2021 is going to be wild, I have about six months to get my goals in before I have a baby that will take up all my energy. I’ll continue my reviews for as long as I can – so many books, so little time!
>> The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
But amid pure nature (or the ‘tonic of wildness’ as Thoreau called it) solitude took on a different character. It became in itself a kind of connection. A connection between herself and the world. And between her and herself.
I’ll be honest, this book didn’t hook me at first. It started out really depressing (CW: suicide) and it read like a college essay when it listed every regret the main character, Nora, wanted to change (and you could tell what lives/regrets/changes she would try to fix). In that sense, the book was a bit predictable.
BUT
I genuinely enjoyed how each life/scene was handled and loved Matt Haig’s writing style. He managed to pack a lot into a short amount of space. In every new life that was lived I truly felt the scene unfold before me, which isn’t always easy to do when you’re writing, and to land with such a short book is commendable. I particularly loved when they got into HOW everything was possible (deciphering quantum wave theory) and the casual intellect sprinkled throughout. This book had a remarkable talent to go back and forth between comedy, wisdom, intelligence, despair, boredom, contentedness, and joy – whether it was within one scene or an entire life lived as a metaphor for the sentiment. It ran the gamut of emotions throughout Nora’s various lives and summed up all the feelings usually rolled into one life, an apt notion for the ending.
I definitely recommend giving this one a read. It was a quick jaunt through deep life lessons and finding one’s own meaning and place in this world.
