The Midnight Library
- 304
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 57 weeks on the list, peaked at #4
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Our view
A woman at breaking point is offered every life she might have lived, an idea that makes for a quick, gentle, hopeful read. Some object that the destination is visible from the start: the lesson is stated plainly, the alternate lives feel sketched rather than lived, with Nora excelling in each, and the later chapters lean toward self-help. It comforts readers who want reassurance; those wanting surprise or subtlety will be disappointed.
Worth knowing Matt Haig, who wrote about his own depression in the memoir Reasons to Stay Alive (2015), opens this 2020 novel with a suicide attempt, so readers sensitive to the subject should know that going in. The premise works like a thought experiment: Nora tries out the lives she might have led, each one a book on the library’s shelves. It won the Goodreads Choice Award for fiction in 2020.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Midnight Library is a 2020 speculative novel by Matt Haig about a woman named Nora Seed, who after reaching a breaking point in her life, finds herself in a mystical library that allows her to explore the infinite versions of her life and discover what truly makes it worth living. It was generally well received by critics.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 3,358 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 96% of the weight and the score stays at 7.6 — the Science fiction average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.1 | 86 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 3.3K | 97% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Midnight Library?
It has 304 pages — shorter than 94% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 7.5 and 7.8, closest to this book.
