Book Review~ The Midnight Library by Matt Haig – A Journey Through Infinite Lives

Hello Hive Readers, Welcome back to my blog, Today I am happy to find a new book review which impressed me a lot and caused me a lot of reflections about life, more exactly about choices and regrets in life. So whether you are the frequent reader or simply queuing on Hive to find your next book to fall in love with, I hope you like this review and perhaps even get encouraged to become a reader of the book yourself.

The Midnight Library is a deeply philosophical novel by Matt Haig, which combines the issues of fiction and the life with aspects of regret and possibility. The novel revolves around the character of Nora Seed, a woman who goes to an unknown library as she tries to commit suicide. This is not just a regular library, this is something in between life and death where each book is a new list of things left unsaid or different choices that she could have made.

Nora takes us through various ways she can have led her life had she chosen to do otherwise as a rock star, a glaciologist among others. In every new life, she meets new feelings - success, love, loss and being lonely. However, as she keeps turning the pages of people who are different versions of her, Nora starts to realize that nothing is actually perfect and that maybe the life she was trying to run away from should not be discredited because there is beauty in it as well.

The novel eloquently dwells on the concept of what might be and the way our lives are being structured and changed by minor decisions. It is also a message of hope concerning how we should accept ourselves and live in the present.

The Midnight library is an extremely comforting and wisely written novel. The style of writing is easy and yet effective, because a complicated emotion can be easily related to. The idea of living an alternative life was magical and excruciatingly real to any human aware of ever experiencing the feeling of being overwhelmed by that feeling of regret.

The thing that struck me the most was the manner in which the book approaches mental health. It is not romanticizing pain but it is giving a sweet route to healing and accepting oneself. The middle was slow with a good pay off. I believe that this book is a fantastic read to somebody who feels lost or tied by his past. In general, it is an inspiring lesson that each life is something worthwhile as is the one which is currently affecting our lives.