The Midnight Library Book Summary

In the novel The Midnight Library, Nora, a despondent woman in her 30s, finds herself in a library full of possible lives on the day she plans to end her life. There, she learns there is much more to life—even her current one—than she had ever imagined.

What if you could experience every possible life rather than having to live your one life one day at a time? Would you be more content? Would you track down “the one?” the life where everything is appropriate? These significant topics are addressed in Matt Haig’s million-copy bestseller The Midnight Library.

The protagonist of the book is a despondent British woman in her mid-30s named Nora Seed. She makes the decision to terminate her life one night, but a sleeping pill overdose leaves her trapped in a library on the verge of death. Nora experiences innumerable possible lives while time stands still, and by the end of it, one thing is obvious: Nora wants to live.

Three things can be learned from this wonderful, inspirational book:

Even if you lived a million lives, you would still not be happy.
Even if it’s your “best” life, it might not be the ideal one for you to live.
Just keep living; life won’t always give you an explanation.

Human nature dictates that even if you could live a million lives, you probably wouldn’t be content.

Robert “Hob” Gadling makes a pact with Dream and Death in an episode of The Sandman: He won’t pass away in exchange for sharing his experience once every century. Hob lives as a pauper in some centuries and like a king in others. Regardless of his wealth or the loss of his wife and child, Hob always requests an additional 100 years at meetings. After 600 years, he came to the obvious conclusion: “I could do this forever.”

Nora finds something wrong with every life she attempts, as opposed to Hob, who is motivated by curiosity and a love for life. Dan, her ex-husband, cheats on her and abuses alcohol while living the married pub owner life with her. Her best buddy would have passed away if she had gone to Australia. Even if swimmer Nora won the gold medal at the Olympics, she would still be miserable, and if her cat hadn’t passed away last night at an early hour, it would have done so three hours later.

Nora visits the library after each failure, and even though she and Hob have different motivations, they both discover the same lesson: You may live a million lives and yet not be pleased because it is inhumane to not strive for improvement.

While this is what propels civilization, as individuals we also thrive when we feel like we are changing, and in order to evolve, we must make a shift. Because of this, even if we lived to be a thousand years old, there would still be things we felt we needed to do.

Don’t try to achieve perfection all the time. It is nonexistent. Make the best of this trait rather than resent it by learning to accept the fact that you can never be fully fulfilled.

Even if you think you’re living your best life, it might not be the best one for you.

After attempting to live as a glaciologist, rock star, and vineyard owner, Nora eventually discovers a life that seems to suit her like a glove. She is married to Ash, a gorgeous surgeon who lives next door. They have a dog and a daughter. Nora teaches philosophy at Cambridge University, where the pair resides. To put it another way, everything is ideal.

Nora clings to this existence for a few weeks, believing it to be the one, but soon she realises she must move on. Nora hasn’t merited this existence, for starters. She wants it, but she won’t ever be able to really appreciate it unless she takes the necessary steps to make it happen. For another, Nora’s life’s perfection came at the expense of the people she left behind. For instance, a boy Nora originally taught piano to becomes a criminal since she never offered him the opportunity to pursue music.

Typically, we picture our “best” lives as free of hardship. Everything should be simple, right? But what if our loved ones are harmed by this ease? Why not make a few concessions in order to make them happy as well?

Your best life will only feel as good as you believe you deserve it, and strangely, you’ll probably have to make some difficult sacrifices in order to earn that right. In the end, “best” is not about success. Making decisions that we are proud of will enable us to be content with our lives, no matter how imperfect they may turn out to be.

You’re not required to comprehend life. All you have to do is live it.

As the Midnight Library crumbles, Nora comes to the realization that despite having issues, a life can still be happy and vice versa. She is able to vomit up her sleeping tablets and call for assistance. The following day, Nora makes amends with her estranged brother and shares her life lesson with him: “You don’t have to understand life,” she says. You simply have to practice it.

Nora adds, “We can’t say whether any of those other versions [of us] would have been better or worse.” However, we are aware that our actual lives are taking place in front of us, and we must pay attention to that.

You won’t always be given an explanation for breakups in life, let alone a “what-if” report listing all the possible outcomes. But if you concentrate on the life you already have, you won’t require either of them. We only need to focus on living each day to the fullest while having faith that all we need will be provided for.

Live in the moment, show kindness to people around you, and ask for assistance when you require it. I hope you don’t find yourself in the Midnight Library.

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