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A review by a_mae13
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
4.0
"Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
There are a lot of mixed reviews on this book and I honestly don't remember how it made it to my TBR but I'm so glad that it did. It's a heavy read, discussing suicide, regret, and life trajectory...but somehow remained very uplifting and inspirational. Make sure that you look up trigger warnings before starting this and that you're in a good headspace!
Nora is at an impasse in her life; she doesn't want to keep living because she's full of regret with her life choices. In her mid-thirties, she was just fired and her cat passed. She feels utterly alone and attempts to take her life. And that's where our story starts so like I said, read the trigger warnings. While losing consciousness, Nora is seemingly transported to a library. The librarian is her elementary school librarian, Mrs. Elm. She explains to Nora that she's in between life and death, and here in this library, she can explore all of those "what ifs" she's been regretting. She can live those lives by picking up a new book. It transports her to that new life.
The lives are fickle in the sense that if you love it, then your memories of your root life will start to disappear and this will become your new life. But, if you're still not happy, you'll find your way back to the library and start again. Nora explores all of the what-ifs that she could imagine; being an Olympic athlete, a professional singer, an animal care and rescue owner, a glaciologist in the deep Arctic, and the list goes on. Every life is exciting and different! But yet, still not perfect. And each time she is transported back to Mrs. Elm in the library. About halfway through the novel she meets another person named Hugo, who is also life-hopping. His "library" is an art gallery and each painting he chooses is his new life (I think), which demonstrates that this limbo state is unique per person.
Ultimately, Nora decides that her root life is the best route for her and she writes in her book of regrets "I am alive" which destroyed me honestly. This was such a poignant story and an incredible message to let people know that just because you made some decisions that you don't love, changing them may not have yielded a better result. I gave it four stars just because it has some triggers and is an emotional read. It's a bit repetitive in parts because it's the same premise in each life, but regardless. It's a beautiful story.
There are a lot of mixed reviews on this book and I honestly don't remember how it made it to my TBR but I'm so glad that it did. It's a heavy read, discussing suicide, regret, and life trajectory...but somehow remained very uplifting and inspirational. Make sure that you look up trigger warnings before starting this and that you're in a good headspace!
Nora is at an impasse in her life; she doesn't want to keep living because she's full of regret with her life choices. In her mid-thirties, she was just fired and her cat passed. She feels utterly alone and attempts to take her life. And that's where our story starts so like I said, read the trigger warnings. While losing consciousness, Nora is seemingly transported to a library. The librarian is her elementary school librarian, Mrs. Elm. She explains to Nora that she's in between life and death, and here in this library, she can explore all of those "what ifs" she's been regretting. She can live those lives by picking up a new book. It transports her to that new life.
The lives are fickle in the sense that if you love it, then your memories of your root life will start to disappear and this will become your new life. But, if you're still not happy, you'll find your way back to the library and start again. Nora explores all of the what-ifs that she could imagine; being an Olympic athlete, a professional singer, an animal care and rescue owner, a glaciologist in the deep Arctic, and the list goes on. Every life is exciting and different! But yet, still not perfect. And each time she is transported back to Mrs. Elm in the library. About halfway through the novel she meets another person named Hugo, who is also life-hopping. His "library" is an art gallery and each painting he chooses is his new life (I think), which demonstrates that this limbo state is unique per person.