The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is about a woman named Nora Seed, exploring her “alternative lives” after committing a suicide in her original life. Each book in the library is filled with “other lives” she could have lived. All of the lives she could’ve lived starts in the “Book of Regrets”. There, every “regrets” she made or other path she didn’t pick are listed from the age of 0. Picking one brings her to a completely different life, after all.
Throughout the story, she learns what it means to live and die, and about her existence and its meanings. At first, she was desperate to die as soon as possible, but she realizes the importance of being alive and living a life that is irreplaceable. Most of the life she experienced wasn't as good, or even worse. But still, she had the courage to be in each one of those lives to learn distinctive lessons.
I personally contemplated life and death a lot during the pandemic. I’ve spent hours of nights thinking about why I exist and the meaning of living a life, in general. Death has also become something really close to us this past year. Many people, including kids and teens might have experienced depression, lack of motivation, and hopelessness. I experienced a serious lack of motivation a few months ago, from not having any exciting events and not seeing people for so long. But this book has taught me and aided me to keep on moving forward and live your life and also to be proud about what I selected in my life choices.
I really enjoyed reading through how once choice leads to a completely different life and personality of the person. All of the scenes are beautifully written and I really liked how the main characters were able to start thinking about life more valuable through her experience. This book was a great read and I recommend it to everyone, especially as we start to see a light in the dark, endless tunnel.
Review written by Yuuto, Grade 9