Listen up! If you haven’t read this book, stop what you’re doing and get yourself a copy!
You. need. to. read. this. book.
First off, I love the title.
The Midnight Library is a place Nora finds herself between life and death. The books on the shelves are not ordinary books. They are versions of many lives she could have lived based on many choices, big and small, she made throughout her life. She is allowed to choose to visit these versions to attempt to discover one she would be happy living in. How many of us get that choice?
I was hit by so many emotions not only for Nora, but for myself as well. It is wild to imagine how many different ways my life could have gone with a slightly different choice, how many could have been similar to the one I’m living now, and some could have been massively different. We could spend a lifetime wondering what would have happened if we had chosen a different path, and we could drive ourselves insane wondering if those choices would have made us happier.
This book brings awareness to mental health, mainly situational depression. It shows us that money and fame aren’t enough to make us happy–how we can find happiness just by changing our outlook. Memories are deceiving and may not truly be as we remember them at all.
While reading this book, I was reminded how we can get so absorbed in ourselves and our own issues that we fail to notice others. Slowing down and looking outside ourselves might allow us to connect and be rewarded through new and old relationships.
My biggest lesson learned from this book? We never know what impact we have on others just by being ourselves.