“It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from.”

This quote provides a beautiful illustration of the world created by Matt Haig in The Midnight Library. The book follows Nora Seed as she finds meaning in life following a downward spiral leading to her attempting to take her own life. She ends up in the midnight library, a place of limbo where she is given the opportunity to experience all the other lives she could have lived if she had made different choices. Through her many lives, she journeys to rekindle her will to live. Released in 2020, the book is very up-to-date with the struggles of modern society, especially the strain on people’s mental health.

The Midnight Library demonstrates the struggles of Nora, who has one of the most captivating character developments I’ve ever read. From beginning to end, she is never an unreasonably perfect person; her flaws and insecurities are highlighted in an endearing manner, which makes her development all the more satisfying as we see her progress.

One of the most impactful scenes follows a near-death experience during one of Nora’s alternate lives. She is shaken, but she doesn’t cry from shock or sadness. Rather, she cries with joy, because in that moment she does not want to die. She has found the first spark from which we start really seeing her change. This spark grows into full flames as she continues to find more meaning in her expeditions into other lives and ultimately makes the climax very emotional. The climax doesn’t have the drama of a brawl or any other forced tension. It shows the progression Nora has experienced in a beautiful way and keeps the intense emotional power of the book right to the last page.

Aside from Nora, I really like the characters of Ash and Mrs. Elm and the impact they both have on helping Nora grow and develop. Notably, both are named after trees, which may symbolize growth or, in this case, how they help Nora grow. Mrs. Elm is a hugely important person in Nora’s early years and later acts as the librarian in the midnight library. Her encouragement and consistent support of Nora makes her one of the most captivating characters. She is a very real person, someone who we feel we know personally and all appreciate, like a mentor. Not everything she does makes Nora happier immediately, however she ultimately has Nora’s best interests at heart by helping her overcome her regrets.

My favorite scene involving Mrs. Elm is when she plays chess with Nora. Nora is down and feeling useless, like a pawn, and Mrs. Elm says, “Even if you were a pawn — maybe we all are — then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. It might look small and ordinary but it isn’t. Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after another. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.” The advice here is that anyone can be what they want and live the life they wish for, as long as they have the drive to go for their dreams. This is something Nora struggles to do due to her fear of commitment, so Mrs. Elm’s advice is hugely valuable.

Next, we have Ash. He is a kind, smart, and caring man. Ash is a character that feels like a friend, someone you can trust and who is always there to help. Alongside his overall caring demeanour, these traits make his character one of the most positive in the book. He has the same realism as the others, but is always there to help and is the sort of person we would all want in our lives. There isn’t one specific scene that makes Ash great; rather it’s his consistent kindness and helpfulness which is on display in almost every scene he’s in.

One thing consistent about the characters in the book is their flaws, which gives them realism. For example, at times Mrs. Elm can be relatively short tempered or annoyed with Nora, which shows her humanity. No one is perfect, but, as the book says, “A person was like a city. You couldn’t let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole.” The idea of perspective and individual viewpoints is expertly explored as well. No two views are the same as “it’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Everyone will have a different outlook on life but, as the book emphasizes, “you don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it.” You will not instantly understand everything you see; only by living can you start to understand it and enjoy it.

I appreciate the book’s characters and their realism as one of its greatest aspects. In addition, its unique structural style of having short moments instead of chapters makes it feel as though we are living alongside Nora in each of these key moments. Alongside this, I think the delicacy with which The Midnight Library tackles serious issues is a masterclass in writing. The serious aspects aren’t shoehorned or ignored; rather they act as the centerpiece for the book on which everything revolves. With COVID’s being the force that it has been over the past few years, depression has taken major prevalence in modern society, and Haig’s writing with such care to tackle these serious issues makes his story the powerful book that it is.

I also greatly appreciate the recurring chess symbols.The game of chess is often associated with intellect and symbolizes intelligence, yet in this book, in many ways, the symbols are used as reflections of life. Mrs. Elm’s quote about us all being pawns is symbolic of us all being born on a level playing field, with our own lives to live and our own choices to make. Reaching the life we want simply requires the will to keep pushing onward. By facing the barriers and fears in front of us, like the opposing pieces in chess, we can become our own powerful people. In chess each move opens an array of new possibilities and influences the game. Likewise in life each decision we make, big or small, opens a completely new set of options and can lead to a completely different life. Yet, as Mrs. Elm explains, whilst a chessboard with no moves played is beautiful, it’s boring; no life has been breathed into the game. While it may seem easier to run from every decision, ultimately we will never truly live and we will be plagued with countless regrets. In chess, rooks ( sometimes called castles) are able to move in straight lines. Mrs. Elm explains the rook is her favorite piece because of just how straightforward it is. Players are often so preoccupied focusing on “sneakier” pieces, like knights or bishops, that they overlook the power of the simple rook. This is symbolic of how we can spend so much time focusing on ultimately unimportant details that we miss things staring us straight in the face. To me, these symbols are very imaginative and the way they are used in uncommon ways gives both the book and the game new value.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Midnight Library and give it 4.5 stars out of 5 stars. I would definitely recommend it, however I would only suggest it to mature readers aged 15 and up, due to the highly emotional status that it holds and the seriousness of the issues it tackles.