. Nora thinks about Dan, a man who worked in PR but had a dream of running a pub in the countryside. Soon, Nora is jumping from possible life to possible life with ravenous abandon. The Midnight Club ending, explained. Nora thinks about the career in glaciology shed considered but didnt end up pursuing after Mrs. Elms (joking) suggestion so many years ago. When one actually appears, the prospect of her dying makes Nora acknowledge her desire to live. Where, for an hour, a day or a month, she gets to dip into and sample lives where she made different choices, with the ultimate goal of erasing those regrets and finding a life she's comfortable in. Inside the library, Nora is met by a familiar face: Mrs. Elm, her school librarian from childhood. date the date you are citing the material. Next, Nora goes by Mr. Banerjees house. While shes in the Midnight Library, Mrs. Elm tells her, shes preserved from death; this is an opportunity to decide how and if she wants to live. Your email address will not be published. Mrs. Elm points out that time has started progressing forward once again on Noras watch. Nora discovers that she is surprisingly content in this life, and she suspects this is the one shell want to stay in. Nora was once the songwriter in a band called Labyrinth with Ravi, Ella (Ravis girlfriend, now wife) and Joe that was on the verge of a deal with Universal, but Nora nixed her involvement in it. There is one book that is different from the rest. Different packaging; same us. She was the only difference between the two Mr. Banerjees, but what was that difference? Nora realizes that in her other lives there was an absence of love. Then, Mrs. Elm talks to Nora about what success means to her, and Nora realizes that she doesnt know. He had an affair with Nadia and left Noras mother. She knew that everything humans see is a simplification. Should I have just asked? He takes what could've been (what has been in so many other books) a dark or sad or curvy or weird spin through the logical and philosophical possibilities of regret crossed with multiverse theory and straightens it out. eNotes Editorial. Mrs. Elm explains that her desire to live out her original life is causing the destruction. Banerjee!) It resembles one he used to go to. And finally she wakes, gasping, at home, summoning all her energy to ask her neighbor (Mr. Harper Avenue, 2020. And yes, it really is presented that plainly. Out of it she sees a building, which is revealed to be filled with endless rows of unlabeled books, all with covers colored in shades of green. As she gets to one part, many of the regrets are related to Dan. Nora wonders where Izzy is and asks Jojo. She sees that the lawn is overgrown. Matt Haig age rating / The Midnight Library age rating = 16+ is ideal. Kevin (Igby Rigney) finally decided to end his serial killer story. . When she inquires about Mrs. Elm, they inform her that Louise Elm died peacefully about three weeks ago. Its here that the fundamental problem with her root life dawns on her: She had loved no one, and no one had loved her back., Yet and this is one of my favorite parts there are problems with this seemingly perfect existence. Once thinks about how her family here (Molly, Ash, Plato, etc.) Over the past year-and-a-half, as the coronavirus pandemic drop-kicked plans and routines somewhere far, far away, Ive had a recurring daydream about what would have been. The synopsis 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. Mrs. Elm explains to Nora that this is the Midnight Library, a space between life and death. Online, Nora learns that Izzy died a month after they arrived in Australia. Nora doesnt understand what is happening. Available in . Nora experienced it as a library because of the meaningful relationship she had with Mrs. Elm, her childhood school librarian. It was the ending that this broken character of Nora Seed needed and I am in awe of how Haig transformed a predictable ending into one that was naturally the part of her journey with The Midnight Library. 2. Moreover, Nora must remember what she . Both men blame her for dropping out right when they had a chance at a major record deal. Joe is working as a sound engineer now. The game is interrupted by a phone call with bad news for Nora. While thematically tackling death and coming to terms with the inevitable, the. Would you want to? This time, Nora explores the life she might have had if she had accepted a long-ago coffee invitation from Ash, the kind acquaintance from Bedford who found her cat in the road. Neil also allows Nora to put up some flyers at String Theory offering more piano lessons to others, and the ads have already gotten a large response. Nora thinks that this may be the best version of her life. The second is the date of Or maybe she does, but the arc of the plot hinges on her trying to figure out what exactly it is. the midnight library ending explained, books like the midnight library, the midnight library . What had she done? As Mrs. Elm reminds her: Never underestimate the big importance of small things., Now that youve read The Last Thing He Told Me, lets talk about the ending. While The Midnight Club already tells a beautiful story of self-acceptance and mortality, the show has plenty of loose threads to explore in an eventual Season 2 and the ending of the series . "Every life contains many millions of decisions," says Mrs. Elm. Do you think its understandable that she would have given these things up? If you really want to live a life hard enough, you dont have to worry, Mrs. Elm tells her. His latest novel is The Midnight Library and the audiobook edition is read by Carey Mulligan. Mrs. Elm says that Nora has become lost because she's still trying to live for other people. Nora heads there and sees that she has a flatmate named Jojo, a quirky conspiracy theorist, that she doesnt recognize. And who would be there? Should a savvy reader have seen it coming? She's lost her job, her best friend, her brother. Mrs. Elm showed Nora the Book of Regrets when she first entered the library, and Nora was overwhelmed by it when she first looked in. Note: this article may contain spoilers for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. 4. He has a bunch of dogs. Later, we learn that Huge experienced it as a video store, with a cherished uncle instead of a librarian. A simplicity to the narrative that has to be taken as a choice on Haig's part, not an accident. Major spoilers for The Midnight Library are ahead. There is sadness and pointlessness, soft meditations on the cost of fame and the dignity of smaller lives, lots of quotes from philosophers (because that's what Nora studied in school), and quiet thoughts about the weight of meaning in a universe where everything that can happen, does. Kirkus. See the archives. When Nora next returns to the library, it is dark. Her brother arrives, and the two share a heartfelt reconciliation; Izzy texts to tell Nora how much she misses her; and Nora gets rehired at one of her jobs. The book follows Nora, a dejected 35 year old who, after overdosing, finds herself transported to a library. Mrs. Elm tells Nora that almost all of the books on the library's seemingly infinite shelves represent lives that Nora could have lived if she had made different choices. Nora considers that her lives have largely been about other peoples dreams her brothers dream about The Labyrinths, her fathers dream about swimming, Izzys dream about Australia, Dans dream about the bar, and even Mrs. Elms suggestion about glaciology. The Silent Patient ends with a major twist. Nora experienced it as a library because of the meaningful relationship she had with Mrs. Elm, her childhood school librarian. While the concept does fly high, it also flies straight. But her brother would no longer be part of that band. The Library is falling apart, but Nora needs to find the book that represents her original life and write that story. If Noras band had signed with a recording label, we learn, she would have made it big really big. Afterwards, Nora is brought to a lavish suite to do an interview with two podcasters from O Som, the most popular music podcast in Brazil. Chapters 1 4 (The Man at the Door, String Theory, To Live Is to Suffer, Doors). Do you think that wanting to be the best at something can inhibit us from enjoying it? After meeting another "slider" (as those who can bounce around between multiverse possibilities are called), and discussing the pop-science implications of a multi-dimensional existence, Nora muses on her situation: [She] had read about multiverses and knew a bit about Gestalt psychology. Her relationships are in shambles and her cat is dead. In this gentle life, Nora works at an animal rescue center and is seeing a man named Dylan, who had been two years below her in secondary school, though they didnt know each other then. She drops into new lives, again and again, awaiting the one that makes her want to stay. This finale explores the truth behind Brightcliffe's troubled history via flashbacks, while in the present, there are emotional goodbyes and the Midnight Club members bring a . Also, in the original life, she and Joe had been there for her mother before her death. The mystery-horror series follows a group of eight terminally ill patients at Brightcliffe Hospice, run by Dr. Stanton. A woman is there, and she either is or resembles Mrs. Elm. Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Starblazers. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance Chapters 13 15 (Every Life Begins Now, The Three Horseshoes, The Penultimate Update Nora Had Posted Before She Found Herself Between Life and Death). He is apparently her manager, and he manages others as well. All 120 characters in The Midnight Library are listed by chapter with character descriptions included. The one that could be a messy struggle, but it was her messy struggle. Still, she wonders what would have happened if shed stuck with it. Perhaps endless. However, when she goes back to her hometown she sees that her absence has had am impact. In the dining hall, there are about 17 other people. For a short while it seems appealing, but it soon becomes clear that the relationship has problems which Nora does not feel compelled to take on. It's the outlier of the " Flanagan-verse, " both youth-focused and semi-anthologized. Chapters 66 71 (Awakening, The Other Side of Despair, A Thing I Have Learned, Living Versus Understanding, The Volcano, How It Ends). Immortality, Sadness And Drinking With Shakespeare In 'How To Stop Time'. The Midnight Club crew expecting a Season 2 certainly clears up why Season 1 ended so abruptly and with so many questions left unanswered, but Flanagan is not a cruel man! [2] The Midnight Library is an insightful and poignant exploration into regret, second chances and ultimately the joys and tribulations of simply living. Hed be dead of an overdose. Joe is no longer in the band. She is wracked with regret. When she is released from the hospital, Nora visits the real Mrs. Elm in a care facility. Oct. 7, 2022 The Midnight Club is something completely new for Mike Flanagan. Then, Marcello brings up that Joe overdosed two years ago. Noras mother had passed away three months before their wedding. Ravi blames Nora, but Nora says she was getting panic attacks that would have made it impossible. The books are portals to the different lives Nora could have lived if she had made different decisions. The Midnight Club will tug at your heartstrings and have you piecing together its mysteries all at the same time. But its easier to buy when you recognize that all those other outcomes would have come with their own problems. Midnight Library is one of my favourite books I've ever read. What is the setting of "Games at Twilight"? I usually read three books at once and treat Goodreads . Just for joining youll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members. Nora discovers a life that she thinks is quite nice, where they have a young daughter named Molly and a dog named Plato. A woman named Nadia calls, and Nora is shocked to learn that her dad is alive. Ultimately, it became a saga about how Kevin feels like he's let down everyone he loves. The writer/director gave . Somewhere between life and death, Nora Seed finds herself wandering the marble hallways of a never-ending library; "The Midnight Library.". 5 Highlights from The Midnight Library - One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2020 | by T.J.Parker | Books Are Our Superpower Write Sign up Sign In 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. by Matt Haig. As many of you know a book with a library speaks to me. Shes at home, when Ash, an attractive surgeon and neighbor who shed once asked her out to coffee with, rings her doorbell. The Midnight Library, which is the place people go when they find themselves hanging precariously between life and death and not entirely sure about which way to go. Overdose. The library is her brains way of making sense of the theory of alternate universes, Hugo posits, and she is seeing Mrs. Elm as a guide because the librarian represents a comforting authority figure from her past. While Nora is in the library, the librarian reveals that she has the freedom to explore these alternate options in search of a more favorable reality. Instead, Voltaire likely went outside to die because it didnt want Nora to see it die. On her phone is a message from Dan saying hell be coming to Australia for work soon. But on the brink of death she is transported to The Midnight Library, where every book acts as a gateway to the past. Nora is frustrated and unhappy when she sees Mrs. Elm again, and she wants to give up. The grand clock on the librarys front reads 12:00 a.m. The Book of Regrets represents all the things Nora wishes she could change from her root lifethat is, the life she has actually lived. Hugo explains that quantum superposition is what allows all these infinite lives to exist at once. What do you think your Midnight Library would be? Refresh the page, check Medium 's site status, or find something interesting to read. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. Matt Haig is the number one bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive, Notes on a Nervous Planet and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, including How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Radleys. She explains that Nora can stay as long as she likes in each life, but she warns Nora that if she loses the will to carry on while she is between lives, then Nora will truly die with finality. The Midnight Library is different for each person who enters it. Nora leaves a voicemail for her brother and pens a suicide note, directed to whoever. The jokes I would have laughed at, or maybe even told. Nora is bright and talented, but she hasnt managed to turn her gifts into a fulfilling career. Mrs. Elm recalls the games of chess that she used to play with Nora and how shed give up if she lost a few key pieces like her queen and whatnot, acting like the game was over and that her pawns and such were useless. Matt Haig's magical novel The Midnight Library is a tonic to anyone who tumbles down this rabbit hole of what-if thinking. She finds herself in an upscale hotel room, feeling very healthy. Infinite options, yes, but maybe not an infinite amount of time in which to choose. But here's the problem. Everything changes because of Anya's . She thinks about how swimming was something shed pursued because it was important to her father, but not to her. The Midnight Library Trigger Warning: suicide, attempted suicide, death, depression, cancer. Antidepressants. 9. Nora thinks about the many expensive instruments she did manage to sell in her original life. Nora is sad and confused. I like how it works with the concept of alternatives lives. Nineteen years later, its now 27 hours before Nora will decide to die. This story is part of a series for people who have already read the book and want to think more deeply about the plot and ending. By clicking Sign Up, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. Shed be living with a mean alcoholic who couldnt stand that she knew more than him and who was cheating on her to boot. As she passes by her elderly neighbor, Mr. Banerjee, he informs her of the good news that he no longer needs her to pick up his medicine, but it makes Nora feel superfluous as a person. THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARYBy Matt Haig. Finally, Nora finds Mrs. Elm at the retirement home where she offers to play chess with her. Few fantasies are more enduring than the idea that there might be a second chance at a life already lived, some sort of magical reset in which mistakes can be . Chapters 5 6 (How to Be a Black Hole, Antimatter). But as soon as the Midnight Library took over, I was hooked. This was a helpful synopsis. Thats what Haig so beautifully demonstrates. She is in a middle of a show in So Paulo, Brazil and Ravi is on-stage with her. Directed by George Clooney and starring Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone . Do you think you would be able to live as an alternate version of yourself? GoodReads. In this reality, she also has a cat named Voltaire, but it looks different. When she finds herself excited again about living, things calm down. For a non-spoiler version of the plot synopsis, see The Bibliofile's review of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. These books are portals to all the lives you could be living. Follow along on Goodreads, or keep in touch via the newsletter. Sometimes the elements of a really great book, but sometimes the elements of a non memorable one. In this novel, Haig addresses weighty topics through a main character, Nora Seed, who attempts suicide and must explore what it means to live while in the gray area between life and death. And her music student, Leo, ended up falling in with a bad crowd instead of discovering his aptitude for piano. She can't imagine a day that is better with her in it. Online, she learns that she is a 2-time Olympian, having won a gold and two silver medals before retiring at 28. It implies Augustine has died, at peace at last knowing an adult Iris is going to be safe. What if she had married her fiance, Dan, instead of calling off the wedding two days beforehand? Between life and death there is a library. The book is not one to be missed. In her present life, she wonders what might have . Nora wonders why Mr. Banerjee ended up in a elderly care facility in this life when he had been determined not to in her original life. 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 that life, Nora has patched up her relationship with Joe, and he is happily married. Harper's Bazaar (UK) "British author Matt Haig is beloved in his home country, and he's a champion of mental health, which makes him a great person to follow on . Her situational grief and existing depression coalesce until she feels impossibly burdened by them, and she decides to take her own life. Chapters 24 31 (System Error, Svalbard, Hugo Lefvre, Walking in Circles, A Moment of Extreme Crisis in the Middle of Nowhere, The Frustration of Not Finding a Library When You Really Need One, Island, Permafrost). Joe seems to be a part of her life, and he is married to Ewan, who hed met at a cross-training class. Not all of the parallel, or perpendicular, lives Nora tries on are so meaningful: In one, she argues with people on Twitter all day. And it is filled with nothing but books, shelves and, curiously, Nora's school librarian, Mrs. Elm. As she is transported to Sydney, she senses she is in the water. 6. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book. Haig's novel is divided into 68 chapters. Mrs. Elm asks Nora what book shed like to start with. As the Library continues to burn, Mrs. Elm tells Nora that theres a way that she can escape. date the date you are citing the material. Its all lost to the ether. Hugo, she learns, sees a video store instead of a library and a beloved uncle instead of Mrs. Elm. As a place, the Midnight Library isn't really a library (of course), but is instead a 101-level lecture in parallel universe theory, philosophy and quantum indeterminacy. Mrs. Elm tells Nora how to exit, by finding the book representing her original life, and the Midnight Library dissolves. Joe also tells her that he happened to run into Ravi, who he hasnt seen in 10 years in this life, and he invited Ravi to Noras talk. "well plotted and richly populated" For the young Parisian Odile Souchet in the winter of 1939, working in the American Library in Paris sounds like her ideal job. Now that weve all read Where the Crawdads Sing, can we talk about the ending? The sea turtles I would have squealed about on vacation. Chapters 16 18 (The Chessboard, The Only Way to Learn Is to Live, Fire). Miss Manners: Uninvited colleague doesnt enjoy our lunchtime conversations. But in this new version of life, hes married to a woman he met at a swim meet, whom he left Noras mother for, likely accelerating the jilted womans death. The only question left hanging over all of it is which one she'll finally choose. The library is immense. Really, it's a therapist simulator, minus the couch. What if she had never given up swimming, the sport her father was desperate for her to continue? The new Mike Flanagan series dropped many bombs in its final episode. Every decision in life leads to different results in life, and those possible lives are reflected in these infinite volumes. She drags herself to her neighbors door, and he calls an ambulance as she collapses before him. Shes dissatisfied with her life. Nora had offered inexpensive lessons and as Leos confidence in music grew, he improved in other areas as well and never get mixed up with worse stuff. Share this: Twitter Facebook Loading. Jojo tells her that Izzy died in a car crash. On her way home, she spots Leo the boy she gave piano lessons to in her root life, calming his penchant for trouble in police custody. publication online or last modification online.