The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 1786892731 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 1786892731 Global Overview for this book
Registered by BookGroupMan of Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on 11/3/2021
This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by BookGroupMan from Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, November 3, 2021
I've thought about this for a while, but resisted because the previous (and only) Matt Haig book that I've read, Notes from a Nervous Planet underwhelmed me. However, I've taken the plunge because it features as the context for a panel discussion at the Chester Literary Festival ... so here goes!
(6/11/21) *contains big spoilers* This reminded me of the TV series Quantum Leap (1989-93), in which time-travelling actor Scott Bakula would jump into other peoples bodies, we find out, to correct some historical mistakes. However, Nora Seed has some choice to jump into alternate versions of her own possible lives, we find out, to exorcise her regrets. But I’m jumping ahead of myself!
Nora is having a difficult time, in a rough life, she has bouts of depression, leading to a suicide attempt at midnight … hence she finds herself in the ‘Midnight Library’ containing books for all the lives she hasn’t had and decisions she didn't make, think Sliding Doors. In this Scrooge-like journey no time passes in her ‘root life’, so she is in a limbo world between life and death, until (if) she finds some alternative life to live in. She tries many, including a perfect happy life, success as a singer, academic, and olympic swimmer, adventures as a vineyard owner in California and as a glaciologist in the arctic circle, amongst many. Each life teaches her about the good and bad in any existence and draws her inexorable back to her root life, jobless and catless, and unfulfilled, in Bedford. Oh I forgot, she has a guide in this netherworld, her ex-school librarian Mrs. Elm. And she meets a fellow ‘slider’ who explains the phenomenon in terms of quantum wave theory and multiverses (back to 1980’s sci-fi?) The most likely ‘real’ explanation is that it’s all in her head, in 2 respects; (1) her mind creating alternative worlds to make sense of her life in a psychotic near-death dream state, and (2) from a quote from her beloved Thoreau (or is it Camus?), it’s not what you look at that’s important, but what you see. So we all have to ‘live our best life’ to borrow a phrase, and not wish for things we haven’t done, or dwell on regrets. So, a long complicated way to get to some home-spun philosophy, which is what Matt Haig does, he draws you into the stories and extended self-help memes. Actually I quite liked it :)
(6/11/21) *contains big spoilers* This reminded me of the TV series Quantum Leap (1989-93), in which time-travelling actor Scott Bakula would jump into other peoples bodies, we find out, to correct some historical mistakes. However, Nora Seed has some choice to jump into alternate versions of her own possible lives, we find out, to exorcise her regrets. But I’m jumping ahead of myself!
Nora is having a difficult time, in a rough life, she has bouts of depression, leading to a suicide attempt at midnight … hence she finds herself in the ‘Midnight Library’ containing books for all the lives she hasn’t had and decisions she didn't make, think Sliding Doors. In this Scrooge-like journey no time passes in her ‘root life’, so she is in a limbo world between life and death, until (if) she finds some alternative life to live in. She tries many, including a perfect happy life, success as a singer, academic, and olympic swimmer, adventures as a vineyard owner in California and as a glaciologist in the arctic circle, amongst many. Each life teaches her about the good and bad in any existence and draws her inexorable back to her root life, jobless and catless, and unfulfilled, in Bedford. Oh I forgot, she has a guide in this netherworld, her ex-school librarian Mrs. Elm. And she meets a fellow ‘slider’ who explains the phenomenon in terms of quantum wave theory and multiverses (back to 1980’s sci-fi?) The most likely ‘real’ explanation is that it’s all in her head, in 2 respects; (1) her mind creating alternative worlds to make sense of her life in a psychotic near-death dream state, and (2) from a quote from her beloved Thoreau (or is it Camus?), it’s not what you look at that’s important, but what you see. So we all have to ‘live our best life’ to borrow a phrase, and not wish for things we haven’t done, or dwell on regrets. So, a long complicated way to get to some home-spun philosophy, which is what Matt Haig does, he draws you into the stories and extended self-help memes. Actually I quite liked it :)
Passing on to my mum to read; like me she's not convinced. If not a convert, at least I know what Matt Haig is all about now ... expectations ... managed