Synopsis
When we first meet Nora, she is on a bit of a downward spiral to say the least. She has lost touch with her brother, she's been let go from her job and she seems to let everyone down who matters. To top it off, her beloved cat has just died so she decides to find peace at the bottom of a jar of pills. Stuck between life and death, she finds herself in the mysterious Midnight Library. Here, she can choose a life she could have lived had she made different choices, a life that could be vastly different from the one she had decided to escape from.
Review
The premise of this book is a fascinating one and an idea I have grappled with a lot. Given the choice, would I want to live another life? A life where I did better at school or where I never lost touch with a childhood friend. Would I then want to stay in that life or would it still offer up disappointment and regret? It's a really interesting concept and in writing this book, Matt Haig has crafted a beautiful and compelling narrative. On the surface, his protagonist Nora is at a place most of us have been at some point in our lives. She is trying to live her life but is weighed down with regret and a severe lack of purpose. It would have been easy for her to drift into whiny territory, for her to come across as unappreciative and ungrateful for what she does have in life. However, we can all relate to her at some level and so it is easy to be drawn into her story and to actually like her.
After the wine, a realisation hit her with total clarity. She wasn't made for this life. Every move had been a mistake, every decision a disaster, every day a retreat from who she'd imagined she'd be.
Once she finds herself in the Midnight Library, that is when we truly get to understand who Nora actually is. We learn about her regrets and how her life choices have shaped her. I've often wondered how different I am in these other branches of the tree of life I inhabit. How my own choices have helped to mould the character I've become. Through exploring these different lives, and learning about Nora's past and present, we really get to understand her on quite a deep level. It is testament to Haig's narrative style that we are drawn into the book and Nora's story in this way and be under no illusions, this is Nora's story and by the time you turn the final page, you feel like you know her as well as you know yourself.
Final Thoughts
It's been a long time since I devoured a book in two days but The Midnight Library is a true page-turner. Being under isolation due to a ping on the NHS app probably helped but I genuinely think I'd have devoured it anyway. It's how the book makes you feel, how you get drawn into the story and how you can find common ground with the protagonist. It has made me ask questions about my own life in a positive and life affirming way and has made me appreciate the choices I've made. If I ever found myself in my own version of the midnight library, while I'd love to explore the billions of other me's I could have become, I like to think that I'd return to this one and it's only through reading this book that I've come to that realisation. It has honestly had a profound effect on me so I see no other option than to rate it 5 stars and to thank Matt Haig for writing such a beautifully profound book.
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