A review by pagesandproses
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

4.0

"It turned out to be near impossible to stand in a library and not want to pull things from the shelves."

This quote *chef's kiss* - major reason for me wanting to read the book apart from the title and synopsis of course.

The book is effortlessly beautiful. Matt Haig has worked his magic in the book. No pun intended. You will be unable to put it down once you start reading. The short chapters keep the story running and easy to glide through. The exploration of human emotions and fantasies is very engaging.

Nora, our protagonist lives many of her possible lives she could've lived had she made different choices. The Midnight Library holds all these potential lives in forms of books and she decides which book/life to choose. Her experiences will give the reader something to think about as well.

Matt Haig has [marvelously] made us live vicariously through Nora who also lives vicariously through books. The language is smooth as butter, rolling off your tongue word after word. The parts of the tale are intricately woven together. Every peripheral character adds to the story. Development of Nora's character, you will find, will proceed alongside your own. Although the story has magical elements, at its root, it is a deeply human book. It talks about the burden of our regrets and what ifs, and a way to get over such thoughts and learning to love the life we currently HAVE.

I'd absolutely recommend this book to people provided they go through trigger warnings first as the book talks about suicide which may cause turmoil to those currently going through such thoughts.

I would've given it 5-star rating if not for the times where she got excessively depressed and pessimistic which dampened my spirits. An amazing read nonetheless.