I sincerely loved this book. It’s the second book I’ve read of Matt Haig’s and I just thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s infinitely quotable and I’ve already recommended it to several people. I found it so inspirational and I didn’t want to put it down.

One of the best books I’ve read all year! Nora is in a slump and she’s given up all hope and after a series of unfortunate events, decided to end her life. After an overdose, she wakes up in the midnight library where her school librarian helps guide her through alternate universes in which she can choose to become her permanent life. Every new life leaves her with more regrets. Nora goes through dozens of them trying to find the perfect one. But by living several lives, she realizes that no life is perfect and that everyone has regrets and that simply living is what matters most. But she’s almost out of time and must hurry if she wants to make things right. An absolute delight to read, loved every minute!

This is the book everyone needs to read in 2020. The purest kind of pleasure reading experience, one that delights in the moment and stays around in your mind afterwards. The plot, while not breaking any ground that It's a Wonderful Life and countless other stories haven't already, is an instant hook. The protagonist, Nora Seed, is all of us. Outwardly exhausted, drained, regretful, and ready to give up. But also full of inner life and talents and dreams and wonder. The themes and ideas and topics are numerous—depression, suicide, death, quantum physics, the multiverse, philosophy, parenthood, work, art, relationships, and really much more—though the narrative never feels overstuffed. Simply put, Matt Haig strikes a perfect balance between grand storytelling, efficiency and character. Like his previous novel, How to Stop Time, he creates for his protagonist entirely new lives surrounded by different people with the sparest and most precise descriptions. The book's final thesis, while admittedly blunt, is so deeply humanist and life-affirming that I absolutely dare you not to fall in love with it. Please, everyone. Shut out the rest of the world for a little while and get lost in this book. You’ll come out feeling better, and ready to make the world around you a better place.

September is suicide awareness month and this book is just the right book to read.

Yes it’s about wanting to leave this world behind but it is also about finding life and not wanting to give up. Life is more important no matter how hard it gets.

Matt Haig is a brilliant writer and is one of my all time favorites authors.

I recommend this book to everyone. It is a must read.

Have you ever wished you could make different choices? In The Midnight Library you can do just that. This novel explores love, regret, choices, and the will to live (or not). I loved the library setting (of course), the characters were interesting, the ever changing plot lines kept me on my toes. It's worth a read.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Content warning: suicide.

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY is my first Matt Haig novel, but it certainly won't be my last. I flew through this beautiful novel in no time at all, which seems fitting given how time flows in the story. Haig tackles an enormously sensitive subject with directness, compassion, understanding, and awareness. Everyone who has doubted their life choices should have to read this book.

Nora had promise when she was younger. She could have been an Olympic swimmer. She could have been a rock star. She could have helped save the world from climate change. Instead, she's stuck in a lonely existence where no one needs her. After a terrible 24 hours where she loses her job, her cat, her piano pupil, and her last hope of reconciliation with her brother, Nora decides the world would be better off without her. But in the in-between, not quite alive and note quite dead, Nora finds an opportunity to examine the lives she might have had if she made different choices. Will she find a life that suits her better, or will she stick with her root life, come what may?

If you have experience with depression, whether yourself or someone close to you, you will immediately understand Nora's brain. The bone-deep sense that you cannot change your situation, that things will never get better. And the debilitating weight of regrets that make you feel like you did all of this to yourself. Nora is the poster child for chronic depression. Haig doesn't shy away from Nora's reality (or what she sees as her reality), but instead confronts it with "kind but stern wisdom" (his description of Mrs. Elm, which is PERFECT).

With each life that Nora visits, she learns a little more about herself and the people in her life. She recognizes that she no longer wants to die, but she isn't sure she wants her root life either. Her ultimate choice is not unexpected, but Haig gets Nora there in a very genuine way. If only we all had a Midnight Library to help us examine our choices and eliminate our regrets.

MIDNIGHT LIBRARY is a luminous, five-star read. I highly recommend it to everyone. Simply everyone.

I love the idea of alternate universes and the multiverse and the way Matt Haig approaches it in this story was exactly what I wanted.

I adored Haig’s voice in How to Stop Time and it was just as strong here. He does a wonderful job of conveying deep, philosophical ideas without being too “over your head” for the average reader. He can explore very complex ideas in such a relatable way that the reader can find a way to relate to the characters in situations so unlike their own.

Nora had the potential to be a very irritating or unlikable character at the start. (and maybe she is for some readers) She started in a low and sad place, so I was interested to see where she would end up. Watching her come to see that even the lives we wished we could have lived—those where are we are rich, or have our dream job, or found true love— still have issues was such a wonderful journey to follow.

It would have been very easy for this story to become repetitive or drag in the middle as Nora explored the lives she hadn’t lived. Instead, each life was unique and none lasted longer than they needed for Nora to really experience them.

The ending really could have made or broken the overall story. Without giving spoilers, I will say that I couldn’t have picked a more perfect resolution to the journey that Nora went on.

Matt Haig envisions a fantasy world in which his main character, Nora Seed, attempts suicide but ends up in library instead of the afterlife, and the library turns out to be the Anylife. Any book Nora takes from the library's shelves will take her to an alternative life that she could have led, if she had made different choices. The Midnight Library is presided over by Nora's old school librarian, Mrs. Elm. Unlike a real librarian, Mrs. Elm is cute, with twinkling eyes. Librarians' eyes flash in sardonic amusement, they widen in amazement, they half-close with exhaustion, and they narrow with suspicion, but we are not, on the whole, a twinkly-eyed bunch.

"The Midnight Library" suffers from a bad case of Bookclubitis, in which it is not necessary to plot, pace, and populate with compelling characters a good novel, it is only necessary to gush enough "moving" and "heartfelt" prose over approximately 200-250 pages to make sentimental readers believe that they must be reading a good novel.

In keeping with this pernicious tendency, the novel is at least twice as long as it needs to be for Nora to choose a few lives that she regrets not having chosen, to run through a few others, then to wrap it all up with the most predictable of all possible endings and a few revelations about what wisdom she has gleaned while time traveling or life jumping or whatever. If the rest of the book were rendered as well as the first few alternative lives, "The Midnight Library" have been a good fantasy. Unfortunately, Haig pads his narrative with a few hundred extra lives for Nora, along with the requisite pages and pages of introspective schmaltz.

I became extremely irritated with Nora and wished she would either throw in the towel or pick a life already. When she landed in the final chapter exactly where I predicted in Chapter Two, I could not stand Nora. After a few more pages of Nora's therapeutic navel-gazing, I was relieved to have finally reached the end.

I've seen this novel compared to Mitch Albom, and this is an accurate comparison. "The Midnight Library" is a thoroughgoing Albomination, The Last Librarian You'll Meet in Purgatory. Haig buries a very promising fantasy premise in more treacle and tripe than Wan Shi Tong's library is buried in sand in "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

If parallel universes and alternate realities exist, which life would you choose? This terrific new fantasy novel explores what happens when one young woman is given the chance.

Nora Seed, who has passed up many opportunities in her rather sad life, decides to end it all one rainy night, and wakes to find herself in....a library! 'Between life and death there is a library. And within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices...Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?'

I thoroughly enjoyed this story which explores what is important and meaningful in life through Nora's experiences. What make a life worth living?

I received an arc from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I am very grateful for the opportunity.

This was a simple yet life-affirming story about Nora, a woman who tries to commit suicide but is given a second chance at life. Her second chance is the Midnight Library, a somewhat magical, in-between place where Nora can explore all the possible lives she could have had if she would have made different decisions.

I thought it was so interesting to visit all of Nora's different lives and see how one choice could lead to a completely different existence. I love time travel stories, and while this isn't technically time travel, it has a similar vibe. I thought Nora was a well developed character. As we journey through her lives alongside her, we see her grow in her desire to stay alive. Some of her lives were more interesting than others, but every time Norah opened a book, I was eager to see what awaited her in each life.

While there is a touch of sci fi in this story, it is also very philosophical. Haig writes about depression, suicide and life with a lot of wisdom, and from what I know about him, he writes from personal experience. At times, it almost read like a self help book, and I thought the story got bogged down by the philosophy at times. And it is pretty predictable from beginning to end. Yet, I still really enjoyed the book and liked it a lot!

Suicide and depression are grim topics, but this story compassionately explores these topics in a way that is authentic and still uplifting. This is a beautiful and endearing story about life and what makes it worth living.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This title will be immensely popular because it reads like a balm for our times. Though it starts out with a sad premise, the protagonist attempts suicide, the rest of the book is like a sliding doors "what if" story that reads compulsively and ends on a lovely life affirming note.

You can see why this title has already been optioned for film. Haig's writing is warm and wonderful.

I'll read any book that is library themed, and everyone should read this one. Set in the Midnight Library, it's a book about regret and second chances. Where would you be if you'd made a different decision in life's journey? A great book for book clubs.

Oh I liked this one!
Who doesn't spend time wondering what if? What if I had walked a different way home? What if I had left 10 minutes earlier? What if I had gone to that party? What if I hadn't gotten married? Taken that job?
Nora's life is a mess. After the sudden death of her cat, loss of her job, continued strained relationships with her brother and best friend, Nora decides to die.
She wakes in the Midnight Library. With her kind librarian, Mrs. Elm. Endless life choices await her in the library- her Book of Regrets leading the way.
Nora tries on different lives - if she had stayed with her fiancé. Hadn't quit the band.
Nora learns the value of her life- the one she yearns to throw away.
This book obviously spoke to me. I of course have spent many hours wondering what if. As my mood carries me to different possibilities, I know I am living my best life. I know those crap decisions, those life altering, so much work and strength decisions have brought me here. I have regrets. But my happiness is well worth that cost.
Great book. Highly recommend.

This book tackles despair, regret, and the "what if" thoughts we all have by suggesting that Nora, the main character, enters an in-between space between life and death when she tries to end her life with an overdose. In this in-between space, she can try out different lives that branched off of her own when she made this decision or that, trying to find the one where she's most content and at peace. The ending is a smidge predictable, but that's not a bad thing.

An excellent example of "sliding doors" fiction.

If you are like me and have heard about speculative fiction but don’t know much about it this is a good book with which to get started. Nora has messed up her life. She’s made poor choices, she called off her wedding, she’s lost her boring retail job and her last piano student. To top it off her cat died. She’s ready to end her life but somehow ends up at the midnight library, an endless room filled with books with a librarian who is a much sterner version of her elementary school librarian. She has the chance to read books in which her choices were different. What if she had married her fiancé and they’d opened a country pub. Although there isn’t any depth to the book, it is introspective book for readers…. what if they had made different choices and as the librarian says there are big importance to the small choices we make.

This book was gorgeous and heartbreaking but uplifting at the same time. Nora was a full character that you rooted for, cried for and with, felt her desperation and loneliness, and her joy. What if there are parallel universes that you are living? What if your regrets can be undone?

Who hasn't wondered if they had made a different choice their life would be better? In this novel, our heroine, Nora, is teetering between life and death and has a chance to explore her regrets. With the help of a librarian, she chooses a book where she made a different choice from moving to Australia with a best friend, marrying her old flame, and pursuing a different career path. Her goal is to find a life that she wants to live more than her current one. The concept in this book is fascinating and will have you wondering what books your library would contain. Nora's character is real; she's vulnerable, loving, kind, and desperate. Ultimately, this is a heartwarming and uplifting book.

The author Matt Haig is an advocate for mental health awareness. His novel The Midnight Library delves into his real life struggles with depression through a fictional world with infinite choices in this magical library. In this world, the space between life and death includes a library where you can take a journey through alternating life choices and try out other lives. Haig’s main character, Nora, suffers from depression and she wants to die. That night she wakes up in the midnight library with an infinite number of lives to choose from and opportunities to change her life. The library’s shelves contain thousands of books that represent her regrets and possible futures based on these decisions. Through choosing these experiences and living lives where she resolves her regrets, Nora’s discoveries change how she views her depression. The life where she ends up married to a long time boyfriend, Dan, does not have the rosy future she imagined. Her future life with a swimming career reaching Olympic fame also includes a terrible future for her parents. A future life as a rock star and movie star’s girlfriend is shockingly lonely. These surprises influence Nora’s awareness and her wish to live.

As Nora’s desire to stay alive grows, her recognition and self esteem improves through trying to undo these regrets. Nora says, “Who knows? Every second of every day we are entering a new universe. And we spend so much time wishing our lives were different, comparing ourselves to other people and to other versions of ourselves, when really most lives contain degrees of good and degrees of bad.” I loved the way Haig encapsulates a life lesson in stories about the “road not taken…” as the poet Robert Frost stated. I admire Haig's vulnerability in showing the triumph of the human spirit.

‘Between life and death there is a library ,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’

This book was absolute perfection.