Name: Mitul Shah's review of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Item: The Midnight Library
Rating: 4.5
Author: Mitul Shah

Matt Haig

Nora's life has been going from bad to worse. Then at the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth she finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?

The Midnight Library

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK Between life and death there is a library. 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?

Leon

« Aber du wirst niemals leben, wenn du nach dem Sinn dessen suchst », sagte er wissend.

Ein Mensch war wie eine Stadt. Ein paar weniger wünschenswerte Aspekte durften nicht den Blick aufs Ganze verstellen.

« Manche Reuegefühle basieren überhaupt nicht auf Fakten. Manchmal sind Reuegefühle… Ms. Elm suchte nach dem richtigen Begriff und fand ihn schließlich, ... ein Haufen Scheiße. »

An der Natur teilzuhaben, bedeutete, auch am Überlebenswillen teilzuhaben.

kinda hopefull kinda ominous quote about life

mina

'Well that's the beauty isn't it. You just never know how it ends.'

'It seems impossible to live without hurting people.' 

thats the whole chapter titled ' A Moment of Extreme Crisis in the Middle of Nowhere' lol

' 'Oh fuck,' whispered Nora, into the cold.'

 Henry David Thoreau quote i liked from the book

'Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty, The obedient must be slaves.'

'Principals of Hobbesian Memory and Imagination'

'...watching as the tissue disappered from the librarian's hands the moment she'd finished using it, through some strange and hygienic magic.'

my house name!!!! first time seeing it somewhere else

Jawahir M

We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.

We don't have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.

Life begins, Sartre once wrote, 'on the other side of despair.'

There was a net of love to break her fall

You are right to think of these lives like a piano where you're playing tunes that aren't really you. You are forgetting who you are. In becoming everyone, you are becoming no one. You are forgetting your root life. You are forgetting what worked for you and what didn't. You are forgetting your regrets.

It's an easy game to play (chess), she told Nora. But a hard one to master. Every move you make opens a whole new world of possibility

That was how she had felt most of her life.

Caught in the middle. Struggling, flailing, just trying to survive while not knowing which way to go. Which path to commit to without regret. 

It is so easy, while trapped in just the one life, to imagine that times of sadness or tragedy or failure or fear are a result of that particular existence. That it is a by-product of living a certain way, rather than simply living.

Every second of every day we are entering a new universe. And we spend so much time wishing our lives were different, comparing ourselves to other people and to other versions of ourselves, when really most lives contain degrees of good and degrees of bad.

But you will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life

Maybe it wasn't the lack of achievements that had made her and her brother's parents unhappy, maybe it was the expectation to achieve in the first place.

Mitul Shah

big ab

*warning: i’m about to be a real big bitch*
this book was so boring. it could have been so cool. but it was just not. it was giving “male author writes a book based off a thought i had in middle school and yet he thinks it’s groundbreaking and life changing because he had this thought at 45 years old and i had braces when i thought of this”

I dnf this book, it was……. Not my thing 😭😭

Saloni

cool concept and i had high hopes for this book but felt very self-help at a lot of parts and also the main character had so many different sides to her it felt unrealistic.

a phenomenal book - i think one of the most powerful and authentic mementos to the value of life i’ve ever read.

not only was this book imaginative and creative but it was also so human. so real. so sad. so happy. so nerdy and it felt like it hit me in just that right spot if you know what i mean. 

life is really hard and there are so many ways we could live it. there are so many decisions we could’ve made or things we could’ve said. and yes, they would drastically change the life we live - but the truth is that we get if we could somehow find a way to visit those lives like nora did in the midnight library, they wouldn’t be ours. they wouldn’t be the one we did live. they wouldn’t be the one where you made one decision over another. and that is sad but mostly great because like you can truly to whatever you want to do if you have the right perspective. like it’s dumb and cliche and annoying because it puts the blame on you if you’re not happy but truly like you can achieve things that seem outlandish and ridiculous you just have to want to do them. 

thank you matt haig for reinforcing that there is so much i love and so much more i want to love. you bolstered my love for life in a way i couldn’t have predicted through this wonderful story.

thanks for choosing life over the midnight library, as i have!

ps: i’m emailing this review to him because why not matt haig will read my words.

Ashna Nirula

a phenomenal book - i think one of the most powerful and authentic mementos to the value of life i’ve ever read.

not only was this book imaginative and creative but it was also so human. so real. so sad. so happy. so nerdy and it felt like it hit me in just that right spot if you know what i mean. 

life is really hard and there are so many ways we could live it. there are so many decisions we could’ve made or things we could’ve said. and yes, they would drastically change the life we live - but the truth is that we get if we could somehow find a way to visit those lives like nora did in the midnight library, they wouldn’t be ours. they wouldn’t be the one we did live. they wouldn’t be the one where you made one decision over another. and that is sad but mostly great because like you can truly to whatever you want to do if you have the right perspective. like it’s dumb and cliche and annoying because it puts the blame on you if you’re not happy but truly like you can achieve things that seem outlandish and ridiculous you just have to want to do them. 

thank you matt haig for reinforcing that there is so much i love and so much more i want to love. you bolstered my love for life in a way i couldn’t have predicted through this wonderful story.

thanks for choosing life over the midnight library, as i have!

ps: i’m emailing this review to him because why not matt haig will read my words.

LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA MEDIANOCHE/ THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY.

Natalia Cerrillo

máru

4.5 ⭐

This is a self-help book that didn't feel like a self-help book — believe me, I know (I hate self-help books). 

Absolutely beautiful writing that hooks me from the beginning. I find myself gravitating towards Nora and feeling as if it's me in those pages instead of her. She is so well-written; Matt Haig, you are a gem. I understand if for some, Nora Seed is a frustrating character, but her story is the reality for people who deal with depression. I love how her recovery feels like my recovery. 

The only reason I didn't give this a full 5/5 is that at some points, some sentences just drag on when I totally already get the point of what it's trying to help me understand. But other than that, I love how easy this is to get into.

I, too, have my own regrets in life, which is why I think I empathized towards Nora. 

This book made me comfortable with the idea of dying. But it also made me feel less guilty about living.

Eva Ströberg

This book should have deserved more stars than three, but the way it unfolds itself smells too much like a British chicklit for me, something that I consciously avoided the past few years.

I mean the book discusses about the possibility of parallel lives and the philosophy behind that, what can be cooler about that? That you are not necessarily 100% happy if you had taken the other choice as well, and that even though your life sounds and looks wonderful from the outside world, doesn't mean that you don't get depression. But Nora, dear Nora, I found her too whiny, a girl with so much potential that ended up falling flat on her asses. It might be just me, but I don't have the patience to read through her complaints and her falling out with people because she didn't "do enough" in her life.

First world's privilege? Perhaps, but seen from my perspective, I almost dumped this book halfway, so three stars by the end of the book is already something for me.

laina

Beginning and part of the middle were very good. I was hooked and super interested! Then towards the end I got bored and just wanted to finish it and move onto the next book. There is a lot of sentimental meaning, many people would probably relate to and feel comforted by. Maybe if I was in a different time/space I would’ve appreciate more but can definitely see the appeal of this book!

Also it reminded me a lot of “A Short Stay in Hell” by Steven L Peck. Very similar concept, just less thrilling.

Kiran Aftab

3.5/5
as someone who is job searching, in that weird waiting period between job offers, and riddled with panic, this came at the right time. this isn’t necessarily revolutionary, but it’s a reminder i needed... 
p.s. no ragrets

"And like a volcano she couldn't run away from herself. She'd have to stay there and tend to that wasteland.

She could plant a forest inside herself."

Anastasiya

"And like a volcano she couldn't run away from herself. She'd have to stay there and tend to that wasteland.

She could plant a forest inside herself."

Erin G.

Preachy and lacked tension. TW: cat death and embarassing take on Thoreau.

Lettuce Wrapped Cabbage Cat

Ícaro Morbeck

Este livro é uma reflexão interior, e uma autoavaliação da própria vida que, compreendida e comunicada de forma brilhante pelo escritor, atingiu o âmago do leitor.

É impossível ler este livro sem reavaliar as decisões que você tomou, e tem tomado em sua própria vida. Ainda assim, de forma muito sábia, Matt Haig nos prova como não importa o que estaríamos fazendo em outras vidas, e não adianta fugirmos das consequências que plantamos para uma realidade em que as coisas são mais fáceis. Cada um de nós carregamos nossa própria cruz, e levaremos ela até o último de nossos dias. 

O escritor exibe o tema de sua história de forma bem evidente para o leitor, não se apoiando tanto no subtexto, mas na exposição. Nos colocando através do olhar de sua protagonista para comunicar que não existe um certo modo de viver que nos torne imunes à tristeza. A tristeza é parte intrínseca do tecido da felicidade. Não dá pra ter uma sem ter a outra. Não há uma vida em que uma pessoa possa existir num estado permanente de felicidade absoluta. E pensar que existe uma visa assim só acrescenta mais infelicidade à nossa vida. 

Penso neste livro sempre que começo a contemplar os "O que teriam sido" do passado, e então me lembro de que eles não importam. Não existe uma biblioteca da meia-noite, só existe o hoje, e o agora. Somos os donos de nossas escolhas, e do caminho que queremos tomar nesta jornada. Como toda boa obra de arte, este livro evoca emoções. E, particularmente, este livro me inspirou a viver a melhor vida que eu poderia viver, independente da realidade que eu esteja inserido. Ser a melhor versão de mim.

Jasmine

Good message. A little corny. A pretty cool way of explaining the choice-led lives we live.

Hassliebe, ich und dieses Buch. Hab den Charakter gehasst, hab den Charakter bisschen liebgewonnen, genauso auch den Schreibstil. Manchmal fühlt es sich einfach ultra belehrend vom Autor an, manchmal ist es wirklich lehrreich.

Manuela

I have not read a book cover to cover at such a pace since I picked up Hunger Games back in 2014. Solid pick for me, I can definitely relate to the main character Nora and her struggle with life and regret.

The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year "A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."—The Washington Post The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book. 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 blockbuster 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.

A Novel

When I first started this book, I was in a depressive state and had been feeling empty, filled by regrets and mistakes I had tried to forgive myself for

Throughout the book I was reminded of all the possiblities that are out there. It reminded me of my manifestation journey, those times when I truly believed anything was possible, it seemed nice back then but then I felt trapped, like things could always be better, shinier, prettier

I believe the message behind this book is to stop contemplating on all the what ifs, to realize that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, that every "ideal" life has it's cracks because it's real, something you can't avoid

You can take that information as you may, it's easy to think why bother in the first place then

But with a switch of a perspective you might see that the mundane, ordinary life can be quite beautiful and meaningful, maybe even more so than "The perfect life"

Lulu Evensen

When I first started this book, I was in a depressive state and had been feeling empty, filled by regrets and mistakes I had tried to forgive myself for

Throughout the book I was reminded of all the possiblities that are out there. It reminded me of my manifestation journey, those times when I truly believed anything was possible, it seemed nice back then but then I felt trapped, like things could always be better, shinier, prettier

I was trapped in all the what ifs

I believe the message behind this book is to stop contemplating on all the what ifs, to realize that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, that every "ideal" life has it's cracks because it's real, something you can't avoid

You can take that information as you may, it's easy to think why bother in the first place then

But with a switch of a perspective you might see that the mundane, ordinary life can be quite beautiful and meaningful, maybe even more so than "The perfect life"

Kaitlin Simpson

Philosophical but Raw

This book really surprised me. I knew it was going to be a depressing read, but what I didn’t expect was for it to be so raw and honest. It truly has a great message and makes you appreciate the life you live. I truly feel grateful after reading this.

Words cannot describe how much I love this book. I had my doubts and reservations, but somehow, this book came into my life exactly when I needed it and told me what I needed to hear. This is an absolute masterpiece.

Jeremy Mano

Was wäre wenn... 

Jetzt nicht so die innovativste Idee. 

Ich fands aber nett.

This was a sweet meander through the possibility that all the choices you’ve had to make throughout your life have impacted you in ways you can’t even fathom. 

Kristen Savage

really predictable and kinda boring read but not boring enough to not finish. the concept itself is quite fun and interesting. i wish it had been explored more deeply. hated the ending, ash and nora plot shouldve been it. light easy read, good to get back into the swing of reading

Tsamarah

Let's be honest, the book is very predictable. We know that the aim was "the process/journey" but it's not THAT interesting, the plot was kind of boring and slow, nothing really excites me. Nevertheless, it's still an enjoyable and light read.

You ever read a book and think, “Yeah, this right is here is going to be a movie.”

That’s what The Midnight Library feels like. It is a ‘gentle’ book that covers the anxieties many of us face in our life, especially as we get older. There’s a million lives we can live, but none of them matter as the one we’re currently living - and this book does a great job at exploring that ideology in an easy to read format.

Only reason for 4.5 is because of odd consistent brand references that just felt out of place.

Mitul Shah &
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Mitul Shah &The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Mitul Shah &
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig