't what I'd hoped for and I think Haig got the same theme across better in The Humans. But, his writing is clever and compelling and I can actually visualize myself rereading The Midnight Library in the future, when I need an upper again.
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This was my first book by Haig, but it won't be the last! I'll get a copy of The Humans to read in the next month or two. I also want to try his nonfiction.
ReplyDeleteI've read about 9 or 10 of his books, Les. I really enjoy them. Hope you love The Humans as much as I did. It's quite different but with the same basic theme.
DeleteThis sounds perfect for my library list.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read Matt Haig, this is a good place to start! I love his books.
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