Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

1598 reviews

im_just_vidu's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I started reading this book with mixed feelings because I've seen a lot of mixed reactions about this book. Many think of it as a book you should read to get a perspective on life or something. So I am happy with how it turned out. I normally don't end up liking most of the books that are supposed to give you life lessons or things like that. But I was very satisfied with this book. Yes, it gives life lessons, but it doesn't feel like that. It feels so natural.

I liked the journey of Nora. How indecisive she is. Not because it's a good or bad thing, but because it's so humane. How she gradually learns about things, values and loves. I was wondering if I was Nora, who would be my Mrs. Elm? This book made me think about things I haven't even considered before. It was such an eye-opening experience. I really enjoyed it.
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sura_bhi's review against another edition

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

3.5

It wraps up the entire book neatly. It's a cute read. It doesn't put across anything profound and may feel dull at times, cringey even- but, I guess that's what happens when you reflect on your emotions.
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maggierish's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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mainstbooksmonroe's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense 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? Yes

3.0

I wanted to relate to this book as the author has been open about his own mental health struggles. But the plot concept doesn't allow for more than a shallow glance. 
The main character is suicidal, and at the moment before death she enters a magical "library" to browse through all the lives if she'd made different choices. But most of them have the same major thing wrong: one of her loved ones is dead, to the point of absurdity, and there's no actual consideration on whether each life would have been better than the original. She also skips through so quickly, and is in those lives so briefly we don't have time to care or grieve about any of the other characters. Basically It's a Wonderful Life meets A Christmas Carol with a sprinkling of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's not a badly written book, I can see how readers could have their heartstrings purposely tugged, but I found it flat.
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aaannina's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rottenpaperbacks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

i finished this book in under 24 hours, and i loved it so much. everywhere i look, people hate on it and i don’t understand why. but for me, this book was quite reflective and grounding (as someone who suffers from depression). it gave me hope, i cried several times while reading this novel, i understood everything the character felt. the journey that the MC goes through is adventurous, emotional, and bittersweet. this is the best book i have ever read. 
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emionieus's review against another edition

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DNFing this book club read. I thought it was too predictable and had much higher hopes for this book personally. I don’t feel the need to read the rest of it unfortunately 
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maybesophie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

i loved the message of the book and the MC. i just wish the book was longer though since i feel like there were some parts that could’ve been more fleshed out. but i could see myself rereading this from time to time.
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bdannie45's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

4.75

Read this for my work book club and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. This is a well written, interesting concept of a way to reflect on how we bring meaning into our lives. So so good
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lizsim's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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