The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: The Safe Space

Personal Ratings:

Trigger warnings for mental health disorders, self-harm, substance abuse, suicide, terminal cancer, death of a loved one, and everything in between are in order in Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library. 

This adult science-fiction, a fantasy-esque novel that is wrapped up with philosophy, parallel universe, and quantum physics, and won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award and Good Morning America’s Book Club Pick, follows Nora Seed on the midnight of her suicide attempt. 

Full of regrets and despair, she finds herself instead in a somewhat purgatory place between life and death where a magical library offers a chance to undo her regrets through an infinite number of books that contain all the possible versions of her life. As long as the time stays at midnight, she can slip inside and out of the pages, hop from one life to another — with different careers, relationships, and choices, and take over the narration in pursuit of finding the one that makes life worth living. 

At the first read of the opening line of the story, it can be easily deduced that its premise is going to be psychologically dramatic and maybe a long read in a figurative sense. The opening line replicates itself in the following seven chapters, which is an outright countdown of her suicide attempt in a tell-all narration of her triggers and histories that lead to the incident. 

However, it doesn’t entirely feel heavy. Sometimes it’s so lyrical, metaphorical, and poetic that it’s beautiful phrasing actually dilutes the painful meaning out of it. Haig writes the minor non-sentient matters, such as the black hole and music notes, as if they have a life on their own. He describes them so thoughtfully and turns them into perfect punch lines dancing with figures of speech in all the right places — it’s vulnerable yet captivating like a melodramatic song. It’s still true that sometimes its deep accuracy brings an intense emotion, but that’s probably why the chapters have short pages so that it’ll be less overwhelming. 

As the story progresses and the more lives she tries, the better it gets — which is also to say that this book doesn’t really include a significant plot twist. It’s more of linear storytelling and quite predictable. But that’s why it’s comforting to read. It’s this nice satisfying feeling of seeing all the progress that is made and the quiet anticipation of knowing that it’s going somewhere better feels both settling and soothing. It’s such a consolation for all the twisted realities and chaos of life. 

When Nora slides off to her other lives, she lands back into the known world, with real people. Everything is as natural as they are, except for her living situation. So in terms of it being a fantasy genre, it’s a bit lowkey. It doesn’t really involve some utopian setting with strange creatures. Even the midnight library is quite monotonous, like a void universe. However, it still perfectly captures the wonders of every little detail of this ordinary world — music concert feels, picturesque landscape of nature, hotel paraphernalia, home interior styles, pool temperature in Australia, countrysides, and apartments in England. It’s all as if it’s an imaginary tour. 

Maybe these are some of the things that are worth living for, the simplicities, ordinaries, and minor details of life. In the words of Mrs. Elm, “never underestimate the big importance of small things.”

The Midnight Library is apt for adults, but it can also be for teens or anyone who feels the different perplexities of regrets and uncertainties in life. This story is a reminder to live in the moment, seize opportunities, and be kind to one another.

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