The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

What if we get a chance to revisit the regrets of our life? To go down the path that we discarded ages go and see where it lead to?

Matt Haig's latest novel is a heartwarming read about second chances and opportunities in a well packaged narrative.

Gist:

Nora is unhappy, she sees her life as a big dump of poor choices and one day she chooses to end it all. Interestingly that is when her life actually begins. She finds herself in a library where she picks up the book of Regrets and gets the chance to revisit her choices and to do things differently. The result is a startling revelation about the concept of a perfect life.

My review:

• I absolutely loved the book. Nora Seed's character is endearing, her misery and unhappiness is relatable. Matt tells her story by counting down the hours to the point when she decides to end her life, a great way of revealing her present and the circumstances that lead to it. I was hooked from the beginning.

• This could have easily been a preachy, self help kind of a narrative but the concept of examining regrets and exploring outcomes is very beautifully packaged in a story. The framework of a library, the idea of sifting through options is done very well. I couldn't wait to see how Nora fared in each of those lives and what she would choose. 

• It was a pleasant surprise to see how the story steered to the resolution, did not see that coming at all. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil it but the real reason why I liked it is that I often think back to what ifs and this spoke to me in many ways.

One of the best life affirming reads I have read in a while.