Books are like boyfriends: every once in awhile you stumble across one that you wouldn't change anything about, in the places that you'd least expect. I found The Midnight Library by Matt Haig at the airport while in search of coffee for my mid-morning flight. Standing in line, I noticed a small, unattended, stack of books and upon closer inspection, noticed a Post It note on the top that declared "Free books!" Not only did I greatly appreciate this as a book-lover, but I took it as an excellent sign as a would-be traveler. Already weighed down by two other books, and not wanting to be selfish, I took only the one, and was instantly enthralled by the end of the first chapter. The Midnight Library is truly mesmerizing.
"Between life and death, there is the Midnight Library..." and suddenly Nora Seed finds herself there. She is an Everywoman, weighted down by the small - though many - disappointments in life: a confrontational encounter, the loss of a pet, an unfulfilling job and stalled career path, wandering through the world of what-ifs. Filled with regret, remorse, and heavying sadness, Nora - in the Midnight Library, and with the help of an old friend - finds herself able to undo these regrets; the chance to make different choices and try on - so-to-speak - the varying consequences. With cleverly witty writing, truly genuine characters, and imagery reminiscent of Harry Potter, I literally loved every page. It is one of those rare books in which you can't wait to power through it, but you also never want it to end, and I would love to see The Midnight Library on the big, or medium-sized, screen.
This book is pure magic, in the most brilliant of ways. What is at once a hypothesis of life and death is also very much a testament to what it means to truly live, with explanations for the magical that are purely scientific; impressive, though easily understandable by those of us who cheated in Physics class, and buoyed by an honest ebb and flow of emotions, like bobbing through the ocean of ideas, at times sad and lonely, at others funny and lighthearted, and sometimes incredibly intense. Ahh, such is life.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has recently lost a loved one, specifically by way of their own doing. But, regardless, the takeaways from this book are plentiful and deeply personal; everyone will have something different that they can glean from this story that not only spans time but universes. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5.
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