The Midnight Library - Becca In A Book

Summary

Nora Seed is at a crossroads in her life and feels like no one needs or wants her around. She decides to do the unthinkable and travels to a magical library with books full of her life’s regrets. Will Nora be able to see beyond her regret or will she drown in a setting where she will never find peace?

My Thoughts

Wow this book was a doozy. I have seen so many people raving about this book everywhere and when I saw a group of bookstagrammers reading it as a buddy read, I just had to join and see what the fuss was about. I completely understand now and this book was a total punch to the gut and will stay at the back of my head for a long time.

Quarantine has been a major issue for everyone around the world and has forced me and everyone around me to see what is most important. Another thing people have started feeling is regret. They and myself included are regretting the things they should have done before quarantine when they had the chance. Regret is such a powerful and DEVASTATING emotion and it is the main emotion that drives this book. We spend so much time with this feeling and most people just let it make them bitter and angry people, but through Nora’s adventures throughout all of her possible lives, she learns to let that feeling go and move past it, which is such a hard thing to do.

This book really made me look in the mirror at the things I regret and like Nora and probably everyone else living on Earth, my regrets could also fill a book. UGH THIS BOOK JUST WRECKED ME…. I needed a minute after finishing this book to completely absorb all the emotions and thoughts this book forced me to go through. I mean the themes the book dives into are much more complex considering how easy a read this book was.

The book was told through Nora’s perspective through short chapters without numbers, but interesting little phrases instead. The short chapters made the book such a quick and easy read for me and I was able to finish it within a few hours despite the very dramatic and deep meaning behind it all. I loved going through her many lives because Nora’s story and background is told in bits and pieces that we discover through her many options of lives. It made the book seem so elaborated and like an interesting puzzle that I couldn’t wait to put together.

Nora was also such an interesting character that had so many interesting skills and talents that it was so sad how her life could have turned out that way. I viewed this as something to say that no matter how talented or amazing you are, regrets and terror can hold you back. This made this book so crushing and so relatable. SUCH A GOOD READ!!! Her little bits of dialogue where she went on these long philosophical tangents that were so profound that I almost felt like I was in a philosophy class and I needed to study up. (Side Note: I looked up all the books she talks about throughout the plot and have added them to my TBR)

This was such a magical and wonderful read where a great story and a great lesson came together in such an easy and fun read.