Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

753 reviews

emilyacv's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Id heard some polarizing things about this one… and I think my thoughts are just… meh. I found the concept interesting, if a little gimicky at times. The tone comes off preachy at times, and about halfway through it gets repetitive to the point that the overall message (which I think is very sweet & hopeful!) dulls out. I think I was just expecting more - I was hoping it would stick with me, make me think… but I got to the end and I was just like k. Love a little existentialism, as a treat, but it’s not one I’m going to re-read. Also, the “rules” for the past lives irritated me -
how come her body can remember how to swim/play an instrument/be in a certain shape depending on the life she is in, but it can’t remember how to be confident when giving a speech, use the polar bear protection equipment on the glacier etc??? And I just kind of got annoyed with her never knowing what was going on ever, although we kind of get an answer to that in the second last life when she slowly starts to fit in more and remember things as she ‘commits’ to the life. But the exposition got old fast.
if the concept intrigues you, I think it’s worth checking out (though see the content warnings) but don’t expect it to change your life.
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cha_len_novels's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 rating: 3.5/5 ⭐

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. 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?”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library 
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arabellafleetwood's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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the_wistful_word_witch's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A lovely little book that raises a lot of existential questions and makes you think much deeper about your own life than you'd expect 288 pages of fiction to do.
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khayes2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this! It kept me on my toes and was only cliché for a moment 
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obliviooon's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Tremendo viaje, es de esos libros que son capaces de cambiar tu perspectiva de la vida. Me gustó muchísimo, cada capítulo me generaba emociones fuertes y en varias ocasiones estuve a punto de llorar. Creo que si mi psicóloga hubiese sabido de la existencia de este libro seguro me mandaba a leerlo. Muy lindo mensaje.
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j_cabral's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jenniferbowman's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

JUST finished this book, and my inclination is to go with a 2.5/5 rating. Beginning the book, I expected it would be 4 stars, but as the story went on, the premise of the story wandered back and forth from “who would you be?” scenarios to long discussions about string theory. I could have done without all of the scientific explanation, and would have welcomed more of a magical realism acceptance of what was happening.

I was also a little off-put by the fact that a male author wrote a female protagonist…it wasn’t always obvious, but I feel like the characters lacked depth and I wonder if that might have been why.

In the end, I think this is probably more of a 3 star read, but the fact that I couldn’t wait for the book to end and ended up zoning out in the second half so often led me to enjoy the book much less overall than I expected.
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little_redhead5's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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