The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: Somewhere between life and death, Nora enters The Midnight Library, filled with stacks upon stacks of alternate versions of her life. If she finds one that makes her happy, she can stay there. If she doesn’t, she can move forward with her death — the final escape from all the ways her life has gone wrong.
Expectation: A science-fiction version of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
Reality: A deeply emotional, highly philosophical and ultimately feel good “what if” story.
Recommended For: Everyone — this is the best book I read that was published in 2020.
Why I Read It: One of my favorite Bookstagrammers said it was life changing. It also won the Goodreads “Best Fiction” award.
My Take:
Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available.
We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine.
Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies.
We just have to close our eyes and savor the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.
Well, I’ve finally stopped crying long enough to gather my thoughts on the imperfect yet utterly poignant and engrossing “The Midnight Library.”
Through Nora’s experiences trying out alternate versions of her life, Matt Haig perfectly captures the demon of regret — and the hold it can have — with a steady stream of philosophical musings that will stick with me for years. Seriously, I want to buy a copy to highlight.
The plot is a modern take on a well-worn premise (see “It’s a Wonderful Life”), but Haig’s writing is so immersive and imaginative, you get pulled in immediately and become invested in most of Nora’s live(s).
Suicide does play a central role, and the first 60-pages are rather dark and depressing, but the quick humanization of Nora helps ground the reader before the story takes off. You want her to find happiness, because there’s something so relatable in her misery.
The usual experiences are here — revisiting former romances, mending broken relationships and living wealthy and famous — but Haig also adds a few lives that genuinely surprised me, including one where her cat, Voltaire, was still alive. It was simple and human and self-less.
Still, not everything worked.
Some of the lives weren’t that interesting — I especially grew bored by the glaciologist chapters and Nora encountering another life-jumper — and having each new life start with Nora trying to “fake it” around others grew a little trite.
Small imperfections aside, this is the only book I read this year that emotionally gutted me in a cleansing way. Tears trickled down my cheeks for the last 40-pages and looking up quotes for this review led to fresh tears.
See, I’ve always been a “the grass is probably greener” kind of guy — and someone that generally plays it safe with significant life choices — so asking theoretical “what ifs” is on brand.
Now I see — especially after digesting the quote above — the danger in not fully embracing the joys of the life you have. Life is messy. It will make you angry just as often as it makes you happy, but there’s not another version of your life where that will not be the case.
I feel stupid admitting that this was groundbreaking news to me, but in a year where I overwhelmingly focused on what wasn’t working, “Library” gave me the perspective needed to appreciate how lucky I really am. Thank you for that, Matt.
Finally, the audiobook also featured one of the best narrations I heard this year. Not that Haig’s story needed much elevating, but Carey Mulligan brought out Nora’s humanity and sold even the more unbelievable alternate lives. I hope that if there is an adaptation, she is the lead.
As I wrap up my 2020 reading, this is probably the best book I read that was published this year. While it was the first book I read by Haig, it certainly won’t be the last.
Rating (story): 5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 5/5
Formats: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: December 20 - 24, 2020
Multi-tasking: Fine, but you’ll miss some of nuance in Nora’s journey.
