The Midnight Library
Ratings1,713
Average rating3.8
Went out and purchased a print copy because I enjoyed it so much. It's a philosophy book disguised as fantasy.
I didn't get the author completely but I'm giving this book [4*] for some reason I love few things in this book a lot.
I liked the premise of the book but that could have been wrapped up in the first three or four chapters. It soon became very obvious where the story was going to end up and it wasn't helped by the attempt to explain it all with concepts of the multiverse. Overall it was pretty disappointing.
Honestly I love multiverse stuff and this wasn't a disappointment, however it did end up being somewhat predictable in the end. The story is told well, and our main character has several amazing experiences I would say. It is a fun read and is absolutely entertaining. The concept is also very well done and there were definitely surprises for me at least. Very good book.
It took me a while to get into this one. I was expecting it to be written differently when I first started it. I thought it was kind of pretentious (for lack of a better term) in the beginning. It felt like I was reading processed, thought-out and written-down thoughts instead of what the character really thinks at any given moment. But then I gained distance from it (by stopping to read for a few months lmao) and when I started reading it again I didn‘t have those initial expectations and really, really loved the book. I feel like I've actually learned a valuable life lesson, even though I have done nothing except sit on my bed and read this book.
The premise is interesting but the writing fell flat. The narrator has no character, the protagonist has no personality, it just felt like it was a man writer behind the female protagonist, there was no depth, no neurosis. It stayed in the visual while name dropping philosophers and quotes as if that would make it smarter. Mental illness just felt like a tool to advance the plot and not something the character was living. It's not as if it's the most creative idea for it to support the whole book, the story went exactly the way i imagined it would go but with none of the emotions i would've expected. Personally i had to fight not to roll my eyes at the writer's attempts at witticisms, after reading “Tissues are like lives. There are always more” i knew it was not the book for me.
3,5⭐️
Estaba yendo bien hasta que se empezó a poner muy motivacional y no se centraba mucho en la historia.
When I was a teenage girl I was obsessed with The Bell Jar (as most teenage girls are). Quoted in The Midnight Library was the passage on the metaphorical fig tree, sprouting endless possibilities which ripen as I sit starving, unable to choose. It pushed me further into the comparison I had been making between this modern offering on mental health and the Sad Girl books of my youth - not just Plath but the Virgin Suicides and Girl, Interrupted and a slew of other highly aesthetic novels. This by contrast is a parable in plain prose. No room for interpretation, let alone romanticisation.
I think this is what Gen Z are asking for in their portrayal of mental health. Clear, unproblematic and medically correct, but I felt like I was being forced to eat my vegetables. Nora was neatly diagnosed with situational depression and then presented with other situations. I didn't feel like I was uncovering character or plot with excitement, just plodding through a thoughtfully worded formula towards a predictable end. The mystical elements were likely intentionally plain but it didn't make it a fun read. Most of all I struggled with the sparse descriptions of feelings. Nora's actions are described, but her feelings are mostly described in terms of if she is more or less depressed, or even just feeling less or more. The thing I really loved about the Bell Jar and those other books, the thing that made me cry in relief and shared pain, was the deep descriptions of feeling. The beautiful, relatable metaphors. I thought of that fig tree almost daily for almost ten years. Whenever I hear my heartbeat still I think of Plath's wrist, and the words ‘I am, I am, I am'. These were the things that made me feel seen. I don't think that I could get that from a book like this. I guess as it's so popular some people must be able to relate, and I suppose it's good there aren't so many Sad Girls reblogging Bell Jar quotes and Gifs of Cassie from Skins anymore but give me a messy, beautiful, personal book instead.
Also, I'm now 2/2 for books quoting that exact passage about the fig tree this week. Weird.
It's unexpectedly hard for me to write a review on this book... I guess it is an average book, quite predictable and cliche, but in a way that it makes you want it to be cliche. It is pretty straight forward, it has a likeable main character, and the concept is quite interesting. If anything, I would have liked to read about other settings, besides the library, as well. I don't know, for some reason the mention of the restaurant really got me wondering. What would they serve?
The first part of the book felt quite depressing to me, the middle felt more like fantasy, and the end felt a bit over the top. I actually wanted it to be longer, everything concluded a bit too quickly. However, I did enjoy it. In essence, 'The Midnight Library' is an easy read, and it is a hopeful story. But after having read it, I don't feel like it did much for me. Given the concept of it, I feel like it should have been more impactful. I am not mad, though, I did genuinely enjoy reading it, and I probably would have been amazed by it to read it as a teenager.
A few parts were overwrought and a little predictable, but I found it to be very relatable and overall enjoyed my time with the book.
2nd listen through: the above still encapsulates my experience, although this time fewer parts seemed unnecessarily long... maybe i was just in a more compatible headspace this time
...ok i'm pretty sure this is the fourth time i've listened to this book despite the official records on goodreads. i still don't think it's like, a really great book, but it's good. and i feel a strong connection to it. i suppose that's not surprisin', it's very relevant to the thoughts i struggle with in life. and nora is relatable and pleasant enough.
even so, i'm always left with a feelin' of slight unhappiness whenever finishin' a book like the midnight library, in a like, ‘oh things turned out really well for this fictional character but gestures at self'. but it's only a slight feelin', and in the larger picture of my life i'm happy to have the reminder that, things might be able to be better, if i work towards it.
hurray for the midnight library. i guess.
Trigger warnings: (attempted) suicide, depression
“Now go on, live.”
That got me teary! Maybe because Mrs. Elm had passed away in the "perfect" life universe. Flaws exist in even the perfect-looking life. I think it brings awareness to the people around us, who may look happy, but what do we actually see? Celebrities, entertainers, and people around us experience it, looking for happiness, but what is happiness?
The way Nora experienced different careers and pathways that she could have been in, shows that we can't have everything, nor can all of them satisfy us. I still love philosophy Nor though! And Molly was adorable. I love the analogy and relationship to the chess that Nora and Mrs. Elm played at the end.
Be kind. Just be kind. You never know what people are going through.
Once it starts you better make sure your ready for the ride, I had work to do but I always found myself coming back to just get a little further into the mystery and how the main conflict will get resolved. Chefs kiss
An amazing story that was perfectly narrated. Teaches us the importance of our life and to be grateful for everyone around us and to take advantage of the small thing. Would recommend the audiobook to anyone
I don't even know how to rate this book. I loved the beginning and loved the end. Both made me cry. The middle was much less moving, and it was so hard for me to feel invested in those alternate lives. I think that my issue was a lack of connection to Nora as a character, I didn't feel I knew enough about her base life to care about the alternate versions–even if the realizations were moving. I think I would have liked this more as a shorter story / novella with more detail about the base Nora and less detail in each individual book life.
What an interesting concept. Getting to experience the lives you could have had if you had chosen things differently! I was very relieved that Nora didn't die and that she sorted her friendship with her brother in the end.
I enjoyed this novel more once I realized that it's a fable along the lines of “The Alchemist” or similar. This helped me to bear the frequent pithy, wisdom statements that the Guide character in the story continues to offer to the narrator. The premise of the story is interesting as it answers the thought experiment many of us have: How would my life be if I made that one different choice?”??
Me encanta el concepto y está muy bien escrito. Quizás sí se me ha hecho un poco lento, pero ha estado entretenido.
It wasn't a bad book, but i did not find it great either. Maybe I was not the intended audience, as I kept feeling it seemed to be written with more of YA crowd (no knock per se i love many YA fantasies) but it seemed that every thing was spelled out. There was a predictability about the plot that never surprised. It was a perfectly enjoyable and simple read, but it never elevated to beyond a 3* threshold.
Llevaba tiempo queriendo leerme este libro, estuve esperando con ansias la traducción al español, y en cuanto la conseguí no tardé en abrir las primeras páginas para disfrutar por fin de la lectura.
Sin embargo, creo que mis expectativas fueron súmamente altas en comparación con la satisfacción finalmente obtenida...
No es un mal libro, lo digo como una amante de la filosofía, de los universos paralelos y las infinitas reflexiones sobre la existencia... Pero tristemente sus páginas no han conseguido apasionarme.
Muchos capítulos se sintieron de relleno, sobre todo al ir finalizando el libro, ya que no aportaban demasiado a la evolución del personaje. Otro punto es que en varias ocasiones se sentía como leer un libro de autoayuda. Además de que en muchas ocasiones el personaje (con el cual no conseguí empatizar a pesar de que se nota que ha sido creado con la intención de que las personas con depresión empaticemos con ella, quizás), actúa fuera de su marco. Por ejemplo y pequeño spoiler, si tienes ansiedad de habar en público, quizás como mucho puedas soltar algunas frases y un discurso corto, no mágicamente hablar durante 20 minutos sobre la existencia humana... No sé, sin duda hubo muchas partes muy fuera de serie, reflexiones que habría disfrutado mucho más que hubieran sido compartidas en pequeños círculos, más humano e íntimo en vez de discursos plásticos y ya muy repetidos...
Ciertamente el tema del libro es interesante, aunque creo que no deja lugar a la sorpresa, se vuelve repetitivo y algo pesado debido a que sólo contamos con la evolución de personaje de nora, que no resulta más que en una involución final.
Otro libro similar que disfruté en gran medida se titula “Veronika decide morir”.
The protagonist dies, she kills herself. Then she is taken to a limbo-like place where you can live your life again, starting from any point way want, and making different decisions.
There are infinite possibilities, the book makes it very clear the ~6(?) ones it will focus on.
I could comment on the merits of the idea, the wisdom of the author in reflecting the paths she choose and the consequences. I already know how this will play out, because it is a standard kind of plot. The protagonist will make every possible decision and in the end she will realize that no matter what she does, her her original life was the better one.
But regardless of that, this is just a very boring book. It's like a “Groundhog Day” time loop, except the base “day” for the loop is a boring story, and every other variation is boring as well.
Of course by boring I mean there isn't anything I like. No brainiac moves, no fantasy, no cool science fiction. Its just a woman, talking about her life. Her love affairs, her family, her work.
Read 3:28 / 8:50 28%
Nothing groundbreaking, but an easy, existential read with a timeless life lesson that never hurts to be reminded of and may particularly resonate with anyone who's been depressed or has existential angst.
Enjoyable overall - I knew how it would end in general, but I enjoyed the journey to get there. A little preachy at times, but I didn't mind.