The Midnight Library is out now in the UK and America. "A Conversation About Rain" to "The Chessboard", "The Only Way to Learn Is to Live" to "System Error", Read the Study Guide for The Midnight Library. This is the last line of the novel. It is to wake up every morning and do what makes you happy, whether that happiness is found in the most extravagant or modest lifestyles. because a pawn is never just a pawn. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?". Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. As Mrs. Elm, the librarian at the Midnight Library, puts it, You have as many lives as you have possibilities. Long after Nora has graduated and forgotten about those after-school chess sessions, she finds herself utterly disappointed with all aspects of her life. Welcome back. Hugo references Schrdingers Cat, a well-known thought experiment that exists at the intersection of physics and philosophy. When Nora meets him, she finds him to be less interesting and intelligent than she envisioned. At one minute and twenty-seven seconds after midnight, Nora Seed marked her emergence back into life by vomiting all over her duvet. They itch for ever., It was interesting, she mused to herself, how life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it., She realised that you could be as honest as possible in life, but people only see the truth if it is close enough to their reality., Maybe that's what all lives were, though. eNotes Editorial, 19 Feb. 2022, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-literary-devices-are-used-in-the-midnight-3023590. In a parallel life, they are happily married. As a reviewer, my own lived experience with existential depression and suicidal ideation meant that I faced this book with a tightness in my chest. It made me realise how, over the last year, cut off from most of my usual activities and social interactions, my range of emotions has shrunk. Throughout The Midnight Library, Noras relationships with those around her fluctuate as she shifts from life to life. As she explores her infinite possible lives, she encounters experiences from the ordinary to the remarkable, including narrowly avoiding being eaten by a polar bear in Norway having changed her university course from Philosophy to Geology and taking a role at the Polar Research Institute. You are giving up at the worst possible moment. We dont know how she will spend it or who she will spend it with. 1,304,772 ratings, 4.02 average rating, 141,977 reviews. In these depictions, the image of a chessboard is used to illustrate the idea that life is full of variable outcomes. Of course, they come in different degrees and quantities. Matt Haigs thought-provoking, uplifting new book,The Midnight Librarydiscusses just that, exploring our relationship with regret and what really makes a perfect life. Harpers Bazaar (UK), British author Matt Haig is beloved in his home country, and hes a champion of mental health, which makes him a great person to follow on Twitter. Darling. What she means is that often making a single small adjustment can permanently alter the course of a life. In the first life Nora travels to, she owns a pub with her husband Dan. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. Her discoveries ultimatelyprove life-affirming in Matt Haigs dazzling fantasy. Christian Science Monitor, Charminga celebration of the ordinary: ordinary revelations, ordinary people, and the infinity of worlds seeded in ordinary choices. The Guardian, A brilliant premise and great fun. Daily Mail, An uplifting, poignant novel about regret, hope and second chances David Nicholls, author ofOne Day, Would we really make better choices if we could step back in time? Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. She now has a chance to sample some of those possibilities. By the end of The Midnight Library though I was left feeling like an even keel doesnt really cut it. Leave a comment and let me know. I got the sense that if three-quarters of the novel were cut, we would have reached the endpoint all the same, and with less stagnation. And it became astoundingly clear to her, finally, in that moment: This quote occurs in the moment Nora is nearly attacked by a polar bear. And with all the knowledge she gained from jumping to and from the many lives she could have potentially lived, Nora is determined to make her current reality one she would check out from The Midnight Library., About Annenberg Media Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Symbolism is the practice of employing symbols. Nora returns to her old life because she has a renewed sense of possibility. Haig bases The Midnight Library around one central theme and a common human curiosity: what is the purpose of life? What does the library symbolize in The Midnight Library? In another she is a swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. TW: This article discusses suicide, suicidal ideation, antidepressants and self-harm, We first meet Nora Seed, nineteen years before she decides to die, as she plays chess in the school library with Mrs Elm, the matter-of-fact school librarian. She eventually learns that her root life is the best one for her. This brainy, captivating pleasure read feels like what you might get if TVsTheGood Placecollided withWhered You Go, Bernadette. People, Clever, emotional and thought-inspiring. Jenny Colgan, author ofThe Bookshop on the Corner, Amazing and utterly beautiful,The Midnight Libraryis everything youd expect from the genius storyteller who is Matt Haig. Joanna Cannon, author ofThe Trouble with Goats and Sheep, Noras life is burdened by regrets. This description lays out the mechanics of this otherworldly setting, framing Nora's subsequent adventures in the rest of the novel. Melendez, John. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. Izzy is Nora's best friend. PartSliding Doors,part-philosophical quest, this is a moving novel with a powerful mental health message at its heart. Alice OKeeffe,The Bookseller, Haigs latest (after the nonfiction collectionNotes on a Nervous Planet, 2019) is a stunning contemporary story that explores the choices that make up a life, and the regrets that can stifle it. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. The idea of success is complicated and questioned as the novel progresses. The physical These figures appear as both brief references and conspicuous plot points: her cat is named Voltaire; she contemplates Bertrand Russells perspective on life and his many infidelities; and in one life, a favorite line from Thoreau is tattooed on her forearm. What are the main themes in The Midnight Library? The Midnight Library Quotes Showing 1-30 of 1,208. He just makes the whole thing soeasy. This moment comes immediately after Nora escapes the library with the Book of Regrets. The novel opens with her playing chess with Nora and talking about the possibilities of life. Cooper, James ed. Photo by Ivo Rainha on Unsplash. Yet, it also means enduring the most painful and heartbreaking moments of life. Brilliant point . This is the key realization that ultimately leads her to a greater chance at happiness in her root life. There are lives in which both Joe and Izzy are dead, and their deaths can be indirectly traced to Noras presence or absence in their lives. Matt Haig. Dan is Nora's ex-fianc. Where she is in her life now, she finally realizes, is the result of having done the best she could with the emotional resources she had available. The Midnight Library explores the complex psychological dynamics of choice and regret. Ultimately, with the help of Hugo Lefvre, Nora comes to believe that the Midnight Library is a philosophical construct by which her brain can make sense of the presence of parallel universes. Ed. WebThe closest secondary character, Mrs Elm, is witty, but feels more like a transient character without much power to accelerate the events in the novel. What can be a theme statement for the story "Games at Twilight"? Between stacks of bookshelves again. This final life, however, gave Nora hope that there is a world in which she can be happy. Such a gorgeous, gorgeous book. Fearne Cotton, host of theBBC Radio 1 Chart Show, [The Midnight Library] will follow in the bestselling footsteps of Haigs earlier books . The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great But it is boring. Cloud State University M.A. eNotes.com, Inc. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. However, in one of her parallel lives, she learns that he is unhappy with her and cheats on her. More books than SparkNotes. However, I foundthe depiction of antidepressants reductive: when Nora enters one of her favourite potential lives, she views the absence of antidepressants in the bathroom drawer as evidence of a happy life. Hes best known for the novelHow to Stop Time, but he has a new novel just out on September 29 calledThe Midnight Library, which sounds equally intriguing. It is like stage fright only worse, for Nora can never really get off the stage of her own life. Then she wakes up in a mysterious library filled with books of other lives she might have led and an invitation from the librarian, Mrs. Elm, to enter their pages. Though this immediate danger quickly passesNora survives the encounter with the polar bear and is complimented for her bravery by the other members of the expeditionthis is an important moment in the book as it shows her definitively deciding she wants to keep living. Embrace that you-ness. Sitting in a gloomy high school library, she is playing chess with the schools librarian, Mrs. Elm. A few chapters later, Noras cat dies, she loses her job, her At the beginning of the story, Nora feels completely trapped in her bad circumstances. More books than SparkNotes. Aim to be you. Each book in it represents the way Nora's life might have turned out had she made different decisions. In this storyline, she owns a pub with her husband Dan. eNotes Editorial. She fights for her life and succeeds in throwing up the pills she took earlier that night. WebThat is not to say that The Midnight Library is a miss. That is not to say that The Midnight Library is a miss. He is depicted as pushing her to work hard and pressuring her to try to compete in the Olympics. D) It indicates that the book will end when Nora dies. Nora realizes that she has life fright. This, too, is a central metaphor. This is the best life. She tells Nora about how it exists as a space for her to see different versions of what her life could have been. And between her and herself., Happy moments can turn into pain, given time.. When she survives her suicide attempt, she awakens with a sense of peace in her life that has previously eluded her. My word of the year this year is SELF, and I dont feel like I can be my best self if Im only experiencing a limited range of feelings. Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday! Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Shes been an Olympian, a dog-walker, and a glassblower. Nora feels sad that they have drifted apart over the years. I was both intrigued and uneasy about the use of a fantastical library to explore something as real and horrific as suicidal depression. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile., As Thoreau wrote, Its not what you look at that matters, its what you see., You dont have to understand life. More opportunities to have. Matt Haig: The Midnight Library review - an uplifting modern parable |, Finding The Way Back review - alcoholism on the rebound, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld: The Discomfort of Evening review - lovelessness, loneliness, bodies and their limits, Sema Kaygusuz: Every Fire You Tend review an education in grief, Karl Ove Knausgaard: So Much Longing in So Little Space review smiles more than screams, Will Harris: Brother Poem review - writing the poems that could have been, Disbelief - 100 Russian Anti-War Poems (ed. The narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, Nora, but not of any of the other characters. But once you sense that vastness, once something reveals it, hope emerges, whether you want it to or not, and it clings to you as stubbornly as lichen clings to rock.. Though Noras perspective shifts incrementally with each new life she enters, this experience particularly contributes significantly to her reframing of what it means to lead a good life. "The Midnight Library Quotes and Analysis". The library is a symbol of possibilities and choices. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. This theory is explored in the alternative lives generated by minor changes, like going on a date or not keeping a cat inside. Nora had always had a problem accepting herself. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Word Count: 924. She is caught in an inevitable cycle: Nora suffers from panic attacks and anxiety, and her mental health often leads her to lose momentum. As readers, her journey is our journey, and by the end, my own book of regrets felt considerably lighter. In her present life, she wonders what might have happened if she had gone through with her engagement to Dan. On a beautiful page titledExpectation, Nora imagines What it would be like to accept herself completely, every mistake she had made every dream she hadn't reached.