Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Midnight Library

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

1594 reviews

psliz's review against another edition

misleading synopsis, underdeveloped characters, heavy-handed themes/messaging, self-help vibes, and poor mental health representation made me skip the alleged "meat" of this book and just read the ending to see if my assumptions were correct... let's just say i'm glad i did

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maplejuice's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

Despite the fact the story did not catch my attention at all for the first 100 pages, it completely turned after page 120. The story turned out to be the warm hug everyone who is insecure about life and themselves needed. The deep, philosophical and thoughtful phrases Matt Haig constructed with such care and the last 100 pages gave me the reassurance that everything will turn out okay. Thank you for this cosy blanket of a book.

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sgpartyhat's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

CW (for the following review) mentions of depression and suicide

The Midnight Library follows Nora Seed in the moments after her suicide attempt, as she finds herself in an infinite library of all the other possible lives she could have led, with the opportunity to lead them, if only for a while. It wrestles with themes of regret, potential, and hope. It tells its story well, unafraid of short chapters interspersed with occasional song lyrics and Facebook posts.

Things The Midnight Library is: hopeful, warm, predictable

Things The Midnight Library isn't: overwhelmingly profound, overbearing

I enjoyed the character growth. I enjoyed the worldbuilding. Nothing stood out to me as particularly mind-bending or life-changing, but watching Nora learn to live made me want to do so, too. The mix of supernatural and scientific was fun for this amateur physicist. The ending was sweet and expected, but done well.

The thing I liked least, weirdly enough, was the representation of depression. Despite Haig's clear effort, and near success, in representing the nuance of mental illness, there were a couple of moments that almost felt like Nora was magically "all better," or was going to be - often an unhelpful goal when you're struggling with your brain. That said, it's clear that Haig is writing from a place of experience, and while I've my fair share of mental health issues, I'm lucky enough to not really know what I'm talking about when it comes to this one.

Overall, I did really like the book. I would recommend it to anyone who feels ready to read a whole book about a suicide attempt - a whimsical, thoughtful, not-so-depressing one, but still. It was a good book to ring in a new year, and I'm glad to have read it.

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ee_infp's review against another edition

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5.0

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audreading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Very cool idea but needed a lot more time in my opinion. Felt so surface level, and as someone who experiences true depression, honestly a little insulting. It trivializes the concept and portrays such an outdated idea of what depression looks and feels like. I found the book entertaining and enjoyed the short chapters. About 3/4 of the way through I did kinda feel like I got it at was ready to wrap it up. I enjoyed the choices made in the end. Overall, though, it didn’t blow my mind or really change my perspective.

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