The Midnight Library is a departure from my usual reading as it is in the Fantasy genre. I would also label it as Philosophical Fiction, as I will describe in this review.
We are at first introduced to the novel’s main character, Nora, in quite a melancholic way, as the narrator is counting down the days before Nora tries to take her own life.
Eventually, Nora finds herself in a place between life and death and in a grey stone-walled building full of books on shelves, and her old school librarian, Mrs Elm, is there.
She is in the “Midnight Library” and Mrs Elm reassures Nora that there are infinite possibilities, or lives to choose from. All Nora has to do is tell Mrs. Elm what kind of life she wants to live, and she will pull a book off the shelf and Nora steps into that life.
There is also a “Book of Regrets”, however Mrs Elm advises that regrets are just a load of Bulldust. “The only way to learn” Mrs Elm says, “is to live.”
This is one of a sprinkling of philosophies of life which are presented in this book.
One by one, Nora steps into many, even hundreds, of lives facilitated by Mrs Elm.
Nora’s “Root Life” is left behind as she enters lives as a swimmer, a guest speaker with a Wikipedia page, a glaciologist, a rock star, and many more.
All of these lives are developments of her “Root Life” but which were never realised till she landed in The Midnight Library.
I enjoyed the philosophical aspects to this book, such as,
“Success is a delusion” or “Sadness and happiness, you can’t have one without the other” or “You can’t understand life, just live it”.
Despite these philosophies there is a sense of despair and sadness to this book. Nora suffers from depression, that it how the book begins, and the melancholic thoughts she has float around until finally, the Midnight Library is on fire and……….but I will let you find out the ending for yourself!
This book was sad but I’m glad it ended in the hopeful, positive way it did.
Fiona
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