Life is hard. Life is messy. That is at the heart of the narrative in The Midnight Library. Nora is a woman in her thirties feeling intensely dissatisfied with her life. She not only feels that she has failed to achieve her own goals and potential but worries that she has ruined the lives of others. After the events of one particularly awful day, she decides to kill herself.
The afterlife she finds herself in isn't anything she would have expected. Rather, she enters a library with what appears to be endless rows of books. She quickly meets Mrs. Elm who acts as a sort of spirit guide and caretaker of the library. Mrs. Elm is in the form of Nora's childhood librarian who was a kind of solace during hard times in her youth.
Mrs. Elm explains that each one of the books represents an alternate version of Nora's life. It is a life in which different decisions were made that created different outcomes. Nora now has the unique opportunity to select a book and take her place in that life to see if it is the life she would like to return to. If the book/life she selects doesn't meet Nora's desires she will return to the library and select another book again and again until she finds her perfect life.
We follow Nora closely as she selects a couple of different books. She lives a life in which she kept up her swimming and became a professional swimmer, a life where she stayed close to her brother and the band they were in together and a life where she explored a science career studying glaciers. In addition to in-depth explorations we get quick blurbs about other options she tried and ultimately gave up on. Through these varied experiences the story delves deeper into exploring fundamental questions about fulfillment and the human condition.
After a time, the book begins to feel like a philosophy or psychology book as it outlines a variety of mantras and realizations about what is important in life and how comparison and striving for perfection will lead to more dissatisfaction. Nora begins to explore choices with more discernment and a more thoughtful mindset, acknowledging that there may not be a perfect life but there are certainly options that are good enough. This exploration of imperfection and acceptance resonates throughout the book, ultimately underscoring a profound message about life's inherent messiness and the importance of personal agency. Just when Nora feels like she may have found THE life she wants to settle down in, she finds herself unsettled again.
Something is missing. Something isn't quite right. Within that life, she goes searching for what is missing and makes additional realizations that I won't spoil for you here (though you can likely guess what they may be). As her sense of unease grows, she faces a new set of trials that dramatically run to the conclusion of the book. The story ties things up with a bow, acknowledging again that life is messy and imperfect but that we can make the most of life if we decide what to make of it.
I really liked the concept of the book. The different vignettes were fun as we got to explore different mini-stories with the same general cast of characters. In some ways this felt like a 21st-century multiverse take on It's a Wonderful Life and, similar to that movie, a lot of the platitudes and story arcs felt predictable and familiar. Even with that familiarity this is a good, heartfelt novel that's unique enough to warrant reading. It's well crafted and enjoyable and has good messages that we should remind ourselves of more often.
4 out of 5 stars
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