Book Review #93: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

I heard so much about this book before I started reading it. I had never read a book by Matt Haig before,  but the premise was so interesting to me that I had to buy it. There will be a few spoilers in this review. 

Nora Seed wants to die. But instead, she finds herself between life and death - in the Midnight Library. There, Nora has the option to change her old life, to see what would have happened if she chose one of the infinite paths within her grasp. But is there a life that Nora truly wants to live? And can this life stop her from dying?

I have mixed feelings about this book. I did enjoy it, but I didn't find it as uplifting or enchanting as it's described.

I really liked the way Nora's depression is described at the beginning of the novel. The writing got across exactly how Nora felt, as we saw the way each event slowly chips away pieces of her life. You completely understand why she wants to die.

As I said, the concept of the book is a really interesting way to explore a life. And I loved the way it was written - Matt Haig is a great writer.

I kind of wished we had been able to spend more time in each of Nora's lives. Not necessarily in the specific scenes that take place, but learning more about what led Nora to this life in the first place. What we get is Nora dropped into a life, there for between a few minutes and weeks, and then she goes back to the library and the life is forgotten, and that felt a bit flimsy to me. 

The thing about this book that I didn't really get was the character of Nora, and the lives she could have led. She, as a child/teenager and young adult, was a master swimmer, master songwriter/singer and a master scientist. Her paths in life could have made her an Olympian, a Rockstar,  a successful glaciologist, an Oxford professor... she never felt relatable to me, and most of her lives were so extreme that it didn't feel particularly realistic.

One of the things that I didn't like was the way Nora flipped between wanting to die and wanting to live. Nora has a near-death experience, and from there, she wants to live. And that's it, she never really wants to die again. Not only did this defeat the point of the Midnight Library (because Nora no longer needed it), it also wasn't explored properly. Wanting to live in the face of danger is completely different from wanting to die because you feel hopeless. I doubt that people who want to die would gladly welcome being murdered, or drowning, for example. Our instinct as humans is to survive - that doesn't, and shouldn't, mean that Nora isn't suicidal.

I couldn't quite work out what I wanted the end goal for Nora to be - is she supposed to realise that she could never have a perfect life, and die? Or realise this and choose to live? Or find the perfect life and live it? Or find the perfect life and go back to her real one? I didn't really want any of these endings.  

After a while Nora's lives start to come out of nowhere, and some felt like they were made up just to elongate the story.

I found the ending really disappointing - this probably wasn't the intention, but to me it felt a bit like the book was giving it's reader a cure for depression. 'Just be happy with what your life is, make good choices, be grateful, and you won't be depressed'. That may have worked for Nora, but it probably won't for the majority of depressed people.

What was good?

I was thoroughly entertained by the book. I enjoyed reading it, and I enjoyed seeing all of Nora's lives.

What was bad?

I feel like more could have been done with the side characters. Despite their perceived importance in Nora's life, we didn't get a lot of time with any of them. I was mostly disappointed about Nora's best friend Izzy. She is so important that Nora mentions her and checks up on her in every life, but we never actually get to meet her.

Overall

My feelings are still mixed. I liked it, but that's because I liked the concept of exploring different lives. I wasn't a huge fan of the way that the story got its message across, and I wasn't a huge fan of Nora as a character.

2.5/5 stars