The Midnight Library

by Matt Haig

[brdsk]

A very cool premice and a disappointing book.

The story starts with a seriously depressed character committing suicide. Which is detailed and written well, but reads incredibly triggering. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ARE THINKING OF COMMITTING SUICIDE. In fact, I had to lay the book down and contact support lines as the graphic description and deep despair of the character made me feel equally awful and hopeless, and made want to do the same as the character did.

That could be considered good writing, by some. But I was shocked and disappointed there was no warning for the suicide in the book.

From there the book becomes incredibly condescending and boring in a manner or self help books written by people that think medical depression can be treated with going for walks.

As a book that is obviously trying to say that there are many ways to live our lives and that while we are alive we can change, it does a remarkably bad job actually understanding what real depression is. This book keeps telling you "stop feeling this way, feel better". Which can be a very harmful message to hear as it completely invalidates how multidimensional depression and its sources can be.

If you are as depressed as the main character is, please reach out to others and get help. You are not alone.


The main character is pretty one dimentional beyond her depression. Most of the plot simply goes over different lives she could have lived. Those experiences are what helps the character get better. These read as well-meaning but ultimately fall flat. They feel repetitive in a way that inspires boredom. It took me weeks to get thorough this book, when usually I read even long fiction books in just a few sittings.

In between those lives, there are pages and pages of "stop regretting things", & "your perspective is wrong" conversations. Which again feel like a lecture from a nice mentally healthy person who does not understand depression.


Overall, for a book with so much praise this is a serious disappointment. I think the same concept could have been a genuinely great book, but it simply fails and is mostly boring to read. I do not recommend this book.