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draykray 's review for:
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
An empty platitude of a novel. Essentially boils down to "Suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem" Cut. Print. Finished.
The idea that decisions you make hold weight in other people's life is interesting, but this book takes it to such an extreme that it just absolves Nora of any responsibilty while also blowing her importance to others to a comical proportion. No one but Nora has agency, no one but Nora feels important to the story, but also she's done nothing wrong and nothing is her fault. It even went out of its way to tell us that it was, in fact, NOT Nora's fault that her cat died.
It's a simplistic view of mental health. It's an insulting view of regret (because what does she actually regret? All her regrets would have actually ended up terribly so don't be sad about it. Ur friend would have died if you went to Australia, don't regret that choice:( )
It's just A Beautiful Life masked in a gross sheen of narcissism. I knew going in that it would be simplistic but I didn't expect to loath it so vehemently.
It's also fucking predictable. 5 minutes into the Library and I clocked how the book would end. I stuck with it because I wanted to give it a fair shake, but COME ON. Not a single surprise. Not a single worthwhile thing to say.
This book was a waste of my time.
((also, I hated that we got multiverse theory lore dropped midway through the book. Added nothing and was so boring omygod.)
The idea that decisions you make hold weight in other people's life is interesting, but this book takes it to such an extreme that it just absolves Nora of any responsibilty while also blowing her importance to others to a comical proportion. No one but Nora has agency, no one but Nora feels important to the story, but also she's done nothing wrong and nothing is her fault. It even went out of its way to tell us that it was, in fact, NOT Nora's fault that her cat died.
It's a simplistic view of mental health. It's an insulting view of regret (because what does she actually regret? All her regrets would have actually ended up terribly so don't be sad about it. Ur friend would have died if you went to Australia, don't regret that choice:( )
It's just A Beautiful Life masked in a gross sheen of narcissism. I knew going in that it would be simplistic but I didn't expect to loath it so vehemently.
It's also fucking predictable. 5 minutes into the Library and I clocked how the book would end. I stuck with it because I wanted to give it a fair shake, but COME ON. Not a single surprise. Not a single worthwhile thing to say.
This book was a waste of my time.
((also, I hated that we got multiverse theory lore dropped midway through the book. Added nothing and was so boring omygod.)