Book: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
January 19, 2024
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? This book is about regrets, unfinished plans, what ifs, approval of families, drugs, mistakes, giving up, realizing other people’s dreams, self regret, insecurities, self harm, love, passion and hate...
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.
Who doesn't have regrets? What if I would have stopped trying so hard to please others and taken care of myself? What if I had done better in school? What if I had taken a chance and went on a date with that person? We live in a world where time only goes one direction and each choice we make, for better or for worse, is the choice that makes up the pathway of our life.
Many people have speculated about time travel, and how making one different choice would change the course of all humanity. In this fantastic book, the reader is inspired to introspection, to examine and consider your own thoughts and feelings about your life, as you travel with the heroine, Nora Seed, through different choices for her life.
In the beginning, Nora is overwhelmed with depression, and feels that her life is not worth living. Suicide looms as an answer, but as she tries to take her life, she finds herself in a library filled with books that have alternate realities of her life based on choices she did or didn't make.
Her school librarian, Mrs. Elm, is here for her just like she was when Nora's dad died. Her first book was the heavy, horrible Book of Regrets. Nora is crushed under the weight of it. But the rest of the books in the endless library are all different versions of her life.
Mrs. Elm helps her to resolve her regrets by urging Nora to step into these different versions of her life and see how different choices would work out. If Nora can find the right book, the best and happiest life, she can be saved!
Would you like a life as a rock star? How about as an arctic scientist? An Olympic swimmer? A wife and mother? What if you lived in another country?
In each of Nora's life changes, you see good things and bad things. She comes to realize there is no "perfect life", just happy lives. What does it take for you to be happy?
You will enjoy this journey with Nora and realizing with her that life is a miracle and a gift and that you can always let go of your regrets and find happiness as long as you are alive.
"It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. That the prision wasn't the place, but the perspective."
