The Midnight Library: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Best book I’ve ever read regarding mental health, accepting yourself, and the amazing life you live and can have, if only you dare to. About not living for what others expect of you, but what YOU expect of you. “You don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it.” “Never underestimate the big importance of small things.” “The only way to learn is to live.” “We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.”

I was originally pretty excited to read this book, as I’ve heard a lot of positive reviews and have been wanting to read it myself for quite some time now. That excitement, however, changed within the first few pages of the book. The writing style of the author seems pretentious, he is trying waaay too hard to make this book into something it’s just not - a new, meaningful and philosophical conversation about the meaning of life and the weight we should place on things that have (not) happened in the past. A member of the book club said something along the lines of: “It feels like the author was trying to write a self-help book in the form of a novel”, which is exactly what I felt throughout reading this but couldn’t quite grasp and put into words. Furthermore, I disliked all(!!) of the characters, no exceptions. Specifically the main character. She was annoying and kept pitying herself and was overall deeply unlikable. At no point in reading this book have I felt any emotional connection to any of the characters. I felt similarly toward the story itself. It is just not as exciting as the author seems to think. The whole in-between-life-thing where you can try on different lives bla bla bla - I just don’t care. I’m surprised at myself, this book just pisses me off so much!!! The more I think about it, the less I like it! Don’t even get me started on the whole philosophy and universe bullshit, if I hear the name “Henry David Throreau” one more time… Also the song lyrics and poetry that Matt Haig wrote for this book… just no. The only positive things that I liked about the book were the short chapters (HUGE fan of short chapters!!), the fact that the chapters have titles, as well as the fact that this book was medium paced and the story progressed somewhat fast. All in all, I didn’t like this book (surprise lol) and I didn’t gain any new perspective or knowledge or whatever on the meaning of life and regrets and all of that crap. I’m a hater at heart and could rant about this book for HOURS!

This book had me wanting to do my life different. I feel like we all can relate to a book that makes us feel like a mental reboot is necessary to continue through life. That is this book for me. This book deserves so much more than it’s been given. In a mental health rut? Must read.

This one was a bit harder to get invested in, but in the end, the story was wrapped together and provided a satisfying end.

Love how this book made me think about living and life!