The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Review: After deciding to end her life, Nora Seed instead wakes up in a library. The shelves are filled with books that tell an infinite number of possible life stories. Alternate possibilities for how her life might have turned out, had she made different choices. What if she hadn't given up being in the band? What if she had married him instead? What if she had pursued her interest in swimming or glaciers instead of moving on? By opening different books, Nora can explore all these alternate paths her life might have taken. 

The multiverse idea is actually a really enticing thing to imagine. What if one different decision would have altered the entire course of our life? I enjoyed the idea of these lives all housed in a library, each possible life a different story in a book. But I have read several multiverse books in the last two years that I enjoyed better, which dimmed my appreciation for this book. In particular, I think Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch are arguably more intriguing and thrilling versions that explore this same concept. 

I think part of my disenchantment is this felt a bit too on the nose. "You could eat in the finest restaurants, you could partake in every sensual pleasure, you could sing on stage in Sao Paulo to twenty thousand people, you could soak up whole thunderstorms of applause, you could travel to the ends of the Earth, you could be followed by millions on the Internet, you could win Olympic medals, but this was meaningless without love" (289). Yes, Nora discovers, you could be rich or famous, but it means nothing without true love and real happiness. Of course this is true! This is a good takeaway message! And I'm glad Nora comes to realize this. But did I, as a reader, or Nora, as the character, really need to almost die and experience living through dozens of other lives to discover this truth? 

I also struggled with the imagining that in multiple alternate lives, Nora is famous. Is it really possible that one person has the possibility to become either an Olympic swimmer, internationally famous musician, accomplished philosopher, or a renowned glaciologist? I don't know, I know we all include multitudes, but it seemed over the top and too grandiose to imagine one person really has that much all-star fame in them. 

That being said, this did have a lovely ending. Nora's perspective has totally shifted from one of closed doors to one of possibility, of the multitudes she contains within herself. "Because now she saw the kinds of things she could do when she put herself to work" (248). I do think this book could be incredibly inspiring to someone needing a perspective shift after experiencing a lost opportunity or feeling like they had failed and ruined things in their life. In the end, it's a very encouraging book about starting anew, even when earlier chances have been missed. 

Stars: 3.5

Related Titles: 

• Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
  
• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch