The Midnight Library: A Book Experience

If there was a possibility to rate a book 10 out of 5, it would be this one. Like the lead of the book, Nora Seed, who witnessed a life without regrets only when she died, I too stumbled upon this book at a time when it was the only thing I wanted to read. I have a habit of highlighting important passages in a book. And here I probably highlighted the entire book. This may be a self-help book for some and an interstellar trip for others. But for me, it was a reflection of myself. Initially, I choked up to see how Nora looked at her life, a life full of disappointments and regrets. I found myself to be a person of the same age group and an uncanny resemblance to her thoughts. And over the course of the book, I too found myself appreciating the immense possibilities life holds. Thank you Matt Haig for writing this book.

Nora Seed, a 35 year old woman has been living a life full of regrets. “I wish I was a swimmer or a musician, or a philosopher or had a spouse, or I was a traveller or a glaciologist, or just happy, loved. But I have nothing. I could not even manage to be a ‘cat owner'”. Dispondent with a life flooding with disappointments she decides its just not worth living and takes an overdose of pills. But once she is unconscious, she is not dead, and neither is she alive. She instead is in a transition and the transition looks like a library!!!

‘Between life and death there is a library. And within that library, the shelves go on
for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how
things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if
you had the chance to undo your regrets?’

It is then when Nora lives her life without regrets. But after all this does she appreciate the vastness of life and the fact that life cannot be understood but only lived? You can find it by reading the book yourself. Get your copy from Amazon:

Amongst the many passages I highlighted, one of them I loved is Nora’s self-composed song:

Howl

To the winter forest
And nowhere to go
This girl runs
From all she knows
The pressure rises to the top
The pressure rises (it won’t stop)
They want your body
They want your soul
They want fake smiles
That’s rock and roll
The wolves surround you
A fever dream
The wolves surround you
So start the scream

Howl, into the night,
Howl, until the light,
Howl, your turn to fight,
Howl, just make it right

Howl howl howl howl