Skip to main content

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*

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Author Spotlight: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley At my school, I am a Library Leader. (Library Leaders promote reading in the middle school and recommend books for the younger grades.) The Library Leaders had the fortunate opportunity of eating lunch and meeting with Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. We got to ask her questions and just talk with her. Mrs. Bradley also spoke to the whole seventh and eighth grade in assembly about her research. 1)      When/How does she write? Mrs. Bradley writes in the morning, but this depends on her chores for the day. She got into her routine when her children, now graduating college and out of college, were small and went to school. She would always wait until her husband took them to drop them off at school. She likes for her writing space to be very quiet. She prefers typing when she when she writes as to writing. (This may be pretty common; I do not know what the common format among writers is today. I just thought I would include eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

Long Way Down

A Long Way Down Written in verse, A Long Way Down by J ason Reynolds is a novel about making a moment’s decision. *DISCLAIMER: The story deals with grief, mild cussing, and gun violence. Plot Summary: Will doesn’t live in a so great part of town. This African-American teen’s brother, Shawn, is shot and killed by a member of gang member in a near-by part of town. Will decides to follow ‘The Rules’. (‘The Rules’ are passed on through generations of members of this community and they are: 1. DON’T CRY 2. NO SNITCHING 3. ALWAYS GET REVENGE.) Will decides to kill the gang member who killed Shawn. He HAS to follow ‘The Rules’. He gets on the elevator to go down to the Lobby and the elevator stops at every floor. People that have been shot in the past and were in his life get on the elevator at every floor. This thriller is written over one minute and nine seconds. Author Praise/Critique: Jason Reynolds is a very talented poet. The book is very visually pleasing because ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Reading and writing, reading and writing, reading and writing: that's what I hope to keep doing all summer (with some swimming and seeing friends mixed in there too!). Here's another review! This is Stuart Turton's The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle,  and it's a doozy.  SUMMARY THE RULES OF BLACKHEATH Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let's begin... Evelyn Hardcastle WILL die. And every day Aiden Bishop WILL try to identify her killer and break this neverending cycle he has somehow found himself in. But every time a new day begins, Aiden inhabits the body of a different guest at Blackheath. Some of Aiden's hosts will be more helpful than others. Some of Aiden's hosts are more capable than others. Some of Aiden's hosts start to overcome Aiden's true personality. Then again, who is Aiden? A...
Post a Comment
Read more