Book Review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library

By Matt Haig

Finished reading: 16/05/21

My rating: 5/5 stars

 

‘She was nothing if not potential. She wondered why she had never seen it before.’

‘The prison wasn’t the place but the perspective.’

 

The Midnight Library follows the life of Nora Seed, a thirty-something music shop assistant who has a lot of regrets about her life choices. One night Nora chooses suicide and finds herself in a library between life and death. She is faced with the opportunity to live out different versions of her life based on different choices until she finds the right life for her. But with so many regrets, come so many very different lives.

This is exactly the kind of novel I wish I could write. Sci-fi and philosophy, what more could I ask for in this world. I could pick out parallels to Alice in Wonderland, Seconds, Sliding Doors, It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr Nobody, Doctor Who and countless other works of similar fiction that I love. It was such a perfect example of taking a well-known, over-used trope and selling it in a refreshing way. For Matt Haig, this meant crafting a beautifully written narrative with a warm, heartfelt, and philosophical soul.

This book was packed with so many wise, goose-bumping, stomach-punching quotes. There are so many lines and passages that I had to pause at to bookmark to write-out later. As a philosopher, I loved the infusion of philosophy and liked how this was presented in an accessible and contemporary way. It tied in well to topics of mental health. The overall message was a little predictable and obvious to me. But I absolutely loved the more subtle little nuggets of wisdom folded into the pages. For example, ‘since when did taste have anything to do with happiness?’ or ‘sibling rivalry isn’t about siblings but parents’. There are so many other amazing parts scattered throughout. These small parts made for a very thought-provoking read and certainly left a long-lasting impression.

I was really impressed with the quality of the plot. The pacing was great and flowed really nicely. It felt very well mapped out from start to finish. Each section blended beautifully and felt very cyclical, like one long moral parable. I loved all the recurring motifs like the National Geographic magazines that helped to create a sense of cohesion despite the overall chaos. The recurring characters also helped to maintain a sense of continuity through each lifecycle in the story. The writing was incredibly precise and polished. It could have easily become very over-complicated, but I like that the story knew exactly what it was and didn’t stray further than it needed to.

I can see the story working really well as an alternative-style stage play with a fairly small cast and rotating sets within a larger library set. I think the sentiment would be strong enough to hold all the elements together and the concept is so bizarre that the mind would fill in the gaps. I can see it working well in a more intimate and personal setting than on screen.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I had anticipated. In fact, I think it might even be up there with my all-time favourite books which I was not expecting. I think anyone who is a fan of this sort of sci-fi genre would enjoy this interpretation. It has really inspired me to want to read and write more philosophical literature as well as check out more of Matt Haig's work. It definitely won’t be a story I’ll be forgetting any time soon.