Book Review: The Midnight Library

 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

    "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 if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”

    This is the choice presented to Nora Seed, a self-proclaimed failure who ends her own life. She is greeted in her library purgatory by her former elementary school librarian Mrs. Elm.  Named The Midnight Library, Mrs. Elm and the endless library are a hell even Dante couldn't imagine. Mrs. Elm shows Nora the "Book of Regrets", a book purely dedicated to every regretful decision Nora has made in her life. To rid herself of regrets, Nora forays into each alternate reality where she lives out her opposing decision. As she loses hope, the library crumbles and she's forced to confront and accept herself as is. 

    A beautifully written book that follows a straight story, no twist or turns, no hidden surprises. Haig leads the reader along Nora's heart-wrenching  path, with no utopia in sight. The novel is upped in intensity with it's intense internal philosophical debate. Nora regularly references philosophical greats such as Thoreau, Hume, and Aristotle as she grapples with the decisions she's made in life. 

    So really, what is life? Who knows, but here's a good book to start thinking about it.

This book receives 8.5/10 Mirant stars!