A review by toofondofbooks_
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Between life and death, there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices...Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?"

I was hesitant to pick this up at first, and here's why: this author wrote a summer reading book that I read in 10th grade and loathed. LOATHED. However...color me surprised.

This book was beautiful and exactly what I needed right now; a story about letting go of your regrets to get to the bits of life that make it all worth it.It is beautifully written and reminds me a lot of a movie that I liked in my teenage years, "the butterfly effect." The concept isn't exact but it gave me the same vibes. This story hurts and heals all at once. Watching this main character reach a breaking point that she almost can't come back from and then seeing where it all ended up filled me with so much hope. I don't read a lot of sci fi, but this was so satisfying that I genuinely forgot that it technically falls under that genre. Something that made me sad was how much I could relate to Nora, and how she is probably the most relatable character I've read this year. Having admitted that on the internet makes me think that I should call my therapist. I think I will.
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