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ritaslilnook's reviews
313 reviews
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
4.0
The premise of this book is quite well put and intriguing. That's what made me pick it up in the first place, it being a story about a library where you got stuck in a sort of limbo. However, as much as I wanted to LOVE this book as much as the majority seem to love, I just couldn't. Now, don't get me wrong, it is definitely worth a read, I just feel like it wasn't exactly what I expected it to be and that's on me.
By taking the suicide of Nora as a triggering point, the author starts by introducing us to a library, The Midnight Library, where Nora meets her former school librarian, Mrs. Elm. Nora is then introduced to her own version of limbo - the library contains thousands of books that tell different versions of how her life is going on alternate universes. The book can be summed up as Nora emerging herself in these different lives with the goal of fixing her regrets (which have a book of their own). All this happens while her body lays on her bed, dead due to an overdose of pills she took. Time remains still in her real REAL life, while she lives all the lives she thought would have been right for her.
The book could have been more interesting to me had it not been the self-help aspect of it. There are so many cliché sentences about how life is more than what meets our own eye. It is a beautiful message, just not the one I was expecting. Funny thing is: I do relate to Nora and the message this book lets on. Still, it is not a five-star for me. It is way too philosophical... you can find a corny quote about living on almost every single page, and considering this book is extremely easy to read as well as fast paced, I just wish it had more depth. In the end, it does. But it also does not. As I previously mentioned, the premise is there, it is absolutely brilliant, but ... I couldn´t love it as much as everyone else does. I WANTED TO, SO BAD.
Hopefully someone else feels the same.
By taking the suicide of Nora as a triggering point, the author starts by introducing us to a library, The Midnight Library, where Nora meets her former school librarian, Mrs. Elm. Nora is then introduced to her own version of limbo - the library contains thousands of books that tell different versions of how her life is going on alternate universes. The book can be summed up as Nora emerging herself in these different lives with the goal of fixing her regrets (which have a book of their own). All this happens while her body lays on her bed, dead due to an overdose of pills she took. Time remains still in her real REAL life, while she lives all the lives she thought would have been right for her.
The book could have been more interesting to me had it not been the self-help aspect of it. There are so many cliché sentences about how life is more than what meets our own eye. It is a beautiful message, just not the one I was expecting. Funny thing is: I do relate to Nora and the message this book lets on. Still, it is not a five-star for me. It is way too philosophical... you can find a corny quote about living on almost every single page, and considering this book is extremely easy to read as well as fast paced, I just wish it had more depth. In the end, it does. But it also does not. As I previously mentioned, the premise is there, it is absolutely brilliant, but ... I couldn´t love it as much as everyone else does. I WANTED TO, SO BAD.
Hopefully someone else feels the same.