The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The concept sounded interesting, an infinite library with all the possible lives you could have lived if you made one different decision. I could not finish this book, it was not bad it was just taking too long for me to keep caring about the characters, especially Nora. First, I don’t think there was a warning but suicide or suicide attempts are mentioned frequently. After deciding to die Nora finds herself in the Midnight Library, where she can see what her life would have been like if she made different decisions and didn’t have the regrets or not marrying Dan, leaving her brother’s band, not being a competitive swimmer, not going to Australia with her best friend, etc. While it takes a bit for Nora to pick a different life each time, they are all the same what she regrets not doing does not mean she has a happier life and the regrets she has are different in each life. In several different lives she is still on anti-depressants. By the time the she is doing this for the fourth time, it is getting old and oddly predictable that Nora will be disappointed in the life she could have had. Sadly, at this point the reader is only about half way through the book and I lost interest in Nora going through other lives to change her major regrets, or minor ones, only to realize that her regrets would not have lead to the magical life she imagined.  It is not a bad story, and the author has a great writing style it was just too long for me. However, I do think it might be a great book for others and the writing was engaging. 

 

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