Ponder: Midnight Library

The Midnight Library ©2020 by Matt Haig is #7 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers list (June 27, 2021). I infer from that fact that a lot of people want to read it. It is very, very different and imaginative, I will give it that, but I found it fell short of being enjoyable for me. I trudged through the early, thankfully short, chapters, wherein a litany of misfortunes and disappointments befall the main character Nora Seed. These revelations are not a spoiler since they all occur the first 24 pages of the hardcover book: her pet dies, she is fired from her job, she regrets breaking up with her fiancé two days before the wedding, and she contemplates overdosing herself on her anti-depressants. These occurrences merely set a very, very sad stage.

The premise it that at the stroke of midnight, when Nora is contemplating suicide, she finds herself in a library with seemingly endless shelves of green books of various shades and thicknesses none of which have a title on its spine. Each contains an alternative future life she could have if her choices in this life were different. It seemed to me like a high tech "choose your own adventure" book, but it keeps cycling back to the same decision point and does not progress farther. It read like a book of short stories or a list of outline ideas the author had created before deciding to write a novel. Reviews praised it for delving into different aspects of human emotion and perceptions. That may be so but it did not delve very deeply. The back cover of the version I read praised the book highly. Don't believe it. Whenever does a back cover not praise a book?

Nora's guide in the library was Mrs. Elm, a school librarian from her grade school. She meets people in other lives that teach her something in general or something about herself. Here are a few examples of the many, many words of wisdom bestowed on the reader.

Chapter The Chessboard (spoken by Mrs Elm)

Mrs Elm studied Nora hard, as if reading a passage in a book she had read before but had just found it contained new meaning. "Want," she told her, in a measured tone, "is an interesting word. It means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely. Maybe you have a lack problem rather than a want problem. Maybe there is a life that you really want to live."

Chapter The Successful Life (spoken by Nora in a successful life)

"If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace the you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it." [and the line that gave me most pause for thought] "Most gossip is envy in disguise."

I suppose if I had read the book slowly, taking time to ponder each tidbit of advice, I might have grown wiser. Instead I grew bored. The chapters are short, there is much advice, making the book disjointed. I would have preferred a novel with depth of personality of the characters rather than vignettes from a self help book. The setting is imaginative and enjoyable once the reader suspends disbelief. The concept of a Book of Regrets made me consider what my own Book of Regrets might contain. I kept reading because I was curious what life Nora would choose or if she would she choose suicide. Reading this book will  not be an action in my Book of Regrets since I now know what all the hubbub was about; but I would not recommend it to others. I rate The Midnight Library

★★☆☆☆   Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it