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From the publisher:
‘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?’
A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.
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.
If you could live your life over again, would you make the same choices? Nora Seed is depressed; her best friend has ghosted her from the other side of the world, she is estranged from her brother, just got fired from her job, and her cat died. Suicide seems to be the answer but instead of dying, she awakens in a library of infinite books, all about the lives she could have lived. Nora meets her school librarian, who guides her first to her book of regrets; there she learns about every decision she made and how it got her to the point of suicide. The other books in the library take her on a journey to visit different lives. What if, instead of giving up on swimming, she became an Olympic athlete? What if, instead of leaving school, she continued on and became a world renowned glaciologist? Nora gets to live these alternative lives, the goal being to find the life that will make her happy. But happiness, even in this fantasy, still proves elusive; perhaps that wasn’t the goal after all.
Verdict: Matt Haig takes us on a journey of quantum physics, yet leaves us feeling that we actually understand the paradigm. Most reminiscent of Replay by Ken Grimwood.
©Library Journal, 2020
9/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
The most difficult part of doing a review of Matt Haig’s latest book is to properly classify it. On one hand, it is a very well-done fantasy novel lending itself to one very satisfying all-night read. On the other hand, it is very probably an introduction to the author’s philosophy of life that he wishes to impart to his readers. However, take it is a mesmerizing book; a true all-nighter, and a great example of the writings of an author that is truly at the top of his game. One way or another Haig’s books will be looked for as they are published.
Nora Seed is found at a point that she is seriously thinking of killing herself because she is totally dissatisfied with her life. She has the feeling that nothing she wanted has been achieved and her life is a failure. She is suddenly transported to a gigantic library staffed by only one person and with no other patrons aside from Nora present. The librarian, who looks like the person that worked at the school Nora went to explains that this library containing millions of books consists of accounts of all the possibilities Nora’s life can take. Before she goes ahead with doing away with herself, she should start reading books that are about every alternative that Nora’s life can follow.
The story takes Nora and the reader through different scenarios of life, based on wishes she had while growing up and never acted upon. Events in these alternative lives are described along with Nora’s reactions. There are episodes in which she was married to a movie star, another where is an arctic explorer and has a run-in with a polar bear. In another, she is married to her high school crush, and another that sees her moving to Australia from her home in England with a friend of hers that did so.
The ending follows Nora’s reactions to each sequence and how it affects her. Whichever sequence the reader believes the novel is it is well written and quickly captures the personalities of Nora and other characters populating the book.
10/2020 Paul Lane
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig. Viking (September 29, 2020). ISBN 978-0525559474. 304p.
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