She is described as a sweet and happy child. They werent mosquito bites. 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. Seeing this allows her to realize that Dan was never the right person for her and that she shouldn't regret having broken things off with him. In feeling so overcome with terror, she also realizes that she wants to continue living. 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. Completely agree, feeling all of the feels is being alive even when the tears flow. In the first life Nora travels to, she owns a pub with her husband Dan. Overall Rating: 3/5 Reviewed by: Haris Arman Thong ReadNUS Team Member Haig bases The Midnight Library around one central theme and a common human curiosity: what is the purpose of life? What is the theme of the short story "Games at Twilight"? This is the best life for me. It reveals how exploring these unlived lives has opened her up to the idea that she can make a change in her daily life. In her present life, she wonders what might have happened if she had gone through with her engagement to Dan. More opportunities to have. Eventually facing disappointment with every regret she expunges, Nora returns to the library confused. Superb post! Im a voracious reader. WebThe midnight library represents a chance for Nora to erase her regrets. 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. You can't give up, Nora. In this way, the novel highlights how her life always had a hidden potential for change. 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Shes been an Olympian, a dog-walker, and a glassblower. Melendez, John. In Matt Haigs The Midnight Library, Nora is a woman in her thirties who feels as if her life has been full of regrets and sadness, and her future looks dismal. Yet, the library can only intrigue one so much. You dont need to be famous or rich or medal winning to lead a spectacular life. The closest secondary character, Mrs Elm, is witty, but feels more like a transient character without much power to accelerate the events in the novel. To be the world, witnessing itself., Sometimes regrets aren't based on fact at all, The lonely mind in the busy city yearns for connection because it thinks human-to-human connection is the point of everything. I have no other type of thinking available., And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness. And don't give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. This quote is taken from early in the novel, as Mrs. Elm explains to Nora how lives are shaped by seemingly minor choices. And The only reason Nora didnt end up living one of those lives instead of the life she recently chose to end is because of the choices she made leading up to the present moment. Yet, it also means enduring the most painful and heartbreaking moments of life. This moment comes immediately after Nora escapes the library with the Book of Regrets. Elm is the librarian from Nora's elementary school days. 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. Web Matt Haig, The Midnight Library 1115 likes Like If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Whether its through a fictional characters narrative or summaries of his personal experiences, Haig encourages readers to let go of their past and make the most of their present, and The Midnight Library is no exception to this trend. And yet the moment you make a move on that board, things change. *Im sure if I actually came face to face with a polar bear I would NOT want polar bears. As the main character, Nora Seed, traverses through her different life possibilities, the library becomes the main place where she returns to reflect upon the paths she could have chosen. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. Plain and simple. This theory is explored in the alternative lives generated by minor changes, like going on a date or not keeping a cat inside. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. WebNora is the main character in The Midnight Library.She is a 35-year-old British woman who lives alone with her cat in the quiet town of Bedford. Nineteen years later, after a series of painful events, including the loss of her job and the death of her cat, Nora feels that the world would simply be better off without her. Remember how much you wanted life.". Other powerful moments in the book happen when Nora is experiencing extreme emotions love, fear, pride, adoration, strength theyre feelings at the extremes. Choice and regret: The novel She quickly learns that they are not very happy in this life, as he is continually dismissive of the things she says and seems distant. You get the flow of the story quickly Nora reflects on a key milestone or regret, she makes a decision, and she experiences the consequences of that choice. In this way, Noras understanding of choice becomes somewhat more nuanced. 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. Joe is Nora's brother. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. WebThe Midnight Library Symbols, Allegory and Motifs The Midnight Library (Symbol). And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power., It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original It's you, Nora. All we know is shes been given a second chance, one she fought desperately for towards the end of the novel. It isnt long, however, until disappointment slowly creeps back into Noras heart and transports her, unwillingly, back to The Midnight Library. When I finished The Midnight Library I wasnt left wanting a nice sit down on a comfy sofa reading a magazine, as nice as that is I was left wanting to come face to face with a polar bear, to feel a rush of adrenalin standing up to speak in front of hundreds of people. Melendez, John. Love it. More books than SparkNotes. Hugo references Schrdingers Cat, a well-known thought experiment that exists at the intersection of physics and philosophy. WebThe Midnight Library Symbols & Objects. "A Conversation About Rain" to "The Chessboard" Summary and Analysis. 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. From as far back as she could remember, she'd had the sense that she wasn't enough. It is important to the plot, as it reveals that, unlike Hugo, Nora cannot stay in this transitional space forever. 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. . The lessons than Nora learns from her other lives feel less about letting go of regrets, and more about embracing the whole wide range of emotions of which human beings are capable. His books are YA, but theyre not advertised as YA. Assuming the errors were somehow removed from the book, do you think you would have felt differently about the book had it been sold to you as a YA title? Haigs novel suggests that the purpose of life is to live. 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 Yet, with every flip of a page, they come closer and closer to burning their own book of regrets. Despite the fantastical nature of the plot, Nora is the anchor of the story: whether at home on the verge of taking an overdose, or browsing through magical books in the midnight library, she is absolutely real. The physical Joe is gay and struggles with his father's disapproval of his sexual orientation. Would any of these other lives truly be better? Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. She eventually learns that her root life is the best one for her. She is despondently lonely and thinks that she no longer has a purpose. T he main themes in The Midnight Library are choice and regret, philosophy and the meaning of life, and relationships and forgiveness. We know well by now I think that life isnt about being blissfully happy all the time, but often this is replaced with the idea of the pursuit of contentment a low key level of satisfaction that comes from appreciating small things in life, managing our own expectations and generally trying to keep on an EVEN KEEL. Contact Us Get Involved, uscannenbergmedia.com 2022 USC Annenberg Media. But there are also limitations to this style of narration. She is attempting to tell her that, as her adventures have revealed, her life still contains so many hidden possibilities. These relationship changes are often the best indicator of a given lifes suitabilityin lives where she is still close to Joe and Izzy, in particular, she feels a sense of relief that a universal wrong has been righted. Already a member? The Midnight Library Quotes Showing 1-30 of 1,208. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Good choices, she comes to understand, do not necessarily correlate to good outcomes. To see how things would be if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?, Sometimes just to say your own truth out loud is enough to find others like you., Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Work hard at it. Symbolism is especially heavy in this story. Instead she finds herself wandering an enormous library, where the books without titles enable her to rewrite her own life story by undoing the decisions that have haunted her as regrets. A) They were about to sign a record deal. Nora's regrets range from not marrying her ex-boyfriend Dan to failing to become an Olympic swimmer. When she finds herself in the Midnight Library, Nora is offered the opportunity to reckon with her regrets by finding out what would have happened if she had made other choices in her life. Not affiliated with Harvard College. He also purchases a Simon and Garfunkel guitar songbook from her at the music store. The Question and Answer section for The Midnight Library is a great Each book is a different shade of green and can grant Nora access into a parallel or perpendicular universe where another version of herself is living a completely different or only slightly different life. eNotes.com, Inc. The Midnight Library is a fantasy novel by Matt Haig, published on 13 August 2020 by Canongate Books. One evening, she decides to put herself out of her misery and end it all. Containing every regret Nora has had in her 35 years of life, this book allows Nora to pinpoint choices in her life she wishes to undo and guide her towards a life in which she did the exact opposite.