I know I'm in the minority but I really did not enjoy the Midnight Library. The premise got me really excited but it was executed in a really basic and uninteresting way-using a lot of tropes and I feel like there was a seriously lost opportunity with the story line.

A comparison with Oona Out of Order can't be avoided. I liked this one better for the metaphysical context and the idea of parallel lives vs Oona's one life lived out of order. The infinite number of small acts one makes over a lifetime and how they affect not only ourselves but others is kind of fascinating to think about. And I loved the library as the central repository of all those possibilities for the metaphor of the endless possibilities represented by a library in general.

The ending, which advocates for a sense of agency being key to a fulfilled life, also very much appealed to me. I spent a lot of time thinking about my own "book of regrets" as I read this book. This will make for a very good book club discussion, I think.

not a bad book by any means, but it just didn't do a lot for me. i did get the OCCASIONAL warm fuzzy towards the end because i'm a hopeless sap, but overall: meh.

The Midnight Library is a layered novel with deep seriousness partnered with whimsy and fantasy. It's very much related to "It's a Wonderful Life" but updated and less sentimental. Nora Seed decides to end her life and winds up in a perpetual midnight in a sort of library while she has the opportunity to explore "what if". In some ways it is predictable, but in a way that I found satisfying.

I have to admit I was a little hesitant at first to read The Midnight Library since it wasn't my usual genre. However, I am so glad I broke out of my box and read it! Haig's The Midnight Library is a hidden gem. The main character, Nora Seed, is fed up with life and decides to end it. Before she dies, she enters the Midnight Library where the reader is introduced to the many lives. of Nora. The Midnight Library is so much more than a book about time travel. It is a story that shares with the reader that grass is not always greener on another side; that life is hard for everyone at one time or another; that the life before you may not be the easiest but making the best of it is a choice we make. It's a novel about not giving up but finding joy where you are planted. The Midnight Library is deliciously magical! 5= stars - don't miss this one!

One of the best books I've read this year! This book has a great premise that is very well executed. It strikes a perfect balance between thoughtful and entertaining. It asks the very human question "What would be life be like if I'd made different choices?" and it was deeply enjoyable to ride along with Nora as she discovers the answers.

Where do you go when you die? Or rather, in the time between life and death? What if that space were a library? A library that holds books only you can read, books that hold your life stories, the stories of your life if you had made one different decision.

Nora Seed is faced with this library. Each book is a different story of her life based on a different decision and outcome. Would one of these stories make her life story better? happier? more fulfilled?

I have recommended this book to so many people. I love it that much! As someone who has often wondered how my life would have turned out if this one thing were changed, this book gives me a glimpse of how it could have been.

#TheMidnightLibrary #NetGalley #MattHaig

What an odd and delightful little book. I really enjoyed this - definitely one of those stories that leaves you thinking when you're finished. What if you could really try out different versions of your life? What difference do small decisions make?

Nora Sneed's life had basically disintegrated the day that she decided that she was going to die. She just got fired, her cat died, her brother wasn't speaking to her, she lost touch with her best friend, and the list goes on and on. So after a handful of pills, Nora wakes up in The Midnight Library. A stop between life and death. The Midnight Library is full of books. Each book contains the story of Nora's life if she had made a different choice. She can pick a book and enter that alternate life until she finds the one that is perfect. The minute she experiences regret, she will return to The Midnight Library. Nora gets to experience what her life would have been if she married that ex-boyfriend. Or stuck with swimming and had an Olympic career. Or continued the band with her brother. None of the lives were exactly what she wanted to be happy. Will Nora discover "the" life or will she be forced to continue on to death.


The Midnight Library was absolutely delightful. I had heard a lot of positive things about the book, but that doesn't always mean anything. I felt sorry for Nora Sneed. She was obviously expressing severe depression, and things just kept piling up on her. It all started with her father's death as a child and just spiraled from there. One of the key lessons Nora learned as she traveled through the library was that most of the things in her life were because of somebody else's influence. Swimming was her dad's thing, music was her brother's thing, opening a bar was her ex-boyfriend's thing. She never took the time to figure out her own thing - the thing that would truly make her happy. That is pretty profound if you think about it. While I hoped for one ending, there was another one that made me pretty happy. CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS


Bottom Line - The Midnight Library really should be at the top of your TBR list, if it isn't already. It is well written, engaging, and gives us another alternative to the age-old question "What happens after we die?" Matt Haig's theory just became my new favorite. I hope that someday I get to take a trip to The Midnight Library.

The midnight Library

Suffering from morbid ennui, self-abnegation and an excruciating sense of failure, Nora plans to take her own life, but at the last moment finds herself magically transported to a vast supernatural library containing every possible version of her life from the multiverse stored in its own volume. The library is curated by her middle school librarian who holds us a spot in her heart for the kindness Nora received during a family tragedy. She embarks on a series of misadventures as each life plays out as she tries to shed her regrets and sense of failure. As each unexplored path opens, she discovers the same sense of dread and failure she experienced in her core life. Eventually discovering that what was lacking from her life was not fame, success, or credentials, but love. Nora's heart opens and the death wish diminishes. Fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and The Ocean at the End of the Lane will enjoy The Midnight Library.

I have heard of Matt Haig as an author numerous times over the last several years. I've never let myself or thought of reading his work before this one.

Nora Seed has made a lot of different choices in her life. On this day, all of her choices have caught up to her and Nora decides she wants to end her life. As she makes this decision, she arrives at the Midnight Library. Here, she's offered the opportunity to try to live her life over. To make different choices and see if she could find a life that she would be content in. With the understanding that this journey could be temporary, Nora goes forth to see what her life could be.

So the slightly negative thing to start. This book almost broke me. Watching Nora go through all of these lives and never have one land was incredibly hard. It's all of these lives she could have and none of them worked for some reason or another, some she could understand why not. She knew they wouldn't make her happy or she knew that it was a life that felt false for some reason. I could understand the rationales, but still.

The library. This otherworldly world between heaven/hell and our life here. It was intrinsically exactly where I would want to go if I died. If I could have choices like Nora, absolutely send me to a library. It was such a fascinating construct. If given a chance, would you explore all the what if's of your life to see if you could find some version of it that makes you happy? Personally, I also loved that it was her librarian from childhood. It was the perfect foil ; someone whom she had trusted and found as a friend of sorts. Someone she felt she had ultimately never let down.

The ending made me really stop and debate the whole story. The entity took her through all of these lives she could have had. Showed her that ultimately none of them entirely suited her in terms of contentment. Yet, Nora ultimately ends up in a place where she doesn't want to die. On some level, she realizes that the life she has lived has had had worth. She has had an impact on others in her small sphere. Without her, their lives would be for the worse.

The ultimate thesis is to not live life looking for regrets and to see where you have made positive impacts? As much as I appreciate the general thought and I did love this book, upon reflection... this ending, for someone with depression and suicidal ideation is hard to just swallow. It borders on idealistic. Which I wish I could be but I'm not.

Maybe a re-read is in order? Thank you so much for the ARC!

When I asked to read this title, I somehow had a completely different idea of what it was about--Nora's "go to place" was a library with her old school librarian as a guide, other sliders had a video store, restaurant or other different places where they would go between lives. So it was not specifically about libraries and books, but was about Nora taking a good long look at herself and becoming all she could be. I must say the ending was soooooo exciting, Mr. Haig had me sitting on the edge of my seat--it was worthy of one of those disaster movies. I have to say this book started out kind of slowly, but definitely picked up speed and then the end was over really before I was ready for it.

I love the introspection Haig's books require. This title started out a bit dark and has hindered some readers because of it. However, life is a bit dark and it was so realistic to what many feel and experience. The opportunity to visit the "what if's" was enlightening and I loved seeing the concept played out in print. I will be recommending it and will most certainly reread!

This book was extremely popular over the holidays, sells extremely well in my stores, and is a prime summer read. So of course I had to finally pick it up, and I was not disappointed.

Matt Haig is known for hard-hitting and deep thinking titles, and this one is no exception.

What if after you die you could look back at your life and see what would happen if you made different decisions? What are regrets if you can change them? Would you change them?

If you need a book to make you think deep, depressing thoughts this one is for you.

Major TW for suicide. This book is definitely not suitable for everyone.

4 stars

It was one of the most checked-out books in my Library System and I can see why. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the what-ifs of what would happen if you were able to see how your life could have panned out. It resonates deeply.
Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Great, unique plot with a really compelling main character. I loved the concept of the Midnight Library, and I eat up any story that involves parallel universes, so this was one I'd been meaning to read for awhile.

The only thing I didn't love about the book was how preachy it got at times (a little too self-help-esque for my liking), but overall, I thought it was super well-written and imaginative, and I did love the overall "lesson" that Nora learned. Super realistic fantasy, and overall a feel-good book.

Between life and death, there is a library where a person can pick a volume and change something in their life, and see how that plays out. I loved this book. I only wish it had been longer!

As a librarian, I am always drawn to books with library in the title. The main character Nora decides to "check out" of her boring life. Then the book had an interesting twist - all of the lives that Nora could have had are available to her in a parallel universe that she can reach by simply choosing a book in a kind of limbo library. So many different lives - if only she had made different decisions. Part of me was angry with Nora for not making better choices as it seemed any of the lives were better than the one she was living. As she moved through lives, she would find herself back in the library which was run by her childhood librarian. While exploring different lives, she encounters other travelers on their own journeys through life choices, figures out how to move through lives, finds out there are different kinds of limbo for different people, and finds out a lot about herself and her choices.

The Midnight Library seems to recently have been popping up everywhere and after reading it I understand why. The books strongest attribute is it’s premise - between life and death there is a library where you can test out all the other lives you could have lived. Kind of a new take on reincarnation.
In many ways the topic and style reminded me of the Starless Sea. Forcing you to really look at and evaluate life, under the premise of a magical world. And for this is love both of these titles. My only complaint (making this a 4.5 star book) is that I feel there are some portions of the story that could have been better rounded out. For example, it was predictable from the very little we knew about Nora what lives she was going to live first (swimmer, lead singer, studying glaciers, etc). It was almost too well set up and needed to feel more organic. Overall though, a great read that hooked me in and I easily sped though in a day.

Nora finds herself wanting to die, but instead she ends up in the Midnight Library where she is able to read part of her personal Book of Regrets and experience what other ways her life might have been lived had she made different choices. The story appeals those who have regrets about choices they've made and wonder what might have been if they had chosen differently.