This is a life-affirming novel of the first order, as I knew it would be, written as it is by Matt Haig. Nora is at the lowest point she could be, not just contemplating giving up with life but starting the process …. until she wakes up in the Midnight Library. Here she can think about her life so far, what she regrets doing and what she regrets not doing, and go back to see where different choices would have taken her. All sorts of different paths to follow, some she immediately realises would be bad, one or two enjoyable enough but are they perfect? What makes this book so interesting is that in the enjoyable other lives there have been sacrifices, mostly in terms of what her choices have meant for other people’s lives, and there we have Nora’s dilemma.

I enjoyed this very much, it is a quick and absorbing read, thought-provoking for everyone I would guess. Fast-paced and with some interesting but not overly heavy philosophical references. Highly recommended.

This one was a really fun read, for the most part. The main character has given up on life and decides to end it, but what lies between life and death for her is the Midnight Library, filled with millions of books containing all of her alternates lives that she gets to try out to see if she can find one worth living.

This premise was very interesting as someone with depression. The character finding that most of her alternate reality selves, no matter how different their life paths may be, was still depressed and taking medication for it. In some lives she is wealthy and successful, but still unhappy. In some lives some of her friends or family members have died.

This books asks the ultimate question, if you could have a do over, would you? What little or big decisions would you make differently? Or perhaps we all need to do a bit more of appreciating the lives we already have instead of always wondering what ifs. We don't need to die in order to start tackling our own book of regrets when we can face them now and make this life into the best one we could have had anyway. Definitely a book for thought and one I highly recommend.

A beautiful love letter to living.

Have you ever pondered how your life might have turned out if you’d taken one path instead of another? When Nora Seed, full of loneliness and regret, reaches breaking point and finds herself in The Midnight Library, she discovers every possibly life shelved and ready for her perusal. But what is ‘success’? What does a ‘happy life’ even look like?

Oh Matt Haig. I adore him. I have so much respect for anyone willing to be open and vulnerable about their mental health in the hope of reaching someone else but to do so with such an enormous platform and while subjected to endless criticism, trolling and abuse is just a testament to what an incredible mental health advocate he is.

This is my fifth of his books, my second of his adult fiction offerings and I love the way that his advocacy and personal experiences permeate every page. The balance between real darkness (that he doesn’t understate for the sake of comfort) and moments of pure, brilliant hope. In The Humans, mental health is presented as something that is just fundamentally human. In The Midnight Library, he brilliant captures the contradictory drone of depression that tells you simultaneously that you don’t matter, that nothing you do matters, you wouldn’t be missed but also that everything bad that ever happens is your fault.

This was The Truth Pixie for grown ups and I loved it. For impact, readability, message and just how it made me -feel-, it’s an immediate five stars. With a few hours to reflect, I will say that Matt Haig’s writing is a little on the simplistic side; I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, there -needs- to be accessible books dealing with mental health but if you are looking for something hard-hitting and literary, this isn’t it.

Another brilliant book from Matt Haig. I particularly love how his books are so engaging. Great read

I'd have been pretty surprised if I hadn't liked this being a Matt Haig book about a library of different lives.
From reading 'How to stay alive' we know that the author has had personal experience of mental illness and I think this comes across here in the story of a woman that has attempted suicide being given the option of undoing her regrets and joining the lives.
Its thoughtful and beautifully done. At times I thought some of the lives were too brief but that's a very minor criticism. The ending was moving.

I didn't know what to expect from this book before I read and I was very pleasantly surprised. It is a very whimsical story about changing the past or better put, learning what we can and cannot control. This is a novel everyone will love, with a story that stays with you forever.

Disclosure: I'd like to thank the publisher for my advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

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This book is intriguing, thought-provoking, and astonishingly well written. But for me the book's real strength was in the characters - all very real and believable (even those who appear only fleetingly). The main character, Nora Seed, is especially likeable and I was willing her to find a HAE.

A keeper. I have my hardback signed copy on order.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest reveiw.

I absolutely adored this book. It is a stay up all night, can’t put it down story of complete perfection. Following Nora and her visit to the Midnight Library which shows her all the variations of her life that could have happened, it’s just amazing. Beautifully written, life affirming and makes you look at life in a wholly different way.

Wow. This book was just beautiful to read from start to finish.
I have been a fan of Matt Haigs for quite some time now, and his books have certainly helped me through some difficult times, so when I was approved to read this one I felt overjoyed.

I adored the storyline throughout this book, it was unique and enthralling from the beginning. Perfectly highlighting mental health issues within a magnificently plotted story, it beautifully portrayed how people can often get lost in the moment and dont always see all that life has to offer.

I could shout about this book all day long! A poignant, heartwarming and at times heartbreaking story of discovering the strength we posses within. A must read!

4.5 Stars

Publisher: Canongate
Date of Publication: 13 August 2020
Number of Pages: tbc

[DISCLAIMER: This review is written in response to an advanced reader copy from my friends at Netgalley. Any quotes within this review may be incorrect in the final published text.]

“‘Between life and death there is a library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices…Would you have done anything different if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’”

Matt Haig first came into my life with Reasons to Stay Alive. I have more than one copy and I have gifted copies to people. More recently, I’ve been sending copies of his Truth Pixie series to my nieces.

The Midnight Library has similar themes but is for adult readers. There is something heartbreakingly familiar about this book. Connections occur on many levels and some are more difficult to process than others. Who hasn’t wanted to live a different life? Wanted the big overseas adventure? Wanted to go home again? Wished they had studied harder at high school? Wished they had known at 17 what might be important and interesting in the tale years of their 30s? Wished they hadn’t stayed in a job they didn’t like with people they hated? Wished the new coffee machine was black instead of red? Wished they had tried harder to stay within the dance world? Wished they had the courage to finish and submit the two novels written and never read? We all have a book of regrets but the lesson we must learn is that life continues.

“I don’t understand life,” sulked Nora. “You don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it.”

In these days of unrest and hatred I think it is important we find things we can turn to for comfort and reassurance. These things don’t need to be books, it can be anything that connects you to yourself.

“So long as there are books on the shelves, you are never trapped. Every book is a potential escape.”

More, The Midnight Library reminds us that life is long. Life is a marathon not a sprint, as the saying goes. You can choose whether you want to be happy or if you want to spend your days feeling angry and unfulfilled. I know which I choose.

So let’s be kind to the people in our own existence. Let’s occasionally look up from the spon in which we are because, wherever we happen to be standing, the sky above goes on for ever”.

This book is all things wonderful. I believe that it takes someone who has gone through similar to really write about people struggling with MH issues. It's no secret that Matt Haig has suffered himself and this is reflected into the realism surrounding his characters and the situations he finds themselves in.
So, Nora has had enough of life. But as she tries to do something about it, she finds herself in a library. In front of her is the librarian from her school. All round her are books, and the librarian explains that they are the books of her own life, each telling the parallel story of what would have happened to her had she made a different decision. She now has the chance to taste any of these lives to see if things could have indeed been better. Assisted by her book of regrets as a guide. What would have happened if she had gone abroad with her friend, if she hadn't run out on her ex, if she'd said yes to that date... Nora gets to sample each life... But what is the ultimate lesson to be learned... well, that'd be telling.
Oh my, I really loved this book. It also came at exactly the right time for me as, well, we all know how weird the world is at the moment with many issues other than just Covid to get to grips with and I had found myself veering into quite a lot of introspection... too much maybe. So, not to put too fine a point on it, thank you Mr Haig...
The concept of the library, the librarian, the regrets, the paths never taken, just resonated with me so much. There's things I regret, obviously, things I wish I'd done differently. I think everyone can say the same and that is why this book is so powerful. And wonderful as as well as the power it holds, it's also pretty empowering to the reader. Well, it was for me. But, as well as that, it's a cracking story. Nora is a fascinating character - every facet of her - and I really did both sympathise and empathise with her as I got to know her.
All in all, a cracking read that I have no hesitation in recommending. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review. I needed this book,I didn't know I needed it until I had been reading for ten minutes,and then I devoured it in less than twenty four hours. I was attached,I could related to the main character Nora more than I would ever like to admit.

Nora is thrown into the midnight library,which exists between being alive and being dead. Here she meets her old school librarian Mrs Elm. The library contains an unlimited amount of books,each one is an alternative reality in which you could have lived based on which decision you chose at which time.

A story of hard truths and bitter sweetness. Breathtakingly honest and home hitting. I didn't know this is what I needed to hear until I read it. Matt Haig has gotten this story on point. This was the point of view I needed to hear,and I am sure that so many others out there also need to hear it.

A beautiful story of how we struggle with life and the decisions we make and how these can all come tumbling down on us, making us feel hopeless and beyond caring how life ends up.
But what if we got a chance to go back, and really check these decisions and see the thread behind all these events in our lives?
Nora is struggling and has taken that option to give up, but she has been given a chance and it is here we meet the midnight library.
And what an amazing library it is.
A story of life, believing in who we are not what others think we are or want us to be.
A wonderful uplifting, beautiful story.

This book came precisely when I needed it. I was confronted, inspired, and moved. This may be his best work yet.

Matt Haig is back with a vengeance. I'm a big fan of all of his books, and this one certainly lived up to my (unfairly high) expectations.

When Nora Seed decides that her life is not worth living any more, each of the books in the Midnight Library gives her a chance to experience a different version of her life, altered by decisions and circumstance. She is able to examine her regrets, and see how life would have panned out had events unfolded in a different way.

This is exactly the sort of premise for a book which, if executed badly, could easily become contrived and clunky, but not in Haig's masterful hands. He is so good at capturing the tiny, day-to-day truths which make us human, and putting them down on paper in a way which is both raw and dignified at the same time. I'm sure that many of us have questioned what life might have been like had we made a different decision about an ex-partner or a job opportunity, and yet again, Haig has managed to write a book which doubles up as both entertaining novel and life coach.

Trigger warnings: suicide and suicidal thoughts

In many ways this is a very straightforward novel built around a simple idea. A young woman, Nora Seed, in the grip of depression, who is weighed down by a sense that all the failures in her life, all the regrets and bad choices, have brought her to the point where she has nothing left to live for. She is certain that there is no-one remaining in her life that would miss her if she were gone and so she decides to end it all – she decides to commit suicide. A simple concept perhaps, but one that encourages us, the readers, to think more deeply about the nature of our own lives. To think about what it is in life that brings us happiness and purpose, that keeps us believing that life is worth living.

This early section of the book is an unrelentingly frank presentation of Nora’s life. Her sense that she was a disappointment to her late father, her estrangement from her brother, the loss of her job and even the death of her pet cat, the only living thing that was in any way dependent upon her. She has reached the point where she feels that every connection between her and the world around her has been severed. However, it is when she has taken what she is hoping will be a fatal overdose of pills, and she has slipped into unconsciousness, that the novel takes a fantastical turn.

Nora wakes to find herself in a strange building of infinite size filled with bookcases holding an infinite number of books. This is the Midnight Library and each of the books represents a life that Nora might have led and indeed might now lead instead of her old, unhappy, one. It soon becomes clear that she is being offered the chance to experience her life as it would have been had she made different choices that would have ensured that she never experiences the regret that she thinks has blighted her life. To help her in this exploration of her alternative lives is a librarian who takes the form of Mrs Elm, the school librarian of her childhood, and who she returns to when the alternative life she has chosen to explore disappoints her.

I rather think that many of us have played this game at some time. Many of us have thought about, fantasised about how differently our lives would have played out had we made a different decision here or taken a different path there in some parallel universe of the kind implied by quantum mechanics. For Nora, and perhaps for all of us, life is a collection of regrets, but she is given the chance to find a life that, for her, is worth living. She experiences many lives in which she fulfils her potential as an Olympic athlete, a scientist and even a rock star, and some where she avoids other less significant regrets. But time and time again she finds herself back in the Midnight Library facing the possibility that her suicide will prove to be successful if she does not find that one alternative life she is destined for. However, if she does find it then for her perhaps what Sartre wrote will prove to be true: that “Hope begins on the other side of despair.”

If this is a story about regret and its corrosive effects on how we live our lives, then it is also a warm hearted and optimistic story; a life-affirming fable that deals with difficult matters of mental health, and of what it means to be alive in these times, in a sensitive, poignant, and profoundly moving way. The author, who is new to me, has produced a beautifully and sensitively written piece of work that deals with a complex subject matter with great clarity.

I would like to express my thanks to Net Galley and Canongate for making a free download of this book available to me.

Matt Haig is a novelist who has been around a long time now, however it in recent years he has become known more for his non fiction, especially “Reasons To Stay Alive” In this novel for the first time he has addressed the issue of mental health and been able to bring it into a new universe, a midnight libiary. This is far from a dystopian novel nor is it a rehash of Sliding Doors, Haig as ever has brought a unique take on the “what if” and on the edge of despair, makes us wonder and explore that question.

Nora Seed finds the Midnight Library on the brink, as her life has not planned out as expected, never quite fulfilling anything she thought she could have done. In the Midnight Library she is able to find out what could have happened had she persuaded her Swimming, kept the band going or followed a different path.

This book examines and strips that What If right to its core. It is able to examine what we think success is and what consequences there are in finding it. It's about acceptance and what really makes us happy. Haig hits all the right spots and does what he does best. Nora has her own voice and character but Haig has the ability to talk directly to the reader, through any type of writing and this book will leave all its readers re-examining the concept of What If and the good things they have in their own lives. In these times, what better things can come from a novel or piece of writing and its why it will be the perfect book to find at the end of the summer and hopefully lockdown in 2020.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is, as always, a brilliant read. The reader is immediately pulled into an unputdownable story. A brilliant take on a very difficult subject. I will never forget the library and what happened in it. Heartwarming and up-lifting. . A pleasure to read,

I absolutely loved this book!
Nora was just such a wonderful, believable character, her depression depicted so authentically that you could really feel it with her.
The concept of the library itself was brilliant, and I loved seeing how Nora's spark slowly came back as she experienced all of her different possible lives. It gave such a strong positive message but without being preachy, and was at times heartbreaking but also uplifting.
This was one of those quietly beautiful books that really stays with you.

The Midnight Library is a treasure trove of philosophical delights.
The sorry circumstances Nora Seed finds her life to be in are not only relatable but all to familiar to many.
Matt Haig presents the theory of multiple lives and the endless possibilities of these lives with such imagination. I simply could not put it down.
Left me feeling invigorated and intrigued as to what other possible lives I could be living.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this early copy. One to treasure and quote from for a long time to come.