The Midnight Library by Matt HaigMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I first ran into this book from my students. In the English classes I occasionally teach, my final product is a novel study in which the students choose their novel. Midnight Library appeared in this year's batch of papers and I was intrigued with it when I read the student's paper. The aspect of being able to jump into alternative lives and the subtle difference between those lives was fascinating for me. So I picked it up from my Library app.
The story is an intriguing one, even if it starts sadly. It features a woman, Nora Seed, who attempts suicide because she feels that no one cared whether she lived or dies. She goes into a halfway point between life and death which manifests itself as a library in which all the books are some variation on her life. So, she begins to sample lives, exploring her greatest regrets and starting a voyage of self-discovery as she discovers that the lives that she most regretted weren't necessarily much better than the one that she had. I won't spoil the end, of course, but she ultimately discovers that the answer wasn't in the the lives, but in herself.
Despite the sad beginning, this is actually a deeply hopeful book. It is a book in which life is always better than death and that the ties that bind are what are valuable in this life. It is a wonderful book and well worth reading!
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