5/24/2023 0 Comments The midnight library by matt haigThe Midnight Library is published by Canongate (£16.99). Contrary to the fantastical premise, the novel turns out to be a celebration of the ordinary: ordinary revelations, ordinary people, and the infinity of worlds seeded in ordinary choices. What’s the best that could happen in your life, and what’s the worst? What can you change, and what can’t you? These are big questions that are difficult to respond to with elegance and depth, and sometimes in moments of Nora’s elation or suicidal lows, the narration lapses into the trite and obvious – “the prison wasn’t the place, but the perspective” “the paradox of volcanoes was that they were symbols of destruction but also life”. The whole novel has the air of a skilful exercise designed to confront depression and anxiety. For those readers who might be put off by speculative fiction, The Midnight Library is a charming way into the genre. While the concept does fly high, it also flies straight. This is a streamlined novel no side plots, no broad cast of characters, no twists of fantasy for the sheer joy of it. It’s a beautiful concept, but Matt Haig doesn’t explain it in any depth his concern is the psychological effect that seeing all these versions has on Nora – and on her willingness, or unwillingness, to live. The foundation of the idea is the many worlds theory, in which a new universe blossoms from every choice and decision.
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