A review by jenmat1197
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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

4.5

 

This is the story of Nora Seeds.  Nora's parents are dead, she isn't on speaking terms with her brother, she has lost her job, and has just been feeling very down.  She decides that no one would miss her if she dies.  She takes a lot of pills and ends up in a library with a favorite librarian from her past who shows her different life paths Nora could have taken that would have changed her life in various ways.  Even when Nora finds the life that she thinks should be hers, she still feels like an outsider who doesn't quite belong.

This was a good book.  I thought it was well written and the story flowed well.  Following Nora through various lifetimes where things changed for her (parents alive, brother heavily involved in her life, children/no children) was interesting.  The story's take was not life after death, but life after life - to see what could be possible if you made different choices as a person.  The only thing I would have liked to see if a bit stronger of an ending.  It was a bit anticlimatic.