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One, however, is different. However, when she goes back to her hometown she sees that her absence has had am impact. Nora thinks about Dan, a man who worked in PR but had a dream of running a pub in the countryside. But while it's uncharted. Every decision in life leads to different results in life, and those possible lives are reflected in these infinite volumes. As she comes to understand her loved ones better, she comes to forgive them more easily for their transgressions and the complications of their relationships. Mrs. Elm tells Nora that almost all of the books on the library's seemingly infinite shelves represent lives that Nora could have lived if she had made different choices. Joe also doesnt drink and Nora doesnt consume caffeine. He is currently the restaurant critic at Philadelphia magazine, but when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about giant robots and ray guns. 4. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book. While the concept does fly high, it also flies straight. A blending of traditional reincarnation and the Many Worlds theory. In this novel, Haig addresses weighty topics through a main character, Nora Seed, who attempts suicide and must explore what it means to live while in the gray area between life and death. The Library dissolves as Nora decides to live. Not in heaven (dull) or hell (overdone) or purgatory (insert Lost joke), but in a library. A woman named Nadia calls, and Nora is shocked to learn that her dad is alive. I usually read three books at once and treat Goodreads . Nora thinks that this may be the best version of her life. The only question left hanging over all of it is which one she'll finally choose. For a short while it seems appealing, but it soon becomes clear that the relationship has problems which Nora does not feel compelled to take on. For a non-spoiler version of the plot synopsis, see The Bibliofile's review of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. She thinks about the plants she helped water for him when he was in surgery. Nora tries a life where she stayed in her band and became a famous rock star, but she learns that becoming famous lead to Joe dying from substance abuse. Inside the library, Nora is met by a familiar face: Mrs. Elm, her school librarian from childhood. GoodReads. The librarian tells her to write her own story now, as quickly as she can, and maybe she can escape. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. 7. The Midnight Library is unusual in that it follows a plot with no twists, no turns that don't feel like a gentle glide. The library is her brains way of making sense of the theory of alternate universes, Hugo posits, and she is seeing Mrs. Elm as a guide because the librarian represents a comforting authority figure from her past. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ended up being a preachy, fictionalized self-help book that I didn't ask for and that wouldn't have helped anyway. One tells the story of your life as . What details do you notice that show that this story is not taking place in the United States? To her surprise, she comes to understand and forgive herself better through this process, too. I like how it works with the concept of alternatives lives. Major spoilers for "The Midnight Library" are ahead. They're in the episode titles but you'll recognize hitchhikers Poppy Corn and Freedom Jack . Next, Nora asks Mrs. Elm to take her to a life where her mother is still alive. As the story progresses, Nora finds herself in lives that she could be more satisfied with than others that proved more difficult. Despite him being perfectly nice, Nora wasnt too enamoured with this life and she bids it farewell. Kirkus. There is tragedy, but it feels muted by the existence of infinite chances. Nora experienced it as a library because of the meaningful relationship she had with Mrs. Elm, her childhood school librarian. The Midnight Library is different for each person who enters it. But her brother would no longer be part of that band. Chapters 24 31 (System Error, Svalbard, Hugo Lefvre, Walking in Circles, A Moment of Extreme Crisis in the Middle of Nowhere, The Frustration of Not Finding a Library When You Really Need One, Island, Permafrost). As she begins to read, Nora is transported into a pub called The Three Horseshoes with Dan there as her husband. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original Chapters 19 23 (Fish Tank, The Last Update That Nora Had Posted Before She Found Herself Between Life and Death, The Successful Life, Peppermint Tea, The Tree That Is Our Life). 3. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, she sees the police arrest a boy for theft that turns out to be Leo. Immortality, Sadness And Drinking With Shakespeare In 'How To Stop Time'. The music store she used to work at as a salesperson has closed down. Chapters 64 65 (Nowhere to Land, Dont You Dare Give Up, Nora Seed!). High quality The Midnight Library-inspired gifts and merchandise. This story is part of a series for people who have already read the book and want to think more deeply about the plot and ending. Now that youve read The Midnight Library, lets talk about the ending, Carolyn Hax: She dreamed she was cheated on, but her anger is real. His guide is his Uncle Philippe. Suicide, she decides, is the only way to escape the misery of a life full of regrets. As the night goes on, she notices how much Dan drinks and when they get into an argument, she learns that Dan has been unfaithful. The Midnight Library opens with a teenaged Nora Seed, who is smart and a talented swimmer. She thinks about how swimming was something shed pursued because it was important to her father, but not to her. Moreover, Nora must remember what she . Neil, her boss, is nice about it, but questions why shes still even working there since he thinks shes meant for bigger things. The Midnight Club will tug at your heartstrings and have you piecing together its mysteries all at the same time. 1. But here's the problem. Whole. But in this new version of life, hes married to a woman he met at a swim meet, whom he left Noras mother for, likely accelerating the jilted womans death. Haig presents all of this as a straight line. The Midnight Library is an insightful and poignant exploration into regret, second chances and ultimately the joys and tribulations of simply living. As they talk, Nora is disappointed to learn that shes still on antidepressants in this life. Different packaging; same us. Where the Mind Is Without Fear (Gitanjali 35), The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. "In chess, as in life, possibility is the basis of everything.". Unlike in the original life, here, Joe is happily married to Ewan, his husband. What do the stories mean? Everything changes because of Anya's . But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. In the dining hall, there are about 17 other people. I read the whole thing in about 3 days. The second date is today's She tells Mrs. Elm that she wanted to stay in the previous life, but Mrs. Elm disagrees. Mrs. Elm says that Nora has become lost because she's still trying to live for other people. Instead, Nora decides she wants to try a gentle life next, one about working with animals. It felt right. When one actually appears, the prospect of her dying makes Nora acknowledge her desire to live. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. Transported back to the library, Nora tries on a few different lives. As a place, the Midnight Library isn't really a library (of course), but is instead a 101-level lecture in parallel universe theory, philosophy and quantum indeterminacy. He is apparently her manager, and he manages others as well. She finds herself in the cabin of a boat. Haig also writes award-winning books for children . However, she remembers that Mrs. Elm had told her that once she settled into a life she wanted that shed eventually forget the library, but that doesnt seem to be happening. Back at the Library, Nora wonders why she stayed in Australia after Izzys death, and Mrs. Elm says she was depressed and grieving and got stuck there. Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Chapters 44 50 (Love and Pain, Equidistance, Someone Elses Dream, The Gentle Life, Why Want Another Universe If This One Has Dogs?, Dinner with Dylan, Last Chance Saloon). She drops into new lives, again and again, awaiting the one that makes her want to stay. The synopsis Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. She was an aspiring glaciologist and a highly-rated competitive swimmer in her youth, as well as an accomplished musician in her twenties, but she allowed fear and anxiety to prevent any of these pursuits from coming to fruition. This recap of the Netflix series The Midnight Club season 1, episode 10, "Midnight," the ending explained, contains spoilers. A neighbor, Ash, informs her that her cat, Voltaire ("Volts"), has been hit by a car. When she finds herself excited again about living, things calm down. This moment occurs at the end of Nora's first adventure in a parallel life. Sometimes the elements of a really great book, but sometimes the elements of a non memorable one. Afterwards, feeling impulsive knowing that any decision is just one iteration of her life, she kisses Hugo and they sleep together. The Midnight Club Ending Explained. What would've happened if she'd stuck with competitive swimming, been a better cat owner, been nicer to her parents, followed her best friend to Australia or become a glaciologist? She and her brother have become estranged to such an extent that he avoids her when he visits Bedford. Nora had offered inexpensive lessons and as Leos confidence in music grew, he improved in other areas as well and never get mixed up with worse stuff. eNotes.com, Inc. In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. The second is the date of Nora thinks about the things shed missed about Dan, but as she is reacquainted with him, shes reminded of the things she doesnt like as well his arrogance, his dislike of her music career. Shed be very cold and almost eaten for lunch by a giant, menacing polar bear. However, Mrs. Elm says thats not a possibility since in every life her mother would have been dead by now. When Nora loses hope, the library starts to collapse. Banerjee!) An irreversible variation occurs, which in turn leads to further variations. The system has broken down entirely, Mrs. Elm reveals, which means that Nora must be dying in her root life. If she had become a glaciologist? As she gets to one part, many of the regrets are related to Dan. But in Mike Flanagan's adaptation, the tales they tell are actually from other Christopher Pike stories. In this gentle life, Nora works at an animal rescue center and is seeing a man named Dylan, who had been two years below her in secondary school, though they didnt know each other then. The audience looks uncomfortable, but she sees that Ravi is smiling at her. date the date you are citing the material. After some convincing, Nora agrees to try on an alternate life. As they talk, Nora apologies for breaking up the band, and Joe apologies for things hes done as well. Nora is frustrated and unhappy when she sees Mrs. Elm again, and she wants to give up. Nora wonders why Mr. Banerjee ended up in a elderly care facility in this life when he had been determined not to in her original life. Do you think by considering the ways in which our lives might have turned out differently our regrets truly go away, or do we simply learn to live with them? Everyones life could have gone an infinite number of ways, and each book in the library contains the story of that life. Overwhelmed by regret, Mrs. Elm instructs Nora to close the book. The Midnight Library Matt Haig 4.02 1,302,455 ratings141,780 reviews Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Fiction (2020) Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. "The Midnight Library," best-selling British author Matt Haig's latest book, tells the story of a woman in her thirties who, after suffering an overwhelming attack of hopelessness and despair,. eNotes Editorial. If youre interested in alternate lives, or reincarnation, look into the work of the early 20th Century seer, Edgar Cayce. Nora gets out of the pool and has no clue where she lives or what she does for a living. 2023 . 9. Chapters 60 63 (No Longer Here, An Incident With the Police, A New Way of Seeing, The Flowers Have Water). The Real Meaning Of The Midnight Club's Ending & Story. I just needed a single book. As she comes to see the value she had in her original life, Nora senses her grip on this reality is fading, even as she reminds herself how great this reality is. She had a difficult father, she became ostracized from her brother when she jumped ship on the band they were in together, just as it started to be successful. The synopsis Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. Later, we learn that Huge experienced it as a video store, with a cherished uncle instead of a librarian. She gives Nora a pen. Last Updated on July 8, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. Finally, Nora finds Mrs. Elm at the retirement home where she offers to play chess with her. 7. Nora also tells Joe that she knows that he tried to go in after her the day she almost drowned when crossing the river, though Joe doesnt know how she knows it. Mrs. Elm, the librarian, tells her that the books on the shelves represent other versions of Noras life. 6. (She overdoses. Again, yes. Mrs. Elm (or something that resembles her) is here and serves as Nora's guide, explaining that the Library exists between life and death. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like it, the first few chapters were quite triggering and after having a bad start to January I very nearly didn't prevail. The questions are that simple. Nora wonders if hell ask her out again, but instead Ash tells her that her cat, Voltaire (Volts), has been hit by a car. Next, Nora tries something different, a life where she moves to America, marries a Mexican-American man named Eduardo Martinez and they live on a small vineyard in California. Also, in this reality, Nora is still close with Izzy, which makes her happy. However, in the current reality, Doreen had never found affordable lessons, and Leo had taken a bad turn in life. Not all of the parallel, or perpendicular, lives Nora tries on are so meaningful: In one, she argues with people on Twitter all day. I was so engrossed in The Midnight Library that I stopped worrying about deadlines and small annoyances and bigger fears. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. As time passes, she finds herself feeling grateful for this life. Just for joining youll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members. Your email address will not be published. And finally she wakes, gasping, at home, summoning all her energy to ask her neighbor (Mr. He has no idea who Nora is and has never taken music lessons. Shes greeted by her school librarian, Mrs. Elm, who was always kind to her. Full. She was the only difference between the two Mr. Banerjees, but what was that difference? When the connection appears to be weakening, the librarian cautions Nora to get serious about her choice. She also tries a life where Volts was kept indoors to prevent it from being hit by a car, but learns the cat actually died of a health condition. publication in traditional print. It occurs to her to try a life where shed accepted Ashs coffee date once upon a time, instead of rejecting it because shed been with Dan at the time. And a character who doesn't actively want something even when it is something so basic as to keep on living is a hard character to identify with. A simplicity to the narrative that has to be taken as a choice on Haig's part, not an accident. This library is crammed full of books containing parallel lives she could have lived. It's about Nora, a young woman who decides she isn't cut out for. Where, for an hour, a day or a month, she gets to dip into and sample lives where she made different choices, with the ultimate goal of erasing those regrets and finding a life she's comfortable in. Its all lost to the ether. Our club will be discussing this soon. Back at the Library, things are falling apart. While talking with Raj, Lydia reminisces about her relationship with Gas 'n Donuts: "but her nostalgia for the place had never been strong enough to outweigh her dread of dredging up the past" (138). She eventually finds a life she's happy in, but in the process she learns that her original life had value. Nora sees scars on her arm that she realizes are self-inflicted. Nora sees that her neighbor, whom she used to help out, ended up having to move to a care facility. That the prison wasnt the place, but the perspective.. Before long, things in Noras life start to turn around. Jojo tells her that Izzy died in a car crash. As it nears midnight, Nora decides that its time for her to die. Haig lives by that here. The first few lives Nora tries on are those that absolve her biggest regrets. 5 Highlights from The Midnight Library - One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2020 | by T.J.Parker | Books Are Our Superpower Write Sign up Sign In 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. Also, in the original life, she and Joe had been there for her mother before her death. 'Easy read' books often get a bad reputation. They are here to study climate change. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance to call for help. Nora also start volunteering at the homeless shelter once a week, and she considers getting a dog. Thats what Haig so beautifully demonstrates. Dehydrated, delirious, trembling and in pain, she stumbles outside and asks Mr. Banerjee to call an ambulance before collapsing. Miss Manners: Uninvited colleague doesnt enjoy our lunchtime conversations. Over the past year-and-a-half, as the coronavirus pandemic drop-kicked plans and routines somewhere far, far away, Ive had a recurring daydream about what would have been. And yes, it really is presented that plainly. Noras mother had passed away three months before their wedding. Nora experienced it as a library because of the meaningful relationship she had with Mrs. Elm, her childhood school librarian. Note: this article may contain spoilers for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. With its grey cover, Mrs. Elm explains that the heavy book is the Book of Regrets, which records every regret Nora has ever had. Next, Nora is transported into a life where she moved to Australia with Izzy, but finds out Izzy would have died in a car accident. Nora is bright and talented, but she hasnt managed to turn her gifts into a fulfilling career. To be human was to continualy dumb down the world into an understandable story that keeps things simple. The two were close: Nora would often play chess with Mrs. Elm during breaks, and Mrs. Elm was the one who informed Nora of her fathers unexpected death in the middle of one school day. As the library begins to disintegrate, signaling Noras waning existence, she must choose which life to commit to. The jokes I would have laughed at, or maybe even told. She has spent over a decade unhappily working in a music store and finds herself struggling with her mental health. Over the course of the book, Nora lives a whole spectrum of lives, some for minutes and some for months, but only at the end does time actually pass, and by the time she wakes up in her root life it is one minute and twenty-seven seconds past midnight and her outlook on life has changed entirely. He takes what could've been (what has been in so many other books) a dark or sad or curvy or weird spin through the logical and philosophical possibilities of regret crossed with multiverse theory and straightens it out. Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Starblazers. I'm a voracious reader. 1. She goes looking for Voltaire, but she finds that he is under the bed, but dead. Nora heads there and sees that she has a flatmate named Jojo, a quirky conspiracy theorist, that she doesnt recognize. Nora has forgotten about the music lesson she was supposed to give Doreens son, Leo. Nora considers that her lives have largely been about other peoples dreams her brothers dream about The Labyrinths, her fathers dream about swimming, Izzys dream about Australia, Dans dream about the bar, and even Mrs. Elms suggestion about glaciology. Are there any parts of your life that you feel could not be improved by living it differently. The book weaves elements of science fiction and fantasy with philosophical contemplations on human mortality, happiness, and personal choice. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore (Sullivan) - Discussion Questions. Mrs. Elm tells Nora how to exit, by finding the book representing her original life, and the Midnight Library dissolves. Yes, it really is that simple. She wonders if her actions could have impacted whether or not he ended up in a care facility. And then Nora wakes up. In that life, Nora has patched up her relationship with Joe, and he is happily married. In the original life, Doreen had looked into lessons because Leo liked music and had started getting in with a bad crowd. Joe is working as a sound engineer now. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. Nora wonders if shes just someone who will be depressed and stuck in any life, but Mrs. Elm disagrees. About how human brains take complex information about the world and simplify it, so that when a human looks at a tree it translates the intricately complex mass of leaves and branches into this thing called 'tree'. Afterwards, Nora thinks about her parents, the disappointments and the crushed hopes in their lives. Midnight Library is one of my favourite books I've ever read. The various things wrong with Nora's life emerge quite quickly. She is overwhelmed by her happiness but also plagued by the notion that this life is not hersit belongs to some other version of Nora, and she has taken it from her.