The Midnight Library
Ratings1,717
Average rating3.8
To all those who survived. To you fighting. To you thinking.
A strong book with a beautiful message. Matt Haig manages to make you think about how wishing that you did something different, doesn't always makes you happy. Even if your book of regrets is big.
He shows that by taking us through Nora's multiple lives, where the outcome is mostly the same.
Corny a$$ stupid ahh fvck book. Not an accurate representation of mental illness plus it's just straight up illogical. Why tf is this so popular??
3.5 stars rounded up. Loved this book as it was an easy read and all the little connections throughout each life tied everything together so nicely. Overall a good book witha great message but not as exciting as I'd hoped which is why it didn't quite make 4 stars.
Dit boek was mijn 5-sterren voorspelling voor de Novice Path readathon, en hoewel het voor mij uiteindelijk toch geen zo'n hoge waardering kreeg, vond ik het toch een heel verhelderend, emotioneel, ontroerend en transformatief verhaal.
Haig kan op een heel aangrijpende manier levenswijsheden overbrengen, die iedereen ooit wel eens in hun leven gehoord moet hebben. Dit verhaal geeft perspectieven en helpt om bepaalde twijfels, ontgoochelingen en/of spijt een plaats te geven
Примерно полгода назад эта книга была везде и всюду - на прилавках, в рекомендациях, в телеграмм-каналах... И риторика о ней была чрезвычайно вдохновляющей, поэтому ждала я - каюсь - многого.
Но, как это обычно бывает, это стало залогом разочарования. 90% книги - какая-то очень уж очевидная и не слишком красочная история о вариациях жизни после смерти. И почва вроде благодатная, да только скучно невыносимо. После волшебной манящей “Правде о деле Гарри Квеберта” - это полная тоска.
Но в книге есть мораль (которая уместилась вся в последней главе), и ради этой морали я поставила 3 звезды. Поставила три звезды, пожалела о четырех днях, пока читала эту странную историю, и в очередной раз напомнила себе, что вовсе необязательно дочитывать те книги, которые тебя не вдохновляют.
60 pages into this book i said it was very easy to read, halfway through it became a //struggle//
i was excited when i read the premise because I thought the concept was cool and interesting, but it quickly became so incredibly repetitive and BORING. im disappointed because i think its a lot of wasted potential. the idea was good, but i wish it had been executed differently. exploring multiple characters' lives would've been far more interesting, but instead we stuck with nora the entire book, and the secondary characters floated around like ghosts with no real depth or personality.
there's one chatacter (i forgot their name) that says “Nora, love, it's okay, I don't need a monologue” toward the end. that was me throughout the entire book. this might be the least subtle story I've ever read, the author kept spelling out his (cheap) message and advice in never-ending monologues i had to skim through because i got so incredibly BORED.
lastly, i have to point out that i /hated/ the way this writer dealt with and spoke or depression and suicidal impulses, which SUCKS since those topics are such a big part of the story. im just gonna say i didnt agree with his point of view at all, and that this story felt like a too long self-help book.
I can't believe this one is supposed to be one of the best books of 2020
3,8 ✨
Some parts were better than others. I actually loved the ending, but the beginning of the story was a bit boring. I think that this book has some important messages to keep in mind!
I understand why it's on the best seller's list and people are going crazy for it. It's something we all think about from time to time: what if? Really got me thinking about changing some of my own regrets.
3.5 Stars
Immediately after reading (which was last night), I rated this book 5 stars because it was beautiful, well written, and ended on a hopeful note that resonated with me, but thinking more critically on the story did poke holes in my original rating.
There is something deeply unrelatable about Nora as a protagonist. Sure she has regrets, sure feels alone and these are all valid and relatable... if we can look past her privilege. Nora Seed has a book of regrets that is heavy and painful because she was born talented, into a good home, with middle class parents, in a rich country, with the right skin colour. The only thing stopping her from reaching her “full potential” is her debilitating mental health. Making ONE “correct” decision led her down the path of a Nobel Laureate, a Rock Star, an Olympian, a 1%-er in California with multiple vineyards. Am I to believe that this is the same for most of us in the world? What of us born with a disability? What of us born with chronic illnesses? What of us born in war-torn countries? Everything Nora could've become with one “right choice” is something most of us will never achieve even if we made “right choices” all our lives. There are some futures that just don't exist. It's even stated plainly in the book that Nora's cat Volts is destined to die young because he was born with a heart defect. So the book posits that there are choices and there is destiny. There are somethings that, no matter what choices you make, cannot be changed and that lies in the cards you're dealt at the start. As hopeful as the book is, this take is also highly fatalistic.The one thing I had in common with Nora are my regrets, my roads not taken. But by the end of the novel we didn't even have that in common. Nora knows, she's seen all her other lives and she decided that her root life is the best one for her. Nobody in the real world has that privilege. There is a moment in the book when Nora's... spirit guide (?), avatar for God (?), Mrs. Elm quotes The Road Not Taken at her, and it is a poem wildly misunderstood by so many people. What Robert Frost meant by the poem is no matter what road you chose to take you will always wish you had taken the other. The poem is about that ambiguity, of not knowing the other possibilities and maybe living in peace with that ignorance. The poem is the antithesis of this novel that actively shows Nora ALL the other possibilities. I remember thinking as I read parts of it “This is a self-help book disguised as a novel”. This is made especially clear in her final social media update where she sums up all her lessons learned. It felt... condescending. Be brave! Carpe Diem! Says the woman who knows for a fact that this life she is leading is the best life for her. So I still have my regrets and I'll probably never be able to see all my branching lives like Nora did, and neither will you or anyone else reading this. But I don't need to because I've always know that the future is mutable. There is no point in dwelling in the what-ifs especially if you are depressed. I'm glad Nora realises this in the end and can feel hopeful, but she only gets to this point by knowing for sure that this is the best life for her which again, is a privilege none of us will ever have.
I really enjoyed this book! I thought it was really insightful an well-written. Haig has a lovely way with words and I felt engaged throughout the entire book. I read this as a buddy read and sometimes it was hard to resist peeking ahead a few pages to see what would happen next!
The only thing keeping me from giving this five stars is the ending. It just felt so anticlimactic and flat at the end. And, maybe, the intention was for it to feel ordinary, but I wasn't satisfied after I had read such an extraordinary book prior to the ending.
A guitar shop called String Theory I could forgive as a fun little pun but honestly, a band called Slaughterhouse 4? Enough already we get it.
And in case you're wondering, the overall message is as on the nose as the philosophy and physics references.
Still, can see how it might warm you up if you were feeling down. Just not sure there aren't warmer cups of tea.
Excellent story about loving yourself and your choices regardless of the outcomes.
This is a tricky one... I loved the premise: Nora Seed is seriously depressed - at the age of 15 she quit professional swimming, severely disappointing her father. Her mother died. Her brother, she feels, is in a rough spot because she quit his band.Even her elderly neighbour doesn't need her anymore and now her cat has died.She just doesn't want to go on.»She imagined being a non-sentient life form sitting in a pot all day was probably an easier existence.«(Or wishing to be one's cat, yours truly would like to add.)At this point, Nora tries to end it all (if YOU consider suicide, please google “suicide” in your native language and call one of the hotlines you're going to find!) - only to find herself in the eponymous “[b:Midnight Library 52578297 The Midnight Library Matt Haig https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602190253l/52578297.SY75.jpg 74043794]”.The concept of the Midnight Library builds upon the hypothesis of the multiverse which basically states that there is a(n) (infinite) number of parallel universes just like ours. Those universes may overlap, or consist completely independently of each other and will, by definition, diverge from each other with every single choice someone makes.When Nora enters the Midnight Library and finds an infinite number of books, she learns that each book represents one possible life she might have lived. The one life she just tried to leave is her “root” life.From her “root” life sprout innumerable other lives of which Nora may try any life she can sufficiently describe (e. g. asking for a “happy” life is not enough as she has to define what makes her life happy).Once she opens the book that corresponds to her description, she enters that life and lives it until she is either so disappointed that she leaves and returns to the library, or she finds a “perfect” life into which she settles, forgetting the entire ordeal of getting there.And this is where the cookie starts crumbling a bit: In one life Nora chooses, she is a glaciologist - but in her root life she wasn't and how is she supposed to navigate a scientist's life not actually being one?Even more problematic to me: What about the lives of her alter egos? Ok, so if she leaves an usurped life, its original “occupant” will just feel weird but be well.What if Nora stays in such a life, though? She would - quite literally - be taking a life. A life that its occupant presumably enjoyed. A life no more or less worth living than Nora's root life.Is “root”-life Nora's life worth more than that of the non-root Nora's? If we really accept the premise of the multiverse - wouldn't all those parallel worlds be equally worthy of existence?What if she robs humanity's only chance at salvation because she steals the life of the one person who might have saved the planet? (Yes, highly unlikely in reality but this is more of a philosophical question.)The Talmud states in Sanhedrin 37a: “Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.”Isn't the opposite also a valid idea? If we take a single life, don't we destroy a whole “world”?What about partners or children even? Nora would basically be “the other woman”, the one who cheats. The person who stole a child's true parent. (Because Nora might grow into a version of said parent but she will not ever be that parent.)Isn't that a horrible betrayal?And if we take that “permanently taking a life” seriously - doesn't that ultimately amount to murder? (Or maybe: Suicide - again?)Nora even recognizes this fatal flaw of the entire concept at one point:»Everything was right, and yet she hadn't earned this. She had joined the movie halfway.«Unfortunately, this flaw - not having earned this - is inherent in the very premise of the book and it cannot be fixed because there's only one life that Nora has earned a right to...“The Midnight Library” doesn't really deal with these questions because it mostly avoids them: The longer Nora stays in a “borrowed” life, the more she grows (or declines) into it. Thus, referring back to the earlier glaciologist example earlier, she might have grown into that life of a scientist. I can accept that even though it's somewhat deus-ex-machina. I fully buy into the concept of “second chances” (or more) and I found Nora endearing. I liked how she learnt what was right or wrong for her. I'm not entirely happy with the ending (even though it's a happy one) because it is the easiest way out of the prime dilemma (by avoiding it entirely). I cannot fully overcome the “taking a life” issue (or the weaselling out of it) and yet I cannot not like this book either. Four and Five Schrödinger stars out of five - you get to open the box! Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram
Nora Seed has decided to die. No spoiler here, the book opens the early chapters with an ominous countdown to her death. In the ensuing hours Nora is let go from her job, we are reminded of the fiancé she left at the altar, the record deal she wouldn't sign breaking up a her promising band and estranging her from her brother, the Olympic swim dreams sidestepped, the lone friend on the other side of the world and to top it all off the death of her beloved cat.
In death though, she finds herself in a massive library filled with an infinite number of books tended by her grade school librarian Mrs Elm. Each book represents a life. A different one driven by different choices made where she becomes a wife, pursued her Olympic dreams, stayed on as the lead singer of her band and most importantly, saved the life of her cat.
Spoiler! Fame and fortune isn't a guarantee of happiness. Olympic medals, sold out international concerts, influential TedTalks aren't fulfilling on their own. Those paths not taken are no less fraught, not necessarily better. Blah, blah, blah - we've heard it all before. It's a 300 page Live, Love, Laugh poster. It reads like a novelization of a self-help book, Lord knows Matt Haig has made a name for himself examining his anxieties and working through his depressive tendencies.
My rational, judgy, cynical mind knows this and is ready to dismiss it out of hand - but I'm won over by the complete earnest, unironic commitment of it all. As Haig puts it - cynicism is a luxury for the non-suicidal. It's a self-help genre novel. You know how it's going to end, the conventions it's going to explore. It's a riff on It's a Wonderful Life set in the internet era. But the getting there is no less fun. It's a mystery to unravel each life Nora slips into. What were her expectations with this choice and how will it ultimately fail her? I blazed through this in a weekend. Reading it I was gently reminded that I am enough, that we all matter in the world and there's space ahead to make changes ...but I gotta be honest, that life on a winery sounded pretty damn good to me.
Extremely easy to read, great if you're in a slump. the beginning was the one part i really disliked, it gave off an edifying air and i was worried the book would be more of a lesson than a satisfying work of literature. But I was wrong
A very predictable book, but considering that it's YA(?) I think the ending was an understandable choice. A bit too easy, I think, more of an ideal than a realistic ending, but I get it, especially if the author has struggles similar to Nora
Later edit: unfortunately, my opinion has changed over time. I don't get the hype. Asides from being an enjoyable read, there isn't much outstanding or thought-provoking about the book at all.
I think this is a such a beautiful book. Yes, it can feel like self-help, and reading the last couple reviews I can see how it didn't meet their expectations of new-world-fantasy, but I don't think it is straight up a self-help book.
The part that feels like self-help is that this book shows you, through the story, the process of gaining perspective, of looking at your life prom the POV of an observant and not the person living in it. I think it brilliantly put in one story all the things that we think about but cannot put together to fully understand how we feel about ourselves and our life.
But it also lightly incorporates interesting concepts of quantum physics, multiple realities, “dimension travellers”, and more. It reminded me at times of the movies Interstellar, and funnily enough, Bedazzled. For its concept of a library as a simplification of time and reality, and for the idea that what we “wish for” is not always how we expect it to be.
I loved the realness of the book. How relatable it was in terms of how we look at our regrets, and how we look for perfection and total absence of pain, but in truth this is not achievable (and this is not me being pessimistic). We need to accept that the messiness, imperfection and chaos, are part of the experience of life and it does more harm than good to cling to the past and only focus on the things that are going wrong. And one of my favourite pieces is how Nora realizes that she has the potential to be anything which gives her hope in the face of uncertainty.
There was one part I failed to understand: when the librarian mentions that the number of books is the same as when Nora entered the library, even though Nora had already gone through a bunch. If the books are variations of her life based on her decisions in her root life, and she is unconscious, how can there be more realities? Or is this just to illustrate the magnitude of “infinity”?
Where I think this book could have incorporated some more interesting sci-if aspects is with the librarian and the system. When there is that “transfer error”(?) I thought it was going to be more exciting and computer-y
This may have been my favorite book of the year.
Suicide themes make me nervous in books. This book handles it without glorifying it or downplaying it. Honestly, suicide makes me angry, but again credit to the author for writing a description of why some people make this choice. Depression, anxiety, and other emotions are all real and they affect people in many ways. Remember that you are loved, you make a difference, and no matter how bad it is; someone wants to help.
The happily ever after at the end is a little much. Emotions and attacks don't just go away, but there is some healing when the realization that you matter sticks. Well done!
Sometimes it's just amazing how when I start a book, it hits right through in the first few chapters.
But then I had to stop, this book became too personal, that I felt like it was reading me instead of the other way around, and then when I went back, it slowly started to a phase I am moving forward too.
Books are amazing. Just like how the idea of peeking into other could and would have beens when a chance shows up.
In the end, it's fiction, and by the time I finished this book, I am happy things worked out for Nora.
For me, I know what I can control, and it's refreshing to know I am not alone with these kind of thoughts.
I absolutely loved this book, and I can honestly say that it changed me in some small way. I finished reading it and felt a sense of emotional clarity and motivation that I haven't felt in a while. Nora's character is deeply relatable, and I saw myself reflected in her desire to craft a perfect life at the expense of herself.
I want to stay this book is a bit over-hyped and a bit predictable....but then again I sat and read it all in a few hours which I haven't done with a book in a long time.
