She is portrayed as a thoughtful and sympathetic person, often thinking about the emotions of the people around her. She is caught in an inevitable cycle: Nora suffers from panic attacks and anxiety, and her mental health often leads her to lose momentum. What do the chessboard, fire, swimming, space, and the library symbolize inThe Midnight Library? So necessary[Matt Haig is] the king of empathyJameela Jamil, actor and host ofI Weigh with Jameela Jamil, A beautiful fable, anIts a Wonderful Lifefor the modern age impossibly timely when we are all stuck in a world we wish could be different. Jodi Picoult, author ofMy Sisters Keeper, An absorbing but comfortable reada vision of limitless possibility, of new roads taken, of new lives lived, of a whole different world available to us somehow, somewhere, might beexactly whats wanted in these troubled and troubling times. TheNew York Times, When unemployed, loveless, depressed Nora Seeds cat dies, its the last straw. [1] It was abridged and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 over ten episodes in December 2020. Love it. In The Midnight Library, thirty-five-year-old Nora finds out from a handsome young surgeon, Ash, that her beloved cat has been killed. This quote is taken from early in the novel, as Mrs. Elm explains to Nora how lives are shaped by seemingly minor choices. You alone, can climb the stairs of the strange, old Victorian mansion and be somewhat welcomed by your Hosts, Miranda Merrick & Mr. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. Other powerful moments in the book happen when Nora is experiencing extreme emotions love, fear, pride, adoration, strength theyre feelings at the extremes. What is the main theme of The Midnight Library? You get no sense of the length of those longitudes and latitudes. Regardless of their genre, his writing explores the many elements that impact a persons satisfaction with life. That was how she had felt most of her life. eNotes Editorial. WebMatt Haig's unique novel The Midnight Library ponders the infinite possibilities of life. In feeling so overcome with terror, she also realizes that she wants to continue living. I want more than fine. because a pawn is never just a pawn. In some lives shes been a mother and in others she raises no one besides her tabby cat, Voltaire. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Of course, they come in different degrees and quantities. Like Nora, Hugo is a fellow traveler through his alternative lives. Aim to look and act and think like you. Throughout The Midnight Library, Noras relationships with those around her fluctuate as she shifts from life to life. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. WebMrs. She decides to overdose on pills,but does not meet the oblivion she was hoping for. Plain and simple. What is the significance of the multiverse or many-worlds theory in The Midnight Library. It isnt long, however, until disappointment slowly creeps back into Noras heart and transports her, unwillingly, back to The Midnight Library. 1614 Words7 Pages. Once the lava slows and cools, it solidifies and then breaks down over time to become soil - rich, fertile soil. "A Conversation About Rain" to "The Chessboard", "The Only Way to Learn Is to Live" to "System Error", Read the Study Guide for The Midnight Library. The Last Family in England: First Few Pages, The Last Family in England: Deleted Chapters, The Last Family in England: Deleted Chapters 1, The Last Family in England: Deleted Chapters 2, The Last Family in England: Deleted Chapters 3, The Last family in England: Deleted Pages 4, The Last Family in England: Deleted Pages 5, The Last Family in England: Authors Commentary, The Possession of Mr Cave: First Few Pages. The library is a symbol of possibilities and choices. The last date is today's The library described in the book turned out to be different from what I had imagined, although it was intriguing all the same. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. These figures appear as both brief references and conspicuous plot points: her cat is named Voltaire; she contemplates Bertrand Russells perspective on life and his many infidelities; and in one life, a favorite line from Thoreau is tattooed on her forearm. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Curl up in a window seat or She fights for her life and succeeds in throwing up the pills she took earlier that night. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely., You see, doing one thing differently is very often the same as doing everything differently., And even if you were a pawn - maybe we all are - then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. 70 episodes. Melendez, John. More opportunities to have. The author of Reasons to Stay Alive, Notes on a Nervous Planet, and How to Stop Time, in his latest novel The Midnight Library, Matt Haig charts her story, from the hours before she attempts to kill herself, to the days she spends hopping between infinite possible lives on a time-travelling adventure. When Nora tries to kill herself, she ends up in a library with Mrs. Elm, the school Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. What does the library symbolize in The Midnight Library? Then, she is fired from her job of That the prison wasn't the place, but the perspective., The thing that looks the most ordinary might end up being the thing that leads you to victory., Regrets dont leave. You have more to offer. Before the midnight library, she never took the time to evaluate what she really wants or In Matt Haigs The Midnight Library, Nora is a woman in her thirties who feels as if her life has been full of regrets and sadness, and her future looks dismal. Joe is Nora's brother. Melendez, John. The second date is today's WebThe Midnight Library. Nora likens herself to a black hole because her life is imploding daily; when the novel opens, the omniscient narrator mentions that Nora will commit suicide. She eventually learns that her root life is the best one for her. 1,304,772 ratings, 4.02 average rating, 141,977 reviews. This is the best life. Noras numerous and diverse experiences in the novel underscore the centrality of relationships in human life. This is the last line of the novel. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. The Midnight Library study guide contains a biography of Matt Haig, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Leave a comment and let me know. His books are YA, but theyre not advertised as YA. Assuming the errors were somehow removed from the book, do you think you would have felt differently about the book had it been sold to you as a YA title? He is portrayed as being more interested in the idea of being married to her than the reality of their relationship. Log in here. You might not be uplifted by Nora Seed, but the book deals with some dark themes in a quirky and sensitive manner, and for that, I would suggest you keep it in your reading list, albeit closer to the bottom than the top. You might not be uplifted by Nora Seed, but the book deals with some dark themes in a quirky and sensitive manner, and for that, I would suggest you keep it in your reading list, albeit closer to the bottom than the top. He asks her on a date once and she wonders if there might be something between them romantically. It is also important in that it depicts Mrs. Elm trying to show Nora the value and importance of her life. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. . It is odd because she is still herself but finds that everything about her life, down to the shape of her abs and the smoothness of her face, varies from life to life. WebThe midnight library represents a chance for Nora to erase her regrets. Though Noras perspective shifts incrementally with each new life she enters, this experience particularly contributes significantly to her reframing of what it means to lead a good life. As you might expect, shes terrified properly beside herself with fear but this moment is also the first moment where she realises that she doesnt want to die, that life might be worth living after all. She takes a bottle, hoping to die, but wakes up at midnight in a massive library. What are the main themes in The Midnight Library? When I started reading The Midnight Library I figured I knew exactly what was coming its a lesson in living life with no regrets, of not always wishing the grass was greener or imagining what your life might be like if only. The Midnight Library explores the complex psychological dynamics of choice and regret. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime. The Midnight Library is available from NLB Overdrive and copies can also be bought from retailers such as Amazon. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile., As Thoreau wrote, Its not what you look at that matters, its what you see., You dont have to understand life. While the She spends a great deal of her time reflecting on her regrets, like not pursuing a career with her band the Labyrinthes and calling off her engagement to her ex-boyfriend. Whats more, you dont have to come face to face with a polar bear to feel them theyre in you right now, in this life, just waiting to be felt. However, as this moment reveals, she comes to find that this life too has its shortcomings. 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?, Sometimes just to say your own truth out loud is enough to find others like you., Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. Yet, with every flip of a page, they come closer and closer to burning their own book of regrets. Instead she finds herself wandering an enormous library, where the books without titles enable her to rewrite her own life story by undoing the decisions that have haunted her as regrets. Sitting in a gloomy high school library, she is playing chess with the schools librarian, Mrs. Elm. In this life, she did not break off their engagement and they went through with his plan to buy a bar. We dont know how she will spend it or who she will spend it with. Finally, there are plenty of allusions in this novel. Mired in this repeating pattern, regret becomes the predominant emotion in Noras life. This both suggests the potential for change in Nora's life and reveals the mechanism that allows her, using the "Midnight Library," to travel to different versions of her life. WebThe midnight library is magical, for a start, the library has a limitless number of books, and these books are far from ordinary, Haig sprinkles gold dust in each book, offering Nora From as far back as she could remember, she'd had the sense that she wasn't enough. Her parents who both had their own insecurities, had encouraged that idea. What does the chessboard symbolize in the novel? In The Midnight Library, thirty-five-year-old Nora finds out from a handsome young surgeon, Ash, that her beloved cat has been killed. Eventually, Nora finally slips into a life shed like to stay in. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. How does Nora change and grow over the course of The Midnight Library? On a beautiful page titledExpectation, Nora imagines What it would be like to accept herself completely, every mistake she had made every dream she hadn't reached. Note: this article may contain spoilers for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Choice and regret: The novel You can't give up, Nora. Shes lived in Alaska, Australia and England. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. This moment occurs at the end of Nora's first adventure in a parallel life. An exquisite depiction of existential depression and the lessons it can reveal, The Midnight Library is a captivating story and an uplifting antidote to the cult of self-improvement: a manifesto for true self-acceptance. Error rating book. TW: This article discusses suicide, suicidal ideation, antidepressants and self-harm, We first meet Nora Seed, nineteen years before she decides to die, as she plays chess in the school library with Mrs Elm, the matter-of-fact school librarian. When she loses momentum, she then finds herself stuck in situations that foster situational depression. In this way, Noras understanding of choice becomes somewhat more nuanced. However, on meeting Nora a complex but deeply likeable character I had faith that the book would be a compassionate illustration of an often stigmatised experience. Bestselling author Matt Haig's new book The Midnight Library explores themes of sadness and regret; Therapist Catherine Sweeney reviews; Perhaps it takes a clever author with their own mental health issues to write such a heartfelt yet entertaining novel about depression.In Matt Haig's wonderful new book The Midnight Library we follow the In my head, Im thinking of libraries with grand architecture and hallways full of hidden secrets and rare books. Nora returns to her old life because she has a renewed sense of possibility. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Discuss the theme of childhood as presented in "Games at Twilight" by Anita Desai. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. At the beginning of the story, Nora is playing chess with Mrs. Elm, who remarks to her that her life is full of possibility. Let's look at some examples of these. In each of them, she gradually gathers details about the life she is inhabiting from conversations and the physical feeling of her body. WebA symbol can be an object, a sound, or a bodily sensation. If you follow me on Instagram stories, youll know that I accidentally stayed in bed until lunchtime one day this week reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. When she survives her suicide attempt, she awakens with a sense of peace in her life that has previously eluded her. The witty Mrs Elm, the shapeshifting nature of the library, and the journey that each of its books provides make for a quirky Midnight Library and an excellent location for Nora and the readers to think about the themes of regret, choices and mental illness. And yet the moment you make a move on that board, things change. How is the idea of success framed throughout the novel? That idea of a root life is one of the central metaphors of the story. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In fact, in her life as a rock star and her life as a competitive swimmer, she has severe mental health struggles and some fractured personal relationships. GradeSaver, 29 December 2022 Web. In this way, she experiences separation from her body, as it provides "clues" to cracking whatever "mystery" is part of the life she is exploring. It means lack. Moments later, Nora wakes up in a personalized limbo replicating the library that once comforted her on her worst days, and with Mrs. Elm now appearing as her spirit guide. The feeling she experiences is envy: she is jealous of the cat's complete absence of pain. Nora's inner landscape is artfully rendered on the page: She was afraid of motherhood.The fear of deeper depression. I felt my gut wrench as I read this sentence never before has a writer so perfectly captured my experience of the power of mental illness to haunt and destabilise, to instill a fear of further suffering. Learn how your comment data is processed. But in her life as a competitive swimmer, he is alive. . resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. The sense of possibility she feels as she considers where to move the piece on the board suggests that the same sense of possibility exists in her life. Long after Nora has graduated and forgotten about those after-school chess sessions, she finds herself utterly disappointed with all aspects of her life. Petrified by fear, Nora realizes she has to do something to scare off the bear before it mauls her. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? It made me realise how, over the last year, cut off from most of my usual activities and social interactions, my range of emotions has shrunk. You dont need to be famous or rich or medal winning to lead a spectacular life. Ultimately, she is able to extend this grace and forgiveness to herself, too. I think this is a really interesting, really important hypothetical. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Endorse it. Like Nora, our regrets encourage us to make different decisions in our future, and redirect our time and energy towards activities, people and ways of living that make us feel happy. Joe is gay and struggles with his father's disapproval of his sexual orientation. But once you sense that vastness, once something reveals it, hope emerges, whether you want it to or not, and it clings to you as stubbornly as lichen clings to rock.. A connection between herself and the world. Cooper, James ed. Aim to be you. WebThe Midnight Library Themes The Point of Life Is Life Itself One of the biggest issues with Noras root life is that Nora felt like she wasnt doing anything noteworthy. Good choices, she comes to understand, do not necessarily correlate to good outcomes. With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. Readers first meet Nora almost two decades before she tries to end her life. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Mrs. Elm, p. 32 This quote is taken from early in the novel, as Mrs. Elm explains to Nora how lives are shaped by seemingly minor choices. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. In these depictions, the image of a chessboard is used to illustrate the idea that life is full of variable outcomes. Proudly brought to you by the fine folks at the Astonishing Legends Podcast- Not just another show but a place you can go: The Midnight Library. And with all the knowledge she gained from jumping to and from the many lives she could have potentially lived, Nora is determined to make her current reality one she would check out from The Midnight Library., About Annenberg Media Maybe that's what all lives were though. Accessed 4 Mar. What can be a theme statement for the story "Games at Twilight"? In the speech she gives in her champion-swimmer existence, Nora says that the outward appearance of her life does not really convey the struggles she has endured and that the very idea of a "successful" life is misleading. B.A. from Signum University. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. You cant have one without the other. She now has a Web Matt Haig, The Midnight Library 1115 likes Like If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Nora's regrets range from not marrying her ex-boyfriend Dan to failing to become an Olympic swimmer. This moment occurs late in the novel, after Nora has spent a great deal of time in her supposed "best" life. The dialogue flows naturally and the characters come to life. She realizes, too, that she can always make new and better choices going forward. In one life, she is a rock-star. It makes for a great philosophical read about the regrets we have in life. And yes, it is about that the plot isnt surprising in that sense but its about something else too, which Im not sure I had expected or appreciated quite as much. This theory is explored in the alternative lives generated by minor changes, like going on a date or not keeping a cat inside. The library allows Nora to reverse her regrets and pursue different iterations of her existence. The second is the date of Easy to wish we'd worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga. The novels simple yet fantastical premise renders Noras story a modern day parable, exploring regret, pain and the richness of the ordinary in life. As readers, her journey is our journey, and by the end, my own book of regrets felt considerably lighter. "The Midnight Library Quotes and Analysis". Haigs novel suggests that the purpose of life is to live. I particularly enjoyed the way the library was affected by the choices Nora made, culminating in a climactic ending when Nora Seed sealed her final decision. D) It indicates that the book will end when Nora dies. Matt Haig: The Midnight Library review - an uplifting modern parable |, Finding The Way Back review - alcoholism on the rebound, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld: The Discomfort of Evening review - lovelessness, loneliness, bodies and their limits, Sema Kaygusuz: Every Fire You Tend review an education in grief, Karl Ove Knausgaard: So Much Longing in So Little Space review smiles more than screams, Will Harris: Brother Poem review - writing the poems that could have been, Disbelief - 100 Russian Anti-War Poems (ed. A few chapters later, Noras cat dies, she loses her job, her As Mrs Elm guides her through the library, plucking the books from the shelves, Nora is able to undo her regrets, by re-entering her life having made different decisions. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. Nora Seed is the main character of the novel. Endorse it. WebThe Midnight Library is told from a third-person limited point of view. The novel opens with her playing chess with Nora and talking about the possibilities of life. This was the first book I finished since the first lockdown life, work, babies, teaching and all that other stuff has got in the way of my love of reading. He is described as being somewhat aloof and cold as a result of his continual journey through parallel timelines. And it became astoundingly clear to her, finally, in that moment: This quote occurs in the moment Nora is nearly attacked by a polar bear. A symbol is carried through the work and consistently represents something than adds to the meaning of the piece. She is a woman in her thirties, who leads a life she finds lonely and disappointing. There are lives where you make different choices. She begins to reflect on the nature of success and she finds that even in her most glamorous or widely admired lives there is still disappointment and sadness. It is dead. She is despondently lonely and thinks that she no longer has a purpose. "Between life and death there is a library," she said. In Permafrost, one of the chapters outlining Noras life on the research vessel in Svalbard, Nora finds herself musing on the fragility of life after a near-death encounter with a polar bear: Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. "The Midnight Library Essay Questions". She loves this life and finds herself feeling both content and fulfilled, working on a book about Thoreau and spending time with her daughter. Hugo references Schrdingers Cat, a well-known thought experiment that exists at the intersection of physics and philosophy. PartSliding Doors,part-philosophical quest, this is a moving novel with a powerful mental health message at its heart. Alice OKeeffe,The Bookseller, Haigs latest (after the nonfiction collectionNotes on a Nervous Planet, 2019) is a stunning contemporary story that explores the choices that make up a life, and the regrets that can stifle it. Each life that Nora samples represents potential, yet none of them satisfy Nora. But there is no life where you can be in a state of sheer happiness for ever. I usually read three books at "A Conversation About Rain" to "The Chessboard", "The Only Way to Learn Is to Live" to "System Error", Read the Study Guide for The Midnight Library. Nora thought Then she wakes up in a mysterious library filled with books of other lives she might have led and an invitation from the librarian, Mrs. Elm, to enter their pages. Faced with a number of promising opportunities in her lifehigh-level competitive swimming, a pending marriage, a record deal, a move to AustraliaNora has, at each turn, chosen inaction. from St. You are giving up at the worst possible moment. The pivotal moments for Nora dont happen when shes just CONTENT. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. *Im sure if I actually came face to face with a polar bear I would NOT want polar bears. This final life, however, gave Nora hope that there is a world in which she can be happy. publication online or last modification online. This quote describes the continual strangeness that Nora experiences as she moves through these different lives. She is described as loving and warm. eNotes Editorial, 19 Feb. 2022, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-literary-devices-are-used-in-the-midnight-3023590. And imagining there is just breeds more unhappiness in the life youre in., Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Then, she is fired from her job of twelve years. Im a voracious reader. Shes been an Olympian, a dog-walker, and a glassblower. Haig himself is an accomplished writer, and his books have been very successful in approaching the darker themes of mental illness, regret and death, often in unique ways. This moment comes after Nora has traveled through a few different lives. Work hard at it. It is important to the plot, as it reveals that, unlike Hugo, Nora cannot stay in this transitional space forever. There are lives in which both Joe and Izzy are dead, and their deaths can be indirectly traced to Noras presence or absence in their lives. Throughout the novel, readers cant help but question their past decisions, both major and minor, along with Nora. As a consequence of her self-critical thoughts, Nora overdoses and is surprised to find herself in the library, where the time on her watch is stuck at midnight.