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The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig
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The Midnight Library: A Novel (edition 2020)

by Matt Haig (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
10,168437708 (3.82)260
"'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?' A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place"--… (more)
Member:jihanek
Title:The Midnight Library: A Novel
Authors:Matt Haig (Author)
Info:HarperAvenue (2020), 304 pages
Collections:To read, Wishlist, Your library
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Work Information

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

  1. 41
    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (sparemethecensor)
  2. 20
    Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore (LDVoorberg)
    LDVoorberg: These two books take different approaches at looking who we are versus how events shape us. Oona lives one life in different times, Nora sees her life at the same moment in different trajectories. Side by side they make for an interesting juxtaposition of our perceptions of our own life.… (more)
  3. 20
    It's a Wonderful Life [1946 film] by Frank Capra (aprille)
  4. 21
    The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (sparemethecensor)
  5. 22
    The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (KatyBee)
  6. 00
    This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub (nicole_a_davis)
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» See also 260 mentions

English (415)  Spanish (3)  Dutch (3)  Norwegian (2)  Italian (1)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (425)
Showing 1-5 of 415 (next | show all)
Trigger warning for mental health and suicide. ( )
  dcoward | Mar 25, 2024 |
You can think of this as a 2020s remix of "It's a Wonderful Life," except that instead of getting to see what her life would be like if she had never been born, our protagonist Nora Seed gets to experience an endless number of lives that she might have lived if she'd made different choices along the way.

The moral of the tale has likewise been updated to reflect today's FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) obsession - instead of "no man is poor who has friends," the lesson here is "don't spend so much time regretting all the opportunities you may have missed out on that you forget to recognize the opportunities you've been given." Because (Haig wants us to understand) happiness, friendship, love, laughter, fear, and joy aren't trim packages that you have to special order - they come included as part of life's base model.

In fact, this whole thing reads more like something from the "This Book Will Save Your Life" genre rather than a novel, even accounting for the magical realism (the alternate lives take the form of books in a metaphysical library) - which isn't necessarily a knock, just an observation. Nora's a bit of sad sack, but not unrelatable, and it's fun to watch how each of her alternative lives plays out. And if these alternative lives come off as a little improbably glamorous, that's just Haig keeping things interesting.

If you're the type that enjoys books that come with a side of affirmation, this is made for you; if you're looking for a pleasant read, you could do worse. Not my particular cup of tea, but I can see why others might perceive this as a whole meal. ( )
  Dorritt | Mar 16, 2024 |
Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. Interesting concept but find it dubious that she would be wildly successful in all the other lives she sampled. ( )
  corliss12000 | Mar 16, 2024 |
I listened to this book on Audible. Such a fascinating, heartbreaking, hopeful, beautiful story...so well told, and such a terrific narrator. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time and will be on my list of all-time favorites for sure. Imaginative, courageous, and gorgeously written. ( )
  rocketshackgirl | Mar 13, 2024 |
I was pretty underwhelmed by this book. The synopsis was right up my alley, but I found myself skimming through a lot of it. The ending seemed kind of predictable, as well. ( )
  aew13 | Feb 23, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 415 (next | show all)
If you’ve never pondered life’s contingencies—like what might’ve happened if you’d skipped the party where you met your spouse—then Matt Haig’s novel The Midnight Library will be an eye-opening experience. This gentle but never cloying fable offers us a chance to weigh our regret over missed opportunities against our gratitude for the life we have.... [Haig's] allusions to multiverses, string theory and Erwin Schrödinger never detract from the emotional heart of this alluring novel.... Haig brings her story to a conclusion that’s both enlightening and deeply satisfying.
 
Few fantasies are more enduring than the idea that there might be a second chance at a life already lived, some sort of magical reset in which mistakes can be erased, regrets addressed, choices altered.... The narrative throughout has a slightly old-fashioned feel, like a bedtime story. It’s an absorbing but comfortable read, imaginative in the details if familiar in its outline. The invention of the library as the machinery through which different lives can be accessed is sure to please readers and has the advantage of being both magical and factual. Every library is a liminal space; the Midnight Library is different in scale, but not kind. And a vision of limitless possibility, of new roads taken, of new lives lived, of a whole different world available to us somehow, somewhere, might be exactly what’s wanted in these troubled and troubling times.
added by LondonLori76 | editNew York Times, Karen Joy Fowler (pay site) (Sep 29, 2020)
 
...“between life and death there is a midnight library,” a library that contains multiple volumes of the lives she could have had if she had made different choices.... Haig’s latest (after the nonfiction collection Notes on a Nervous Planet, 2019) is a stunning contemporary story that explores the choices that make up a life, and the regrets that can stifle it. A compelling novel that will resonate with readers.
 
An unhappy woman who tries to commit suicide finds herself in a mysterious library that allows her to explore new lives.... This book isn't heavy on hows; you won’t need an advanced degree in quantum physics or string theory to follow its simple yet fantastical logic. Predicting the path Nora will ultimately choose isn’t difficult, either. Haig treats the subject of suicide with a light touch, and the book’s playful tone will be welcome to readers who like their fantasies sweet if a little too forgettable. A whimsical fantasy about learning what’s important in life.
added by LondonLori76 | editKirkus Reviews (Jul 14, 2020)
 

» Add other authors (20 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Haig, Mattprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Berg, Monique terTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mulligan, CareyNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones, and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life.
--Sylvia Plath
Dedication
To all the health workers. And the care workers. Thank you.
First words
Nineteen years before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat in the warmth of the small library at Hazeldene School in the town of Bedford.
Quotations
She knew she should be experiencing pity and despair for her feline friend – and she was – but she had to acknowledge something else. As she stared at Voltaire's still and peaceful expression – that total absence of pain – there was an inescapable feeling brewing in the darkness. Envy.
The universe tended towards chaos and entropy. That was basic thermodynamics. Maybe it was basic existence too.
Bertrand Russell wrote that ‘To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three-parts dead'. Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she was just scared of living. But Bertrand Russell had more marriages and affairs than hot dinners, so perhaps he was no one to give advice.
A person was like a city. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile.
‘Want,' she told her, in a measured tone, ‘is an interesting word. It means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely. Maybe you have a lack problem rather than a want problem. Maybe there is a life that you really want to live.'
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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"'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?' A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place"--

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Book description
Nicely-written fantasy about how every choice we makes opens up a different future, and follows a young woman who is offered the chance to follow them.
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