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A review by hellhoundharry
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
2.0
Interesting premise, but extremely predictable.
Nora is living a life full of regrets, of bad choices she has made and so on. She tries to commit suicide, and she finds out that on the other veil of death there is a metaphysical library, where there are books on her life. And whenever she goes into a book she could live a totally different version of her life. In one life she's a rockstar, in another she's an olympic swimmer, in another life she married her long-time boyfriend and they opened a pub in a cozy little english village, in another she's a mum....
But ultimately she is always pulled back into the Midnight Library again, where she has to select a new life to examine.
What bothers me with the execution of this premise is that it became extremely formulaic. Nora chooses a new life, she is confused when she has landed in her new life and finds out what happened to the people around her in this new life. There are ups and downs with every life, like the pub life she and her boyfriend talked about. In that life her husband is a cheater and they're both doing poor financially.
She might be miserable in this new life, and she is pulled back to the Midnight Library.
And guess what the happy ending is? The real key to her happiness was inside her regular life all along, all she had to do was to stop regretting the choices of the past and just be happy with the one life she has. Wow, I have never ever heard THAT one before....
I saw this coming a mile away.
Matt also talks about string theory and the butterfly effect, about how the small choices can have the biggest outcome. Well then, do tell us: How does it affect the universe that she drinks her coffee with her RIGHT hand instead of her LEFT hand? Show us THAT life and how things would've been different! I am not saying it to be sarcastic. According to the butterfly effect, those small insignificant things really do make a lot of difference and I would've loved if someone would've taken advantage of that.
If you're gonna do a story about a person exploring alternate realities then go crazy with it! In a different life she was a rockstar? Why not a lesbian astronaut on Mars?
Nora is living a life full of regrets, of bad choices she has made and so on. She tries to commit suicide, and she finds out that on the other veil of death there is a metaphysical library, where there are books on her life. And whenever she goes into a book she could live a totally different version of her life. In one life she's a rockstar, in another she's an olympic swimmer, in another life she married her long-time boyfriend and they opened a pub in a cozy little english village, in another she's a mum....
But ultimately she is always pulled back into the Midnight Library again, where she has to select a new life to examine.
What bothers me with the execution of this premise is that it became extremely formulaic. Nora chooses a new life, she is confused when she has landed in her new life and finds out what happened to the people around her in this new life. There are ups and downs with every life, like the pub life she and her boyfriend talked about. In that life her husband is a cheater and they're both doing poor financially.
She might be miserable in this new life, and she is pulled back to the Midnight Library.
And guess what the happy ending is? The real key to her happiness was inside her regular life all along, all she had to do was to stop regretting the choices of the past and just be happy with the one life she has. Wow, I have never ever heard THAT one before....
I saw this coming a mile away.
Matt also talks about string theory and the butterfly effect, about how the small choices can have the biggest outcome. Well then, do tell us: How does it affect the universe that she drinks her coffee with her RIGHT hand instead of her LEFT hand? Show us THAT life and how things would've been different! I am not saying it to be sarcastic. According to the butterfly effect, those small insignificant things really do make a lot of difference and I would've loved if someone would've taken advantage of that.
If you're gonna do a story about a person exploring alternate realities then go crazy with it! In a different life she was a rockstar? Why not a lesbian astronaut on Mars?