My one sentence blurb: My obsessive daydreams of regrets and parallel lives in novel-form.
Actual synopsis (Credit: Goodreads 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. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. 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? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
⭐ Review
I seem to be reading a lot of books lately about women in their late twenties to early thirties. Flashback to when I was reading The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer and Yellowface by R.F. Kuang.
This book was recommended to me by a friend/colleague, which is always a great start. I think the concept was interesting and the execution was done quite well. The premise drew me in because I am always wondering about “What if’s” and dreaming about my parallel lives. For people like me, this book is a reminder to have hope, be grateful, and focus on the present. I don’t think this is really a spoiler since you can probably already guess the ending from the synopsis alone.
My only gripe is that the book felt a little heavy handed at the end as it was trying to drive the message home. But then again, sometimes subtlety doesn’t work for the people who need to hear this message.
Despite this, the book managed to keep my attention and for that I think it deserves 4 stars. I’m curious about his other books and might check them out. I think Notes on a Nervous Plant by Matt Haig is another one that is quite popular.
P.S. If you made it this far… Welcome to the secret book club dear reader. 🥰 See you soon 💜