The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

As an almost Psychologist I have heard and read a lot about depression. Even though I know what it is, I know what we do to treat it. I know so much about depression but just not what it is. In a sense, that feels a bit odd but I have never felt I understood it truly. I have never been depressed, I never wanted to die. In no bitter period have I felt such a way so as a human I never understood how someone would feel. This book in that sense was such an interesting read as I could feel and understand the feeling. The brain is such an amazing organ, it is so mysterious in a way that we experience the world so different yet similar enough to agree on things. This book touched me in more ways than one, so let’s get into it.

The book in short
Between life and death, there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?
I found this information here.

What do I think?
Have you ever thought about purgatory, although this book isn’t like that as you can not only pass on you can also go back. When in our lives, when we die that is, we do not come back (medical intervention aside). This book has such an interesting view on life and being able to re-do your regrets. The most beautiful thing was that Nora learned so much in her ‘travels’. She learned what it is like to stare death in the face and to want nothing more than to live. That is very powerful as not many people have had such an experience. I also enjoyed the fact that even if life was wonderful for her, it wasn’t always for the people she knew. It was that life, the perfect one that she needed to understand the impact she had on others. That impact seemed so very small but was big. I loved the fact that we saw Nora fall in love with life, most importantly with the imperfections of life. I liked that she found herself and that she realized that even if her life was perfect she would have been too late for it. I enjoyed the fact that the characters in the book were different in all their lives. Yet, very similar still. Ravi was always angry, Joe didn’t hate Nora but he was in conflict with himself, Dan was an ass. And then there is Ash, who has been reaching out. Who is her person, and in the end, she goes after him herself or at least that is was she is planning to do. I would have loved that in a way, another chapter on how her life would have been but on the other hand I am glad it is not there. I do not enjoy endings, I do not like it when a writer fills it in especially when in my opinion it is all wrong. I liked the writing style, the book is so lovely to read. It is also not very long so you breeze right through. It is however still a literary and adult book which I do enjoy. I wish book Nora to be with Ash and for her to get her own Molly and her own Plato, and Plato might just be a cat as cats are great. Who knows? That is the beauty of that part of the story, you have to write it yourself.