THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

by Matt Haig

I sometimes wonder with books like The Midnight Library, which are on so many bestseller lists and have been recommended by so many people, if my disappointment when I read them comes from unrealistic expectations. Haig has a great premise for the book. Unhappy with her life and filled with regrets, the main character Nora Seed, is contemplating suicide. By some form of magic, she finds herself in a vast library at midnight and can select and sample any of millions of alternative lives she might have lived had she made different choices along the way. Clever, right? Some of these alternate lives that she experiences make for quite entertaining reading.

What ultimately happens, however, is that even Haig loses steam along the way. After detailing a half dozen alternate lives, he writes comprehensive list upon list of additional lives that Nora chooses to live. And as Haig describes each successive life, he succumbs to every cliché and hackneyed sentiment he can find. As I read, I began to think that even he was getting bored with his premise. So even though it starts out well, by the end The Midnight Library was not my cup of tea. (Liz)