Helpful Score: 6
Umm. I thnk I was supposed to feel good after reading this, be uplifted and open to all life's possibilities and all that. Instead, it's like I had to sit through a showing of "It's a wonderful life" interrupted by hundreds of Hallmark commercials. Self-help and motivational books are not my thing, and this one is stuffed full of little motivational paragraphs and life lessons, augh. I was interested in the premise - there's been quite a few good books along this theme - but this one is awfully sappy. And it's so predictable. I did like Haig's writing style, anyway. Biggest gripe: Nora is supposed to know if the alternate life is one she wants, but the library drops her into it at her same age and she has no clue who people are or what she's done. And people notice she's suddenly an amnesiac. How could she be comfortable? Second biggest: Isn't depression usually diagnosed now as a physical thing? You don't just get told "Brace up, girl, life isn't so bad" and you're able to go "Oh yeah, how could I be depressed". Third: this seems like a underhanded permission to commit suicide, because you could decide in your overdosed coma state that you really want to live after all. I know a lot of people will like this book, but although I finished it, I couldn't like it in the end.
Helpful Score: 4
I realize I am in the minority, but this book bored me near to tears. I quit a third of the way through. Sappy, predictable.
Helpful Score: 3
Self absorbed and tedious.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a sad and yet an enjoyable read. The beginning is quite dismal which is that base on which the book was written. We find Nora, our main character, in a depressing point in her life. Things are just going wrong. It seems that if something in her life can fall apart, then it is doing it. She has so many regrets on the way her life has went. She wonders "what if" about so many directions in her life. The depression eats her up so much that she decides she doesn't want to go on anymore. Enter, the midnight library. Here Nora finds that it is full of books. Every book is a "what if" in Nora's life. What if she decided to put all her efforts into her swimming, or her music, or her husband? Each one she gets to experience all her regrets only to find that life is full of regrets but it is what we make of them that counts.
Anyone who has had these struggles will definitely identify with Nora. It puts a perspective on life that is positive. A lot like the movie A Wonderful Life does. It was heart-warming and endearing. A book that I will have to keep in my thoughts on days I wonder "what if?"
Anyone who has had these struggles will definitely identify with Nora. It puts a perspective on life that is positive. A lot like the movie A Wonderful Life does. It was heart-warming and endearing. A book that I will have to keep in my thoughts on days I wonder "what if?"
Helpful Score: 2
I'm sometimes leery of books that receive so much hype but two of my reading groups on FB have written a variety of reviews so I had to read it myself to decide. I'm not a fan of fantasy writing but this one held my interest. I've sometimes thought of the "What Ifs" in my own life. What if I had made a different decision about a job, a mate, having children, etc. So this book intrigued me with all of the options in the Midnight Library.
Nora Seed is depressed in her dead-end life, just lost her job, her cat died, no boyfriend, etc. She's ready to end her life at 35 when she ends up in the Midnight Library. (I don't need to explain, everyone else has.) She 'lives' many of her other potential lives for a day or two, so here's where the fantasy comes in. No spoiler here, you'll have to read the book.
Matt Haig is a thoughtful writer. Not a lot of flash, just solid writing. Will look for his other books.
Nora Seed is depressed in her dead-end life, just lost her job, her cat died, no boyfriend, etc. She's ready to end her life at 35 when she ends up in the Midnight Library. (I don't need to explain, everyone else has.) She 'lives' many of her other potential lives for a day or two, so here's where the fantasy comes in. No spoiler here, you'll have to read the book.
Matt Haig is a thoughtful writer. Not a lot of flash, just solid writing. Will look for his other books.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm often skeptical of "hot reads" but this one lives up to the hype. It truly is a hopeful book about depression while being a thought-provoking page turner with a likable character I won't soon forget.
Nora Seed's life is rather mundane. She has just lost her job and feels that life is just not worth living. She is then plopped into the Midnight Library with Mrs. Elm, her librarian friend from when she was a child.
Mrs. Elm makes her open the first book, which is full of regrets for Nora. She then has to choose a regret that she wants to change and is plunked into that life. In finding that that life doesn't feel right, she is then brought back to the library to choose differently.
Nora goes through this numerous times and you will have to read it to find out what her ultimate choice becomes.
Mrs. Elm makes her open the first book, which is full of regrets for Nora. She then has to choose a regret that she wants to change and is plunked into that life. In finding that that life doesn't feel right, she is then brought back to the library to choose differently.
Nora goes through this numerous times and you will have to read it to find out what her ultimate choice becomes.
Nicely-written fantasy about how every choice we makes opens up a different future, and follows a young woman who is offered the chance to follow them.
Matt Haig has written a startling book-a story of life, death, and everything in-between. One life, lived many times, and many varied ways. What life would you chose if you could pick one from the plethora you are presented with? Sometimes whimsical, sometimes daunting, always astonishing and uncertain, where does Nora end up after sampling dozens of her lives? An exquisitely written novel, contemporary yet timeless.
The idea of the path not taken has been explored in many different books and movies. The approach of creating a personalized library of lives makes The Midnight Library by Matt Haig unique and, as a reader, of course appeals to me. That and the delve into the philosophy surrounding this question makes the book work for me. Because the philosophy delves into self-help, the book did not work from some members of our book club.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2024/01/the-midnight-library.html
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2024/01/the-midnight-library.html
This is such a lovely book! It's a bit grim at the beginning but that is the basis for a beautiful and heartwarming tale. What if you had the chance to live each life you might have lived if you made a different decision from one you came to regret? A clever concept that's written with imagination and wisdom. It is thought provoking and I know I will ponder awhile on seeing things I may have missed and finding gratitude in everyday life. "Never underestimate the big importance of small things."
Do yourself a huge favor and read this book and almost any of Haig's books. His writing is prose like and creates a wonderful world I imagination.
This was a tough book for me to get through. I found it very bizarre. I kept reading because it was for my book club, and eventually I began to see the light! I had seen so many rave reviews, but I cannot give it but three stars. This was about a very depressed woman who wants to end her life because nothing she has ever done had made her happy. She gets a glimpse into all the possibilities life could have offered her, and finds sometimes life is not any greener than in your own back yard.
'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?' I love books about libraries. This library that Nora visits has only books about her life. She gets another chance to decide if she wants to stay on earth or die. This is a very interesting book and gives the reader a lot to think about. I enjoyed it very much and loved Nora's final decision. If you like books that point out the meaning of life and the different choices about life that we have, then you will enjoy this one.
Interesting plot, different from most. The main character, Nora Seed, is quite likeable in spite, or maybe because of, her lack of confidence and her depressive tendencies. I found myself pulling for her happiness.
Totally different genre for me. Nora is so disappointed and unhappy with her life that she decides to take her own life. But what if you made different choices throughout your life? One different choice could forever alter the course and outcome for you and those around you. So when Nora attempts suicide, rather than dying she goes to the "Midnight Library". It's a library attended by her old school librarian. There's a book of regrets listing all the regrets she's accumulated throughout her life and infinite volumes of possibilities for her life that she can "try on". Interesting concept and an interesting read.
