By Emma Barhydt
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is an interesting book, questioning the idea of what it means to have a life well lived and how to do that.
While the premise may seem lofty, it’s discussed in a way that’s accessible and easy to understand. Our protagonist and the one for whom we are all supposed to root is Nora Seed, who studied philosophy, works at a music shop, and has a wonderful cat named Voltaire. She once had brilliant dreams of going to the olympics for swimming, being in a world famous band, moving to Australia with her best friend, or marrying the love of her life, but now in her 30’s it seems she’s given up. She’s living in her hometown, given up swimming, no longer speaks with her brother, has no friends to speak of, and to top it all off… her cat just died. Thinking no one in this world needs her, Nora makes a very permanent decision to end her life. Only it’s not as permanent as she thought. One second she’s not long for this world, but the next she wakes up in the Midnight Library.
“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.” Each of the books in the Midnight Library contains a version of her life where she made different choices. The librarian tries to inspire Nora to stay in the Midnight Library, going through her different lives, trying to see if there’s a world where Nora wants to live. But something is happening to the Midnight Library. The longer Nora stays, the more the Library falls apart.
Once the book establishes the basic rules of how exactly the Midnight Library works, readers are taken through seven different versions of Nora’s life, which makes for a very interesting format. The Midnight Library reads more like a collection of short stories, but with a single protagonist who goes through changes and character growth. Each different life is varied and unique so you’re never bored or reading the same thing twice.
I have mixed feelings about The Midnight Library. While I enjoyed the premise of the book, I found Nora Seed to be unlikeable (at first). In her original life, she’s passive. Things happen to her or around her, but she never acts or creates change for herself. Maybe that’s just my personal beef with philosophy majors, or maybe it’s her lack of accountability, but having the main character be so unwilling to take charge of her own life left a bad taste in my mouth. Eventually she does grow which is why she continues going through lives in the Midnight Library, so that passivity only lasts for about half of the book.
Beyond my problems with the main character, I also had problems with the plot.
-SPOILERS AHEAD-
The Library is tethered to Nora’s life force, so the longer she stays the more likely she is to die in her original life, unless she decides she wants to live and stay inside a different life. This gives the book a timeline to work with, and while I understand the necessity for a timeline in order to end the book at some point, it makes the ending forced and rushed. Nora finds that she can’t be happy in any life in the midnight library for one reason or another. Her final return to the Midnight Library sees the Library falling apart completely with all of the books disappearing except for her original life. Nora, having decided several lifetimes ago that she wants to continue living, decides to go back to her original life rather than die in the Midnight Library. Haig seems to say at the end of his book that a life well lived is one of action and intention. That as long as you’re taking ownership of your life and actively participating in it, that is a life well lived. And I don’t disagree with him, that’s the philosophy I live my life by. However; Nora going back to her original life because it’s the only one left and not because she learned that lesson first softens the delivery of the revelation.
-SPOILERS END-
All in all, I think the Midnight Library is worth the read. It’s short and to the point so it won’t waste your time, it’s a genuinely interesting premise, and if you can get past the last few pages of forced ending the message is an important one. It makes a great beach or plane read, and has a great message for kids and adults alike. Just personally, I’d buy the paperback or get my copy from the library… you can forgo the hardcover with this one.
