The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I have a mantra in life: ‘It’s not about what if, it’s about what’s next.’ I do believe that there’s such a fine line between enjoying (and reliving) memories and falsely perceiving security in the past. Once you go down this latter route, there is no ‘next.’ Having suffered from anxiety in the past I can totally relate and empathize with this state of mind – as indeed the author does here.

The Midnight Library takes the whole ‘what’s next’ from the ‘what if’ pivot point and allows the main character – Nora Seed – to re-examine relationships and places, tastes, and talents. The ‘if only’ argument is scrutinised and evaluated in beautiful prose, and we are taken on a journey which begins with Nora setting the date for her suicide, and during which we and she hope to find life’s equilibrium once again.

I absolutely loved the whole magic of the library and the appearances and reappearances of characters in, effectively, parallel universes. It felt like we were taking a truly three-dimensional sabbatical while we, as readers, found the time and space to look back at all of those crossroads in our lives and, hopefully, felt that we had been guided to take the turnings we ‘chose.’

I did get a little bogged down in the final third of the book. I felt that some of the charm of the story was clobbered by an increasing reinforcement of the book’s central message – just in case we hadn’t really got it! I did, and still enjoyed it.
​
Some readers might say that this is much too light-hearted an approach to such a serious subject. My answer to them would be that by reading a book as this they might understand a little more about the condition. None of us are likely to read a heavy, learned article from The Lancet in order to receive the same information. By making it so accessible – like a good TV drama that makes you look more closely at, frankly, very frightening issues – this book is more likely to provide a lasting memory – before we move on to the next one.

---