Published by Viking Adult on August 13, 2020
Genres/Lists: Fiction
Pages: 304
Read synopsis on Goodreads
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links)
Do you ever think about where you’d be if you did that ONE thing differently? If you, say, changed your major to match your passions, rather than your expectations? Or if you’d taken that leap of faith and moved to that far off city where you knew no one? The possibilities for how your life could have unfolded are endless, and it’s hard not to think about them, sometimes. That’s the premise of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and it’s a good one.
Nora Seed didn’t just think about them, though. She lived them. Teetering on the brink of death, Nora finds herself in a library of sorts and is given the chance to live the lives she never thought she’d have. One by one, she picks a regret to undo and is immediately dropped into what her life would be if she’d done it differently. While some closely mirror her current life, others push the boundaries of her own wildest dreams.
In chess, as in life, possibility is the basis of everything. Every hope, every dream, every regret, every moment of living.
In leaping from life to life (quantum leaping, if we want to get technical), Nora learns more about herself, her potential, and her own self-limiting beliefs. But seeing her life for all that it could have been comes with its own set of challenges. Sure, it’s great to be reminded of all that she’s capable of, but it’s impossible to escape the fact that those lives didn’t happen because of the decisions Nora, herself, made. Plus, Nora sees firsthand how her own choices impact her friends and family, for better or worse.
I fumbled around a bit before I hit my reading groove with this one. It’s a unique plot, so it took a few chapters for me to really get my bearings. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, because it ended up being time well spent. Though Nora, specifically, is not a character that will stay with me for long, the lessons she learned along the way will.
Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you did that *one* thing differently? Nora did, and her journey in The Midnight Library by @matthaig1 is worth the read. Click To TweetThat’s because The Midnight Library is a book that will make you ponder your own decisions and imagine where you would be if you did just one thing differently. Perhaps that’s why it’s so popular – all of us have our own personal book of regrets, whether large or small. Or, if not regrets, a sense of wonderment at what could have been if we did this instead of that. (Looking for book club recommendations? Click here)
The lives we lead are the result of the interconnection of our past choices and the path our desires set us upon, but what if unraveling who we are is as simple as undoing one regret? Or is our essence the same no matter what we choose? How much of who we are is wrapped up in what we do?
I guess we’ll have to ask Nora.
Recommended for: Readers who like to explore the “what ifs” in life.