The Midnight Library

Reread + Bookclub read {S+S}/[UoG]: this had popped up in both my book clubs and I'd not read it at the time. I'd remembered not really liking it so was surprised to see I'd given it 4* previously. Having finished it today I remember why.

Overall I liked the idea, the extended “It's a Wonderful Life” was interesting, who doesn't want to know what they could have been had they taken a different fork in the road? I like the echoes of the other lives that bleed through into each other, the idea that despite the differences some things will stay the same.

I didn't, however, like the ending. It was all too positive. This idea that everything will be alright now because she has accepted her faults and will live for happiness. All will be fine if she gives piano lessons to vulnerable teens, volunteers in her free time and donates to environmental research.

I felt that the darkness of the previous chapters was undermined by the glow of the final few. Having lived with the “black dog” I know that sometimes it's on your back and at other times it's just lurking in the shadows, but it's always there. This ending felt so false it tarnished the pleasure of the rest of the book.

That saying, it was well written. I did like it overall and I'm glad I re-read it. At least now I've reviewed it now I'll remember why I had the feeling I disliked it before going in this time.