September - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Midnight Library is a little like It's a Wonderful Life. Except instead of Jimmy Stewart jumping off a bridge, we have Nora Seed taking too many pills. And instead of seeing what life would be like if she had never been born, we see how Nora's life might have turned out if she had made some different choices. No angel working for his wings, instead a helpful librarian and the Midnight Library. Haig gives a nod to the movie in a reference to Pottersville in the novel.
Like It's a Wonderful Life, the story is cute and a little too neatly packaged, but it still manages to hold a few profound truths. First, it reminds us that there is no perfect life. Every choice we made led us to this spot from an infinite number of possibilities. Whether we consider our life to be sad or happy or good or bad, the truth is that it is all of the above.
With short sections rather than long chapters, the formatting works for my short attention span and contributes to making the book an easy read.
For all of Nora Seed's troubles, she has a huge skill set. She was a talented musician, a writer, a philosophy major, an excellent student, a chess player, interested in science, and an Olympic-level swimmer. So she's not your average underachiever. Her many, many aptitudes do allow for a wide range of options when imagining other lives. Her varied interests and knowledge across disciplines also enabled the author to dribble in references about multiverses, Hobbesian memory principle, Dunbar's number, Newton's third law of motion, the impacts of global warming, and other exciting theories and observations. A broadly gifted Nora makes a better story.
And Matt Haig's story us a multitude of wonderfully true, but maybe trite sounding truths and lessons.
"I think it is easy to imagine there are easier paths…but maybe there are not easy paths."
"You don't have to understand life. You just have to live it."
"…you can choose choices, but not outcomes. "
"…success is a delusion."
We waste too much energy with our regrets and might benefit from more self-acceptance.
Suicide as a plot device in a 1946 film may be more understandable than in a book released in 2020. I appreciate how Haig guides the reader toward those moments where the wonder and beauty of life are breathtaking, but I also worry that using a suicidal woman to get us there might be insensitive. Does the novel oversimplify and trivialize depression and mental health issues? We know now that having a better attitude and appreciating the little things are not available for someone with suicidal thoughts.
The Midnight Library is worth a read, though not without issues. But maybe it's worth reading precisely because it raises issues.
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