Review for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

As a librarian, I’m able to get ARC’s (Advanced Reader Copies) of forthcoming novels. I saw this one on a LibraryReads Book Buzz and couldn’t resist checking it out for obvious reasons. Here’s my review of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig releasing this September. You’ve got to put this one on your TBR list. It’s incredible. It is also available for pre-order on Amazon.

*****5-stars

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

Everyone has regrets. We all wish we could do over some things in our past, take other paths, make different decisions. But for Nora Seed, the chance to change her life comes when she decides to end it. Caught between life and death after attempting suicide, Nora lands in a library that contains the books of all the lives she could’ve lived had she made other choices. This library, the Midnight Library, is staffed by Mrs. Elm, her childhood school librarian, who directs Nora to select a book and try out a life that she might find more fulfilling. As Nora samples these different existences, she marries the man she left two days before her wedding; travels to the Arctic to explore the polar region; performs internationally with a hit band; becomes an Olympic swimming champion, and much more but will she find the life that has true meaning for her or be whisked back to the Midnight Library for another “book?”

I couldn’t put this novel down despite the fact that I had a feeling about the ending. What I liked most, besides the symbolism of the library and the books of lives, was the point the author made about how an action we take today, no matter how small or insignificant-seeming, may have a large effect on what happens to us and the people we love tomorrow.