The Midnight Library

I can’t express how much I love this book. There wasn’t even a single page that made be close the book. Absolutely amazing

I LOVE this book

A good book to read when you are in a reading slump, very easy to read and quite comforting.

This book had fabulous reviews and didn’t disappoint!Highly recommended!

It was boring and hard to read, i just skimmed through the last 30-50 pages.

Great read - makes you think

Love it!!To think that we are blessed with infinite possibilities and we still end up choosing the known over the unknown. This book brings a perspective that is much needed in this ever-devouring world.

I don't think I can do this book/review enough justice but I'm going to give it my best shot... If there is one book I would urge you and shout at you to buy it would be this on. Go do it. Treat yourself You will not regret it. I promise. This is going straight into my top twenty of the year reads. I've awarded it five stars and I'd award more if I could! How do I start?I must admit it's not what I expected at all. But I feel it was just what I needed right now honestly. This book is going to be huge. This book for me was amazing, outstanding, life changing, powerful and thought provoking. Honestly have you ever felt so low you wanted to die? Then this book is for you. It will change your whole perspective on life. It has for me. It's taught me A LOT of life lessons and how I see my life. I actually have fallen in love with this book and I don't say that lightly.I don't want to ruin this for anyone but if you could view every possible outcome of your life would you? Would you ever be happy? Just wow. It's taught me to open my eyes, appreciate what I have not what I want. Life is life. Life is beautiful. I loved it all. I devoured it in a day. Beautifully told. An easy read for me done in a day but one I felt I NEEDED to read right at this moment in my life. Now this is my review others may feel differently about this book and some may hate it. But I cant explain how much I loved, enjoyed and needed this book. One I can always go back too when I'm feeling low. Uplifting.So thank you Matt. Absolutely brilliant. Grateful. It's really made me think and I miss it already. Perfection.

Disappointingly trite.I was looking forward to this book. In fact, it’s the first book in years that I actually pre-ordered. The premise is interesting enough: there is an ethereal library that exists between life and death. You are permitted to choose any book from the shelves and each book contains an alternative life. Each life is what would have resulted if you changed a single decision you regretted. Interesting, right? Like you could see what would have happened if you’d gone for that coffee date or pursued that master’s degree or kept playing piano. In the midst of each new life, if the life-hopper finds herself disappointed, she winds up back at the library to try again. Eventually, you’ll either find a life that is the best possible outcome or your “root life” blinks you away into death.Unfortunately, the premise is played out in the most expected way possible. Nora Seed reverses her regrets and realizes that even the best alternate universes have uncertainties and pain and sadness and disappointment. Even when she winds up with her dream job and a great family, she can’t stay to play this life out. Why? Well, because it isn’t really “hers.” So, surprise, surprise, she ends up waking up from her suicide attempt with a new appreciation for the life she once had and longed to depart.If you read the first 30-40 pages of this book, you’ll probably be able to write the rest of it in your mind. It’s supposedly an opportunity to explore infinite universes, so why choose the most predictable course of actions? To get across the point that you ought to realize the beauty of the life we have around us? Just write a greeting card to convey the message; an entire book is unnecessary. Additionally, it seems like the author either doesn’t understand or chose not to really explore the idea of infinite options. In all her lives, the most remarkably unique one is granted one sentence of exploration, “In one life she only ate toast” (212). Every other life is just variations on themes of work, friends, romantic partners, and family. Of the infinite possibilities available to explore, nothing unexpected happens. It’s maddening as the author keeps smashing his readers over the head with ideas that anything might happen while never delivering on the promise.The writing style is difficult to evaluate. It just feels there. Sentence after sentence slowly moving the predictable story forward. It’s utilitarian prose lacking poetry and depth--seemingly at odds with a book that is attempting to spelunk the internal caverns of a deeply depressed person. The author constantly quotes philosophers but doesn’t seem to have any real interest in engaging seriously with philosophical ideas. It’s a novel in form but a cheesy self-help book in content. This novel is a seed of an interesting idea which was never cared for and died below ground. Unfortunate.D-

I am envious of every person who is yet to read this book, because to read it for the very first time is an emotional experience.I read it in one sitting, desperately not wanting it to end but wanting to find out how it turned out all at the same time.When I got to the end I was in tears and I'm still thinking about it and trying to process it two days later. I don't know why, but I needed to read it and it arrived at the right time.One of my very favourite authors.

Pros of this book:🌸 The theme is love🌸 Mental health awareness🌸 Magical realism🌸 Fast-paced🌸 Page turner🌸 Okay for a one-time read.Cons of this book:👀 I got super bored in the middle👀 Did not like the 'always' whiney and dissatisfaction with everything in the life of Nora Seed.👀 Very predictable ending.I am sorry to disagree with all the readers who cherished this book and gave it 5 stars. It just didn't resonate with me. Please don't hate me. 😭 When I started reading it, I was mesmerized by the plot and everything. I even wanted a life like Nora where I could have choices to let go of the regrets and live a different kind of life. But the graph suddenly dropped for me as I crossed 100 pages. I can't stand perpetual whiney people in my life too so it became too much for me to read about Nora's regrets and complaints.I have mentioned the pros and cons above. However, I would suggest if you want to read it, don't buy it as it was for Rs 549 and I felt I wasted my money. I would have been more satisfied if I would have borrowed it from my friend or a library.

I've had to call it a day on this one, I just can't go any further than 101 pages. This book didn't work for me on so many levels. It's a great premise but the execution missed the mark I thought. Instead of a suicide victim, I would have thought this story would have been so much more enjoyable if it involved an accidental death given a second chance at life with a touch of humour, but hey that's just me.My main hang-up here is the constant depressive undertones of the story. I would imagine if you don't suffer from mental health issues this would be a nice read, uplifting in a way even, but if you are unfortunate enough to have mental problems then this book will drag you down, every single sentence will remind you of mental darknesses within yourself that you would rather steer clear of. And yes, I am speaking from a place of experience.This book had great potential, but its depressive nature made it unreadable for me. Sorry Matt, The Humans is far better.