I almost never entertain any hypothetical situations in which I am time traveling. I'm very suspicious of time travel. My philosophy is that every single decision in our lives has led us to where we are now. And I'm not just talking about the big stuff. I'm also talking about the little things: Did you eat breakfast this morning? What are you wearing today? What brand of pens do you buy? I know these types of things seem trivial, but this leads us into the premise of our book.
(Disclaimer: This book is not about time travel, but I swear my ramblings are relevant.)
Nora Seed is a woman full of regrets. Her parents are dead, her brother hasn't spoken to her in two years, she left her fiancé at the alter, and she's lost contact with her best friend. All she has is her job at the local music store and her beloved cat, Voltaire. So when she gets fired from her job and then comes home to find out that her cat, the one living thing that relied on her, has died, she loses all hope.
Nora decides to commit suicide.
But Nora doesn't die just yet. Instead, she ends up in the world between life and death.
A world called The Midnight Library.
We learn from the librarian, Mrs. Elm, that The Midnight Library contains an infinite number of books that tell the stories of the infinite number of lives you are living. In the library, she gets to explore all of these lives and more. She could be an Olympic athlete, a wife, a rockstar, a glaciologist, or any number of infinite possibilities. Mrs. Elm explains that if Nora finds herself disappointed in the life she's in, she will be transported back to the library. And once Nora finds her perfect life, she will stay there forever and forget the library even existed. So what's the catch?
Nora can only explore these lives as long as the library is still standing.
And the library will only remain standing as long as Nora's root life exists.
Every time Nora loses hope, the library is at risk of collapsing.
Will Nora find the life she wants to live before she runs out of time?
As someone who struggles with anxiety, I often find it difficult to adequately express what I'm feeling or why I'm feeling it. Matt Haig uses his personal experience with severe depression and anxiety to give a voice to these complex feelings that are so difficult to articulate and understand.
One of the many frustrating things about anxiety is that no matter how much someone explains to me why I shouldn't be anxious, and no matter how logical their reasoning is, there's a good chance I'm going to be anxious anyway. Fun, right? My brain lies to me, and words alone aren't enough to drown out the anxiety in my head. Haig understands this, and so Mrs. Elm doesn't simply tell Nora why she should fight to live. Why? "Because, Nora, sometimes the only way to learn is to live."
This book makes many people, including myself, feel seen.
Read it and you'll understand or be understood.
Comments