The Midnight Library

by Matt Haig

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
9,127	399	837	(3.83)	256
"'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)

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English (389) Dutch (3) Spanish (2) Norwegian (2) Italian (1) Hungarian (1) All languages (398)

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Showing 1-5 of 389 (next | show all)

The premise of this book was interesting at the start but about halfway through turned into a cloying self-help manual that was too overbearing in its message. I found myself skimming pages through the last chapters just to finish. (

)

cms107 | Nov 26, 2023 |

Prachtig verhaal met een grote levensles.
Kijk niet achterom nadat je een keuze hebt gemaakt.
Kijk vooruit en leef (

)

wendy.verbiest | Nov 25, 2023 |

Really boring and predictable. She’s obviously going to want to live by the end and has a new attitude (

)

BethQuerrey | Nov 16, 2023 |

My rating is closer to 3.5. Even though it was little preachy and definitely predictable, I enjoyed the journey. I also think it helped that the idea of confronting your regrets and seeing things from a different perspective were important themes for me. (

)

staysee | Oct 29, 2023 |

The MIDNIGHT LIBRARY offers a great and promising premise, yet moves incredibly too slow. (

)

m.belljackson | Oct 27, 2023 |

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▾Published reviews

4 reviews

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thingScore 75

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.

added by LondonLori76 | editBookPage, Harvey Freedenberg (Oct 1, 2020)

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.

added by LondonLori76 | editBooklist, LynnDee Wathen (Aug 1, 2020)

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)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (20 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Haig, Matt	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Berg, Monique ter	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Mulligan, Carey	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Is contained in

Matt Haig 2 Books Collection Set (The Midnight Library / Reasons to Stay Alive) by Matt Haig

Is abridged in

The Midnight Library [abridged] by Matt Haig

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Audie Award (Finalist – Fiction – 2021)

The British Book Industry Awards (Shortlist – Audiobook, Fiction – 2021)

Goodreads Choice Awards (Winner – Fiction – 2020)

Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist – Fiction – 2021)

Distinctions

Good Morning America Book Club (2020-10)

Notable Lists

LibraryReads (Annual Voter Favorite – Top Ten – September 2020)

New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Top Ten – 2020)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

The Midnight Library

Original title

The Midnight Library

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, UK

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Svalbard, Norway

Sao Paulo, Brazil

(show all 7 items)

Important events

Arrival at the Library

End of the Library

Related movies

Awards and honors

Goodreads Choice Awards (Fiction, 2020)

Audie Award Finalist (Fiction, 2021)

Independent Booksellers' Book Prize Shortlist (Fiction, 2021)

The British Book Industry Awards Shortlist (Audiobook, Fiction, 2021)

Good Morning America Book Club (2020.10 | October 2020)

(show all 6 items)

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.'

(show all 20 items)

Last words

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Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

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▾Book descriptions

"'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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▾LibraryThing members' description

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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