The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
After thirty-something Nora Seed kills herself, she arrives as a possibly metaphorical
library with an infinite number of books containing her possible lives, each one of which
she may try out, always starting on the night of her suicide.
For me, the depiction of Nora’s suicidal ideation and eventual killing of herself were dismissive of those who face depression every day, and the outcome was fictionally romanticized in a way that may induce suicide rather than showing understanding and encouragement to seek out help when life is dark. I don’t see this as intentional by the author.
— Michael Main
“Every life contains many millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time
one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation
occurs, which in turn leads to further variations. These books are portals to all the
lives you could be living.”
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Canongate Books,
August 2020).