In 2020, one of the books that was successful and that made many give it a chance due to the (positive) reviews it had, was The Midnight Library. It covered topics that could well be self-help, but wrapped in a captivating enough novel that it was impossible to put it down.
But What do you know about The Midnight Library? Next we want to leave you some information about the novel so that, if you have not read it, you can do so. Go for it?
Who wrote The Midnight Library
Do you want to know who wrote The Midnight Library? Well, the creator of this book was Matt Haig, an English writer and journalist who not only writes fiction novels, but also nonfiction.
Matt Haig was born in Sheffield in 1975 and studied English and history. He is currently (at least until 2015) married to Andrea Semple and has two children and a dog.
Part of his books have their own inspiration. And it is that, something that the author often tells is that, at 24, he himself suffered a mental breakdown and anxiety which made me have to see things differently. And that is what he looks for in his novels).
The first novel he wrote is from 2004, entitled The Last Family in England (although in the United States they changed the name to The Pact of Labrador). However, prior to this she released a non-fiction book in 2002, How come you don't have an electronic strategy?, as well as, in 2003, Brand failures.
Not all of them have been bestseller or number one, but there are some to highlight such as Reasons to Stay Alive (Reasons to be alive), which remained in the top 10 in the United Kingdom for 46 consecutive weeks; or Santa Claus and me, a children's book that apparently will have a film adaptation.
In 2020 Matt Haig published The Midnight Library and, such was the success, that the novel was selected for the 2021 British Book Awards, as well as being adapted for radio.
What is The Midnight Library about?
We could say that The Midnight Library deals with two important themes: on the one hand, reading, especially due to the fact that the story places us in a library full of books. On the other hand, life And how the decisions we make over the years make us different opportunities arise. Such is so, that the character himself sees himself seeing everything that could have been if he had chosen other types of decisions.
Here is the synopsis of the book:
Between life and death there is a library. And the shelves in that library are endless. Each book gives the opportunity to taste another life that you could have lived and to see how things would have changed if you had made other decisions ... Would you have done something differently if you had the opportunity? ».
Nora Seed appears, without knowing how, in the Midnight Library, where she is offered a new opportunity to make things right. Until then, her life has been marked by unhappiness and regret. Nora feels that she has let everyone down, including herself. But this is about to change.
The books in the Midnight Library will allow Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she will have the option to avoid everything she regrets having done (or not having done), in pursuit of the perfect life.
But things won't always be as she imagined they would be, and soon her decisions will put herself and the Library in extreme danger. Nora will have to answer one last question before time runs out: What is the best way to live?
As you can see, the argument is, to say the least, curious. And at the same time it makes us wonder what we would do if we found ourselves in that situation. But it also makes us think about what that way of living is, and above all what makes us happy, a full life or just life. That is why, at times, this novel can act as a self-help book, without really being one.
how many pages does it have
One of the common questions people look for in regards to books is the length. Sometimes it may be because you don't want books that are too big, perhaps because they make you tired, or because when you go on a trip you don't want the suitcase to weigh too much.
In the case of The Midnight Library, the extension is not too wide. It has a total of 336 pages, which makes it a fairly quick book to read. If you have a habit of reading, you could finish it in 2-3 days, while if it costs you a little more, you would have it in a week.
What is the recommended age for The Midnight Library?
Another important point that is sought is the recommended age. When a book is liked a lot, it is normal to recommend it to another person. But in the case of minors, sometimes indecision or not knowing if it is suitable for them can stop you.
We recommend this book from the age of 18. Because? If you have read it, even if it is the synopsis, you will suspect the reason. In reality, it is from the age of 17-18 when a person begins to consider decisions that will mark their life: the career they will choose, the friends they will have in their young adulthood, the professional and personal future... And that is where there is a greater difference in terms of choosing one path or another. So it can be therapeutic to read a book in which a person is faced with the different options of him.
What to expect from the book
If you are still undecided about whether to read the book or not, our recommendation is that you do so. Take it as a novel, not a self-help book, because it really isn't. However, because of the topic it deals with, and because it is something that you will have considered at some point in your life (what would have happened if instead of saying yes, you said no) it can make you see things differently and, above all, everything, see if you really have to live regretting not having made another decision or not.
Have you read The Midnight Library? Do you share your opinion about him?