Personally I have not sat down and read a book in years recently I've been trying to get back into reading. I've picked up and put back down many books without being able to finish them. Then The Midnight Library got suggested to me. I instantly connected with the main character through her depression. This whole idea of the library was, I thought, a very good and unique to me interpretation of the possibility of life after death. I really enjoyed her being able to live these lives and see for herself it's not what she wanted. The part that broke my heart is when she meets and gets to know and love her daughter. I knew right from that moment that she wouldn't get to stay in that life. I cried. I loved the ending of the book and honestly am thinking about buying my own copy to have for rereads. I love the library. I have no one else to really discuss what this book has meant to me. Thank you for reading.
I also really liked it. On a purely story level, it is a bit predictable (you can see there is only one sensible way for this to end) but it doesn’t negate the rest of it. It works because it taps into two of the most common emotions of human experience: regrets and what-ifs.
Good book.
Sometimes it’s the journey, and not the destination
Journey before destination
These words are accepted
Even more, Life before Death.
I don't think it was the only sensible way for it to end
Maybe only sensible positive way, but I prefer bitter sweet endings
Read it last year. The concept was promising, but the execution was sloppy. Towards the end, it tries to become a motivational book, and that made me cringe.
Spoilers:
Also, the ending just wasn't it for me. I'd love it if she thought of the library as a vague dream and if she subconsciously had gained from that experience.
Instead, she knows everything, and the moment she wakes up, she goes online to write a post 💀
Feels like the premise is almost entirely based on this quote from Plath’s “Bell Jar”: I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Well this has just bumped The Bell Jar to the very top of my TBR list.
It's a very good book
I also would have liked if she just
I thought the same.
"Thr Humans", by the same author also felt a bit motivational/self-helpy but I found it a bit more interesting.
I thought the book was going in a much different direction when she met the other "traveler" or whatever they called him. But then they slept together and he bounced and I have never been so disappointed in a book in my life. I didn't absolutely hate it (like The Alchemist) but it was not for me. Glad to hear that people were able to enjoy it, though.
There was just something about this book that really hit me. It was the last book I’ve read in quite some time that I finished feeling truly satisfied and fulfilled. I see many people criticize it, but for me, it was just the right fit. I have been chasing down books to see if I can find the same feeling again, but no success yet. I truly adored it, and I’m glad to hear you felt the same.
For me the book delivered the content of a cheesy self help manual as if it was some profound thesis on the human psyche. I didn't appreciate being slammed with facebook quotes about positivity and motivation all the time either. I honestly found the core take away from the book a bit troubling. It seemed like the author was trying to show that depression isn't caused by external factors and you just need to take what you have and look at it as a glass half full situation. Which is just simply not the case for so many people.
This was my problem too. The book was saying, “The life you have now is better than other potential ones!” which is A. Not always true and B. Kind of an empty platitude. I can see how this might be a helpful but it wasn’t as motivating or important to me as it was for other people.
I hated this book. The premis was cool, but it just felt super condescending.
The r/books “let people like things” challenge: impossible
To be fair, this is a subreddit to discuss books. Books are subjective by their very nature. Part of the point is to share one's differing opinions, isn't it?
Unfortunately, I didn’t really like the book. As someone who struggled with depression for over a decade, I just didn’t like the way it was portrayed and discussed.
There’s a particular part I remember to this day, where she is running from a polar bear and something along the lines of “you don’t want to get mauled by a polar bear so you don’t actually want to die” was said to her and it’s just…bs. When we say “we want to die” when we think about killing ourselves, we’re not thinking “you know what I want to go out getting mauled by a polar bear”. That’s doesn’t happen. Fight or flight takes over. Nobody wants to die a painful, gruesome death.
As a person who has self-mutilation scars, it really bothered me that she would immediately judge a life as good or bad based on the sole fact that she has scars or she is taking anti-depressants.
I have this scars and my life is great right now. They are part of a dark path I crossed, but it doesn't define me.
Also, being in a treatment it's a good step. Not taking anti-depressants doesn't mean you don't need them.
I enjoyed the book until the end. I was expecting so much more when they introduced the movie store guy.
I loved this book too, I read the whole book while travelling and finished it on the plane. The lady next to me asked me what I was reading, so I told her and explained the synopsis. Since she was interested, I gave my book to her for free to keep. I didn’t really like the second book of the author called how to stop time or smt..but this one I resonated with
Almost every one I know that read this book didn’t like it. But this book for me was different.
I read this book when I was contemplating suicide, and living inside of my head thinking of all the what ifs that could have happened if I just didn’t make that one decision. So it came to me in a time that not only I needed it, but it felt like a hug, like a friend who hugs you to tell you that he gets it.
Was it the best piece of literature? No. But did it do what art is supposed to do, to touch us, teach us, and make us feel less alone? Absolutely yes.
I read this a few months ago in rehab. Got me back into reading! My new addiction is ordering books way faster than I can read them, lol. Excellent book!
I think that's a pretty common addiction around here.
Far better than addictions I’ve had prior. (:
I really enjoyed this one. I loved that it woke up my imagination and had me running though some pretty interesting 'what-if' situations from my life. I've also recommended it to a few friends who struggle with depression and dark thoughts, and they've had some pretty positive things to say about it.
My favourite thing about the book was the author's complete and utterly distain for Bedford. Absolutely no let up for poor ol' B-town.
I thought it was ok. Read it in a book club with two of my family members and we rank it around the middle of the books we've read, good but forgettable.
I liked this book. I also struggle with depression and I think the idea that all versions of your life will have their struggles hit home for me. We humans do tend to see the grass as being greener on the other side, and I enjoyed her exploration into the accuracy of that mindset. I do try to practice gratitude in my own life daily and this book helped me to appreciate the very precise path I have chosen for my life. I think anyone who liked this book would probably enjoy "The Invisible Life of Addie Laroux" also, though that is quite a bit darker.
A really good book. An easy read but profound enough if you have lost direction. I recommend it all the time.
The book is really good. I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once movie after reading the Midnight Library and found it so relatable!
I read this.
I really liked this book. I gifted it to two others.
Just got this book recently but haven’t started it yet. Thanks for the review, looking forward to it even more now.
I loved it! The imagery was detailed beautifully. The story was fresh and new. The characters all had very individual voices. In the end I thought the story was very positive and uplifting.
I’m on vacation in San Francisco. Was in The City Lights bookstore yesterday. Saw Midnight Library, had heard something’s about it, blurb sounded just okay, almost bought it. Then I saw Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang which I had recently heard really good things about, plus a collection of short stories sounded like a better option for a vacation read, so I bought that.
About an hour ago I started reading it. Page one of the first short story, Tower of Babylon… I’ve read this before. Second short story, Understand… read this before too. I own this on my Kindle.
Should have bought Midnight Library.
This is the book that taught me never to trust Goodreads. It was so highly rated, had an interesting premise so i gave it a read. Mistake. Poorly written schlock with zero depth that had me rolling my eyes throughout. Disaster of a book. 0/10. Wouldn't piss on it if it were on fire.
So, so, so good!
I actually just finished reading this book a few hours ago as well. I came across it at the bookstore and the concept was intriguing enough for to try it. It's actually the first book I've been able to finished since before the pandemic. Despite being fairly average writing style, I was surprised by how the story just hooked me and I couldn't stop reading. I think there are some weaknesses with the prose, and the characters are just straightforward, the concept is brilliant. The last few pages really moved me. It's like a fable, bedtime story kind of story. Not the best thing I've read, but worth readying. Actually reminded me a bit when Dean Koontz gets inspirational in his thrillers.
I'm reading this now, just met Hugo
It was a rough read the first few chapters
Midnight library was also the book that got in back into reading a year ago and I always seem to have one close now. I recommend Seven Day in June by Tia Williams next because I think the main character was so relatable and heart warming
Id like to read this book !
Glad you enjoyed it, but I really didn’t get on with this one unfortunately.
One of the main problems for me was that Matt Haig had his typical self-help theme in there, but it felt really muddled and directionless.
The moral seemed to be something like ‘be happy with what you have’, combined with ‘carpe diem’.
But then the alternative Noras that tried to do something more with their lives all had arbitrary monkey paw drawbacks. Even the Nora who went on an Australian adventure had it ruined because her friend died in an accident that was nothing to do with her choices.
It was also impossible to judge the alternative lives properly because Nora got dumped into them with no memory. I’m very satisfied with my life, but it’s going to be a nightmare if I suddenly don’t know my family’s names or how to do my job.
The way the Library worked was also unsettling. Why did she have to quantum leap and effectively steal other Nora’s lives? What happened to the displaced ones?
I figure it was all a coma dream type situation anyway, so the rules are whatever, but it all felt very contrived.
Oh and also what the hell kind of ubermensch is Nora anyway? She could have been a rockstar, Olympic swimmer or Arctic explorer just by trying a bit harder?
I’ve also read Haig’s The Humans which I felt was both much more enjoyable and had a more coherent message. Hoping for more like that in the future.