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The Midnight Library

 


SUMMARY

Until now, Nora Seed's life has been one big regret. Well, not actually. Nora has many regrets - not getting married - not continuing her teenaged band with her brother - not majoring in another field of study. From big to small, Nora Seed's regrets are more numerous than her friends. Nora Seed, after a particularly horrendous day (worse than the rest of her days), decides to end her life. 

Upon overdosing, Nora Seed arrives in The Midnight Library, a place between life and death. Each book on the shelves holds a life Nora Seed could have had if she had made one decision, small or large, differently. Not every life is a more opportune one either. With the help of an old friend and mentor, Nora Seed tries hundreds of lives on for size. She's a rockstar, a pub owner, a winery-wife, a cancer patient, a glaciologist: Nora tries to sort out her perfect life. But things aren't always as they seem. Before her time runs out, will Nora find the best way to live?

REVIEW

This book changed my life. While it is technically adult fiction, I felt like I was reading a book on sociology. The first couple of chapters are basically a countdown to Nora's suicide. While extremely depressing, the transition from the beginning chapters to the Midnight Library (or 00:00) is fascinating. 

This book has an abundance of characters. Not all of them are meant for every reader. One of the most interesting facets of the novel is that you get to pick which characters and lives of Nora's you think most about / enjoy most just like Nora does in her own quest for the "perfect" life. 

The characters are just as colorful as the worlds are unexpected. Nora and I were bewildered together, as jumping in and out of lives with no context can be confusing and have a rather large learning curve. Interestingly, Nora's having to learn about herself and her own past made me search myself for regrets I would undo and how I, myself, might have had a completely different life. 

This is a book about the human psyche and repairing flawed relationships. This is a great book to make you think and thinking is what reading is all about, isn't it? Thank you, thank you, thank you to the friend that recommended this book to me. 


Age Range: 14+

ISBN: 9780525559474

Publisher: Viking (an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC)

Tags: adult fiction; sociology; psyche; fantasy


*TW & other topics: suicide, alcoholism, addiction, death/grief, homosexuality (brief), strong language*

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