(2)The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Nora Sneed's life had basically disintegrated the day that she decided that she was going to die. She just got fired, her cat died, her brother wasn't speaking to her, she lost touch with her best friend, and the list goes on and on. So after a handful of pills, Nora wakes up in The Midnight Library. A stop between life and death. The Midnight Library is full of books. Each book contains the story of Nora's life if she had made a different choice.  She can pick a book and enter that alternate life until she finds the one that is perfect. The minute she experiences regret, she will return to The Midnight Library. Nora gets to experience what her life would have been if she married that ex-boyfriend. Or stuck with swimming and had an Olympic career. Or continued the band with her brother. None of the lives were exactly what she wanted to be happy. Will Nora discover "the" life or will she be forced to continue on to death. 

The Midnight Library was absolutely delightful. I had heard a lot of positive things about the book, but that doesn't always mean anything.  I felt sorry for Nora Sneed. She was obviously expressing severe depression, and things just kept piling up on her. It all started with her father's death as a child and just spiraled from there. One of the key lessons Nora learned as she traveled through the library was that most of the things in her life were because of somebody else's influence. Swimming was her dad's thing, music was her brother's thing, opening a bar was her ex-boyfriend's thing. She never took the time to figure out her own thing - the thing that would truly make her happy. That is pretty profound if you think about it.  While I hoped for one ending, there was another one that made me pretty happy.  CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS

Bottom Line - The Midnight Library really should be at the top of your TBR list, if it isn't already. It is well written, engaging, and gives us another alternative to the age-old question "What happens after we die?"  Matt Haig's theory just became my new favorite. I hope that someday I get to take a trip to The Midnight Library. 

Details: 

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• On Twitter
• Pages: 304
• Publisher: Viking
• Publication Date: 1/9/2021
• Buy it Here! 
• Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.