The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Title: The Midnight Library
Author: Matt Haig
My Review Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis: 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?
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
Hey. As you know (I shared my recent story on my Youtube channel in case you missed and as if you’re interested), I am currently on isolation due to COVID-19. I tested positive last week of September and since we have no decent room to isolate myself in at home and I don’t want to expose any member of the fam even further, I immediately requested for an isolation room from our barangay and finally moved out a day after. Well, at least for two weeks.
It’s nothing severe, thank God, but my dry cough was progressing. I also had low grade fever the first few days, I had effing annoying runny nose, I lost my sense of taste and smell which sucks. But all are now getting better, except my cough and I am now trying another medication (my second set!) praying I could get better before my 14th day.
And since I am in a closed community right now (I mean we literally cannot and should not go outside the vicinity and I don’t have any close interaction with anyone here except the doctor/s and nurse/s), I am as bored as hell. I can’t even work too much, I mean I go online from time to time when people need me and if I can, but they don’t have wifi here and I have very limited data so I sought for other things to get busy with.
I did video journals (as mentioned, and if you haven’t clicked that link yet I’m sharing it here again >>> yt/themhayonnaise) which I didn’t plan to share online at first so bear with me for very not-so-entertaining or informative vlogs. I tried doing digital art which I stopped immediately because the small mobile screen just irritates me and gets me quitting every after few minutes. And then I saw a Kindle review on Youtube and realized why not read a book??
It has been months since I last read a novel. So I grabbed my phone, went online, scrolled through Goodreads (actually posted an ask on IG but got no response I mean wth) and found this page of very interesting books which won the Best Reads title for 2020. Fiction is the first category I landed in and the top choice was Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I went on adding all the fiction books to my Want To Read folder and immediately bought the Midnight Library ebook and started the first page right then and there.
I missed reading, so I got to 50th page (small font) the next couple of hours without pause (or little) and started drafting this review for the blog the next day as I was reading the 100th page (small font). And if I didn’t have anything else to do such as eat, make my bed, wash my clothes, go online for work, go to online grocery for the fam, etc., I guess I would finish the book on my second day but no. I needed an extra day so yay third day!
The Midnight Library is about a woman (a girl, a lady, whichever term you prefer) who thought her life was a mess and that she’s worthless and her life’s a crap, so she ended her life. And then her not-so-afterlife – but before death life – got her to a library literally in the midnight. This library was weird and magical, green and unending, confusing and deep, and it was ALWAYS midnight. Each book in the library tells a story of how her life could be if she changed any decision she made in the past. And apparently other people are blessed with the same chance too, to appreciate life as it is – with the sad and happy parts of it.
As a reader it’s very interesting to be in a place like that. Not in the “after life, before death” way, but just be in a vast library full of books you can read anytime. Well, except I am also a real-world traveler and which reminds me of wanting a Kindle which also reminds me of being broke so…
Back to the book review, I hated Nora at first because, to be very frank, all the bad things happening in her life somehow just branched out from her bad decisions and overthinking. But then I learned Nora was like the “annoying” Nora because she had anxiety. I even felt guilty that I felt annoyed and that I had too many comments on how she “lived” her root life. As I moved on to the next chapters I realized that maybe people overthink and make bad decisions because they want or feel the need to validate themselves through what other people think. If that makes any sense.
Anyway, this story made me realize that at the end of the day (or life) whatever you decide may or may not be the best thing you have ever done. But it is ~almost~ always better than the life you did not choose. Maybe because bad things happen, I mean in all lifetimes. And the bad things that we are already familiar with are always better than those unexpected and very unfamiliar ones. And we just need to appreciate the choices we make, the life we get, and the lessons we learn from regrets.
I love how this story was written. It wasn’t too deep, and you can relate to it instantly no matter what kind of person you are (I assume). At the beginning of the book, there’s one rhetorical (or not) question for readers. Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? Every reader may interpret or answer it differently, but as I completed reading the book, I say No, because of the realization and appreciation and learning from our regrets.
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