Author: Matt Haig
Published: September 29, 2020 by Viking
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Genre: Time Travel
Series: The Midnight World #1
Blurb: When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.
The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.
Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?
My Opinion: If you’re someone who leans toward depression, or even dips into those darker corners now and then, this book might feel a little sharp at first. The opening chapters are rough, and they can absolutely start a mental spin if you’re not in the right headspace.
But once you settle in, something shifts. The chapters start to find their own rhythm, where you feel the book is gently pacing itself for you. And your mind begins to wander in that very human way: If it were possible… where would I go? Every one of us has regrets with paths taken, paths avoided, and choices we replay at 2 a.m. What Haig does so well is tap into that universal twinge and then asks, softly, “What if you could go back and see what might have been?”
About halfway through, the book drops the idea of “sliders”, people who feel familiar but not quite right, like a form of déjà vu. And of course, my brain went wandering again. What if those odd moments in life, the ones that make you pause, squint, and slightly tilt your head, are little cross currents of possibility brushing past?
This is one of those books that practically begs for a group discussion. Not a formal book club, but the kind where everyone sits around and starts confessing the moments they’d revisit if given the chance. The story lives in that space between where the might have beens briefly become real enough to touch. And talking about it with others, hearing where they would go, what regrets tug at them, feels like part of the experience.
It’s a thoughtful, wandering, slightly melancholy book, but also one that nudges you toward compassion for your own life. And maybe that’s the point.
The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.
Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?
My Opinion: If you’re someone who leans toward depression, or even dips into those darker corners now and then, this book might feel a little sharp at first. The opening chapters are rough, and they can absolutely start a mental spin if you’re not in the right headspace.
But once you settle in, something shifts. The chapters start to find their own rhythm, where you feel the book is gently pacing itself for you. And your mind begins to wander in that very human way: If it were possible… where would I go? Every one of us has regrets with paths taken, paths avoided, and choices we replay at 2 a.m. What Haig does so well is tap into that universal twinge and then asks, softly, “What if you could go back and see what might have been?”
About halfway through, the book drops the idea of “sliders”, people who feel familiar but not quite right, like a form of déjà vu. And of course, my brain went wandering again. What if those odd moments in life, the ones that make you pause, squint, and slightly tilt your head, are little cross currents of possibility brushing past?
This is one of those books that practically begs for a group discussion. Not a formal book club, but the kind where everyone sits around and starts confessing the moments they’d revisit if given the chance. The story lives in that space between where the might have beens briefly become real enough to touch. And talking about it with others, hearing where they would go, what regrets tug at them, feels like part of the experience.
It’s a thoughtful, wandering, slightly melancholy book, but also one that nudges you toward compassion for your own life. And maybe that’s the point.
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