Matt Haig’s 2020 novel is an illuminating take on regret, despair and the human existence. Here, we review the 2020 novel.
The book is available for purchase here.
The Midnight Library centres around Nora Seed, a woman on the verge of deciding to end her own life. The story opens with the moments and events that add up to her decision – the death of her cat, unread texts to her best friend, the loss of her job and coming face to face with her brother’s dislike of her. She decides that she is not making a positive impact on the lives of those around her and so she takes an overdose of antidepressants. Nora does not die though, but ends up in The Midnight Library. Here, her old school librarian Mrs Elm resides and gives her the opportunity to experience the lives that she might have lived had she made different decisions – the books are the portals to these lives.
By experiencing those lives, she is able to eliminate the regrets that have wracked her life – not marrying her fiancee, deciding to leave the band she started with her brother, giving up on competitive swimming and following her best friend to Australia. Using The Midnight Library, Nora is able to experience those lives she would have lived had she made different decisions, erasing regrets in turn and showing her the infinite possibilities of lives she might have led.
The beauty of the novel is in its simplicity. It’s not a complicated plot and is written in simple English. So too, Haig takes Nora down a simple narrative from suicide to a zest for life – Nora ends up accepting her regrets. The overriding sentiment lies under it all, ‘There is no life where you can be in a state of sheer happiness for ever. And imagining there is just breeds more unhappiness in the life you’re in.’ It’s a beautifully simple and uplifting sentiment and that’s the overriding message fo the book – acceptance of the life you live and the regrets of your path. It’s a wonderfully simple message and one that feels incredibly pertinent for right now.
