Nora Seed woke up one morning to a knock on the door. A jogger was there asking if she had a cat because he found one dead in the street. When she goes to work she finds out she’s been fired. On her way home, her elderly neighbor tells her that he doesn’t need her to pick up his prescription for him, which was one of the few social interactions she had. Then she gets a call from the parent if her only piano student saying that the child will not be taking any more lessons. Nora isn’t just having a bad day, though. She’s having a bad life.
That night Nora ODs on pills to try to kill herself but finds herself in between life and death at a magical place known as. As the Midnight Library. The librarian is her old school librarian who helped her a lot when her father died. There is a Book of Regrets that is very full of all the things she had missed out on that would have made her life come out better.
The library is full of an infinite number of books that open to put her into a multiverse of possibilities. The librarian tells her she must try out different lives until she comes to the one she likes best. In each life she is placed there with no memory of that life before that moment. When she finds her life she will gain those memories back.
Some of the lives she tries are an Olympic swimmer, deciding to say “yes” to Dan, a glaciologist, and a singer in a world famous rock band. Sometimes she stays in a world for half an hour before being drawn back to the museum and sometimes weeks or months.
This is a fascinating look at regrets and what they cost us and getting an answer to what could have happened. Who wouldn’t want to glimpse at the “road not traveled”. The novel’s prose is quite quotable, as you can see below, and memorable. The book has a sequel entitled “The Midnight Train” that I can’t wait to read. This is a beautifully written book that opens your eyes to many possibilities and how to live a life without regret.
Quotes
A person was like a city. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p. 48)
She stepped outside, wondering whether a life could really be judged from just a few mistakes after midnight on a Tuesday.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 50)
It turned out to be near impossible to stand in a library and not want to pull things from the shelves.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 68)
Librarians have knowledge. They guide you to the right book. The right worlds.. They find the best places like soul-enhanced search engines.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 84)
Regrets don't leave. They weren't mosquitoes. They itch forever.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 84)
“I don't know if I can do this.”
“You're overthinking it.”
“I have anxiety. I have no other type of thinking available.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 109)
Grief is a bastard.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 120)
There are more possible ways to play a game of chess than the amount of atoms in the observable universe.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 195)
Nora wanted to live in a world where no cruelty existed, but the only worlds she had available to her were worlds with humans in them.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 197)
Nora wondered, quietly, if there was any place Dylan didn't or wouldn't love. He seemed like he would be able to sit in a field near Chornobyl and marvel at the beautiful scenery.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 204)
She had known three types of silence in relationships. There was the passive-aggressive silence, obviously, the we-no-longer-have-anything-to-say silence, and then there was the silence that Eduardo and she seemed to have cultivated. The science of not needing to talk. Of just being together, of together-being. The way you could be happily silent with yourself.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 210)
Fear was when you wandered into a cellar and worried that the door would close shut. Despair was when the door closed and locked behind you.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 215)
Shle realised that you could be as honest as possible in life, but people only see the truth if it is close enough to their reality.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 242)
It was interesting, she mused to herself, how life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 281)
Alas, String Theory is no longer able to trade in these premises. Due to an increase in rent, we simply couldn't afford to go on. Thanks to all our loyal customers. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, You Can Go Your Own Way, God Only Knows What We'll Be Without You.
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 258)
Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-midnight-library_matt-haig/26805242/?resultid=f154e0df-9482-4ab7-90df-ebb960851255#edition=30129282&idiq=42743577
No comments:
Post a Comment