Reviews - کتابخانهٔ نیمه شب

92.4k reviews for:

کتابخانهٔ نیمه شب

Matt Haig

3.92 AVERAGE

ckraft014's review against another edition

4.0

This book gave me a new perspective on life. And I’ll always appreciate it.

leighlynn1014's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

barlou's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful reflective

ann704's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Loved it! Read it so quickly. Such an inspiring story.

beastofdeeds's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

angelasl's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

rae_rif's review against another edition

4.0

fun, quick, interesting concept. it was odd to read directly after Addie LaRue, as the stories shared similar and not super common concepts wherein the female protagonist had the ability to try on a bunch of different lives. but whereas in Addie LaRue people never remembered her, Nora in this book had the opposite problem that she would enter a new life and not have any memories of her version of that life up to then. so if she woke up next to someone, she wouldn't know who they were.

i thought there may have been more of a love story with hugh, but i ultimately didn't mind that there wasn't one. but it was interesting that when they first met (in her mind) in their svalbard adventure, he said he was only sticking around because of her, and also mentioned there were other lives where they were in love. so i thought when they (randomly?) met up again, after she had bounced through tons of lives like he had, maybe something permanent would happen between them. but it was almost the opposite. when she started opening up and trying to have a conversation about how unsatisfying all the jumping around was, he immediately disappeared, indicating he was disappointed in the convo. i would have liked a chapter from his POV.

i thought she might really try to stay in the life with Ash where they had a daughter named molly. it seemed like part of her also wanted that, but she was fearful the whole time that it would disappear, which raised questions to me about how it all worked. is the idea that you can't control what disappoints you? if everything was perfect and the only downside was that she "hadn't earned" that life, then wouldn't that always be the case? was the author trying to say that ultimately everyone who entered their own version of the midnight library would either keep jumping around or else wind up going back to their root life? is there not really any way to be satisfied with a different version of your life? is the whole point to simply make you appreciate your circumstances in your root life? part of me was interested in a version of this book wherein she did continue to jump around, but not b/c she was unsatisfied per say. more like she jumped around, and when she found a worthwhile life she lived it out, maybe even to old age! but then left before she died so she could start over, essentially finding a way to immortality.

the end of the book was a bit heavy handed in it's "there's no place like home" themes. enough so that it made me wonder if this was meant to be a YA book. but overall super enjoyable. have already recommended it others, and would read something else by the author.