Midnight Library Book Review: A Warm Read That Wore Out Its Welcome

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig had been on my reading list for a long time. Looking at my Goodreads one lazy afternoon, I thought about checking it in my library. And yes, it was available via Libby. A few days of hold, and it came through.

I assumed it'd be a cozy, comforting read, and for a while, it was exactly that. Nora Seed is exploring alternate realities in a magical library, trying to find a life in which she's happy... and I was fully on board.

Unfortunately, Midnight Library ended as a warm read that wore out its welcome. I made it 70% of the way in before I DNFed.

My Rating:

❤️❤️❤️🤍🤍

A warm read that wore out its welcome.

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What is the Midnight Library really about?

The Midnight Library is about Nora Seed, who feels she's let everyone down, including herself. Her life so far has been full of misery and regret. Between life and death one night, she finds herself in the Midnight Library, a place that exists outside time. The book on the shelves here lets her live out a different version of her life, built from the regrets and choices she never followed through on.

With the help of an old friend in this midnight library, Nora starts trying on her new lives one by one. She tries to work out what her perfect life would look like, before her choices place the library – and herself – in extreme danger.

Is the Midnight Library worth reading?

Yes, but with a caveat... it depends on what you're looking for. If you want a gentle, thought-provoking read about regret and what makes a life worth living (and you don't mind a story with a self-help structure, The Midnight Library book is worth reading. It's warm, easy to get through, and clearly feels relevant to modern times.

What Works?

For a good stretch, The Midnight Library was exactly the cosy, comforting read I expected. It was fun watching Nora try on different lives through the possibility-space of the library. Hagg didn’t waste much time getting into it.

The book is also warm and easy to read, no doubt. It's written around mental health, about life and regrets, and there was something comforting in a story that takes those feelings seriously without being preachy about it. It was really comforting, at least in the earlier stretches.

What Falls Short?

The Midnight Library turned out to be overly philosophical for my taste. And once you get the pattern – new book, new life, new regret – the story starts to feel repetitive. I kept waiting for something new, but it didn't come, at least not in the 70% I read before I DNFed.

The self-help-style structure that works in Nora's first few lives starts to feel heavy-handed once you've watched it repeat a handful of times. Unfortunately, I never got far enough to see whether the book broke that pattern before the end.

Who Should Read It?

The Midnight Library is a good fit for someone who enjoy gentle, speculative fiction. It’s written around themes that are real like... such as grief, regret and what makes a life worth living. It's also worth a look, of course, if you've read and connected with Haig's other work on mental health. Just go in knowing it leans towards self-help.

Final Thoughts

The Midnight Library is a good book – well-intentioned, and built around mental health and the ordinary business of living. I just wish it wasn’t that repetitive. It was philosophical, fine, but far too long to remain interesting without something new happening. But I could see why it found so many readers who (may have) made it to the end and loved it.

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