The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Typically, when I finish a book, I immediately pick up the next one. However, on occasion a book lingers in my thoughts for a day, or more, carving out a spot for itself and temporarily forbidding any new stories from taking root. “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig is such a book.
Regret is a universal experience. Each day we are given a myriad of choices and decisions, and inevitably we second guess ourselves, or at the very least reflect on the roads not taken. Sometimes we look back five, ten, or forty years on and wonder, what if I chose differently? Seldom are we able to try out all the options and opportunities life presents us. Robert Frost evocates this feeling in “The Road Not Taken,” when he wrote about the intention of exploring two paths, but knowing in life you seldom have the chance:
“Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.”
What if you had the opportunity to explore the other road? What if you could peruse a library of all your life choices, and select any iteration to test drive “what might have been?” That is the premise that lies at the heart of “The Midnight
Library.”
Thanks to “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we’re all familiar with the trope of a suicidal character getting to experience “what could have been.” And thanks to the proliferation of superhero pop-culture, the concept of a multiverse is fairly mainstream today. “The Midnight Library” takes those ideas and weaves together a powerful human tale of regret, connection and possibility. Both message and medium flow harmoniously as the story unfolds with creativity and profundity. Read at the risk of experiencing personal feelings of deep self-reflection and inspiration.
“The Midnight Library” is the November selection for the Books & Bites book group. Read the book and then join Books & Bites at the Blaine Library on Friday, November 17, 2023 at 1 p.m. for a time of community and lively conversation. For more information, visit wcls.libcal.com/event/9738093.
Reviewed by Jonathan Jakobitz, Blaine Library branch manager, Whatcom County Library System
(Originally published in The Northern Light, Wednesday, November 1, 2023.)