The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Fiction

2020 Viking

Finished on December 21, 2021

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

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.

Until now, I had never read anything by Matt Haig, but after reading several glowing reviews for The Midnight Library, I decided to give my mom a copy last year for Christmas. Lucky me, I get to borrow her books once she's finished, so it eventually wound up on my TBR shelf where it remained for many months. My daughter, who has just recently started reading for pleasure, mentioned that she had read Haig's novel, so I decided to move it to the top of the stack and try to get it read before the end of the year. What a thought-provoking and delightful novel! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found myself reflecting on some of my choices in life, trying to imagine where I would be today had I chosen a different path or made a different decision. While I have made a few poor choices over the years (who hasn't?), I wouldn't be who I am, or where I am today, had I taken an alternate path. 

All in all, The Midnight Library is a quick and entertaining read and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. However, it's not one I'll likely read again and I wonder just how memorable it will be a year from now.