What if, one day, you wake up to find yourself in a library? The library is endless, stacked with rows of books- each one an alternative life that you wish you had lived or wanted- “Every life contains many millions of decisions”. And it has your favourite librarian too! You pick up a book, open it and start living that life. You can read/live as many lives as you can. The possibilities are endless…or not. The moment you begin doubting your life, the library starts to dismantle. That’s Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ for you- a book on choices, regrets, acceptance, kindness, and more importantly to “never underestimate the big importance of small things”.
So many times, we must have gotten tired of our lives. We must have gone through extended periods of self doubt and existential crisis. And in such inconsolably sad times, we must have thought of ending our lives and our miseries for once and for all. But not all of us get a chance like our protagonist Nora Seed to wake up in a library, suspended between life and death, to rethink our choice(s) by sampling one life after another.
The book is a wonderfully meditative counselling couch minus the superficial psychological or spiritual spiel. The narrative and plot are linear. And it is based on this intriguingly beautiful notion of the multiverse and the possibility of the myriad options it can offer. And each book in the library becomes a gateway to a new world, a new possibility, a new life, a new you. But each book is also a choice, a decision that comes with its own set of outcomes. I am not going to spill more beans on the story. That’s for you to read and find out.
In life one comes across a book, that speaks to you. Literally. And Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ is certainly one for me. It was the book’s title that captivated me to buy it. And I am so glad that I did. Judging a book by its cover is not so bad after all! Although the book does not delve deeply into the multiverse theory or the philosophy or the physics behind it, Matt Haig carefully crafts the narrative around the fact that “You don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it.” Nora’s journey is everyone’s journey- from self reproach to self acceptance. And like the traveller, it is not what we look at but how we see that defines our journey.
I loved every page of the book, hope you do as well.
Amrita Satapathy 