And indeed, in her visit to this lovely life, Nora is married to Ash, with whom she has a daughter, Molly. Shes a cat-sitter; shes on her third husband and already bored. The reason Nora ended up back at the Midnight Library is because she wanted to live (in her original life). As she comes to see the value she had in her original life, Nora senses her grip on this reality is fading, even as she reminds herself how great this reality is. Joe shows up due to the voicemail Nora had left him before overdosing. Nora is now 35 and has been working at a local music store, String Theory, for nearly 13 years now. Nora Seed is not happy with her life and so after her cat, Voltaire, dies and she loses her job, she kills herself. She tells Mrs. Elm that she wanted to stay in the previous life, but Mrs. Elm disagrees. Meanwhile, Nora worries that shell die for real if she doesnt find a life she has the will to live. In this life, she never ended up teaching him piano. When presented with a chance to review The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, narrated by Carey Mulligan, I grabbed my earbuds and dove in. Its about Nora, a young woman who decides she isnt cut out for life. The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig. Advice for the relationships in your life and how to boost your own well-being. The subsequent chapters tend to alternate between one of Nora's dream-lives and the library. Our teacher made us read this, now writing an essay about the book and this is quite helpful for summarising all the key events of the book so thanks. 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. Are there any parts of your life that you feel could not be improved by living it differently. Even days later, when my mind darted to the would-have, should-have, could-haves, I was able to redirect. Nora wonders where Izzy is and asks Jojo. Afterwards, feeling impulsive knowing that any decision is just one iteration of her life, she kisses Hugo and they sleep together. Nora finds herself surrounded by mist, and she discovers The Midnight Library, where infinite rows of books represent portals into different variations of her life. Chapters 32 35 (One Night in Longyearbyen, Expectation, Life and Death and the Quantum Wave Function, If Something Is Happening to Me, I Want to Be There). The Midnight Club ending explained: answering your biggest questions But as soon as the Midnight Library took over, I was hooked. Nora and Joe talk, and he admits that he was a jerk to her for a while over the whole band thing. Haig presents all of this as a straight line. Nora explores a series of these other possible realities, returning to the library each time she feels dissatisfied. She left her former fianc, Dan, just before their wedding. The Midnight Club Ending Explained: Death Is Inexorable, but so Is Life 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. These books are portals to all the lives you could be living. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. Chapters 1 4 (The Man at the Door, String Theory, To Live Is to Suffer, Doors). The Midnight Club ending, explained. "Every life contains many millions of decisions," says Mrs. Elm. As time passes, she finds herself feeling grateful for this life. Matt Haig's magical novel " The Midnight Library " is a tonic to anyone who tumbles down this rabbit hole of what-if thinking. Do you think by considering the ways in which our lives might have turned out differently our regrets truly go away, or do we simply learn to live with them? English novelist and author of "The . Mrs. Elm tells Nora that she is in a unique space between life and deatha library with infinite books, each offering a glimpse into a life Nora would have led if she had . Meanwhile, Noras father, Geoffs, life had taught him the lesson that life was meant to screw you over. Finally, Nora finds Mrs. Elm at the retirement home where she offers to play chess with her. Not all of the parallel, or perpendicular, lives Nora tries on are so meaningful: In one, she argues with people on Twitter all day. Review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - The Mancunion The Midnight Library: An Unfavourable (and Therefore Unpopular) Book 2. to call for help. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. But in Mike Flanagan's adaptation, the tales they tell are actually from other Christopher Pike stories. 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. And in a multiverse of infinite choice and infinite possibility, I'm just not sure that the answer matters enough. Its all lost to the ether. The Midnight Library is the place where Nora gets to find out. I think about the people I would have met at restaurants that instead shut down, the slices of cake I would have ordered for dessert and the contemplative walks home. Hugo, she learns, sees a video store instead of a library and a beloved uncle instead of Mrs. Elm. Midnight Library is one of my favourite books I've ever read. Inside the library, Nora is met by a familiar face: Mrs. Elm, her school librarian from childhood. 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. The only thing we truly need to change is the one thing we have complete control over: our outlook. The Best Books to Get Your Finances in Order, Cook a Soul Food Holiday Meal With Rosie Mayes. In this new life, hes at the care home he had so passionately resisted. So she ends it. Chapters 16 18 (The Chessboard, The Only Way to Learn Is to Live, Fire). With that, shes transported into the life of an Arctic Researcher. A thousand. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. It's about Nora, a young woman who decides she isn't cut out for life. The messy life she had tried to exit now seems full of hope. Its a perfect ending: Nora didnt need a new life. The Midnight Club is an exploration of mortality, with every one of the teenagers facing their certain death in their own ways. A woman is there, and she either is or resembles Mrs. Elm. The Midnight Library study guide contains a biography of Matt Haig, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Haig also writes award-winning books for children . The next day, nine hours before Nora decides to die, Nora is late for work. Nora tries a life where she stayed in her band and became a famous rock star, but she learns that becoming famous lead to Joe dying from substance abuse. Netflix canceled The Midnight Club (co-created with Leah Fong) after season 1, so that tantalizing cliffhanger concerning a certain doctor won't be resolved -- well, you might have thought so,. Noras dad did not have a heart attack in this life because he ended up on a health kick as Nora was training for the Olympics. She also tries a life where Volts was kept indoors to prevent it from being hit by a car, but learns the cat actually died of a health condition. On her phone is a message from Dan saying hell be coming to Australia for work soon. Mrs. Elm encourages Nora to try a less obvious life, saying that a more ordinary life can still lead to victory. What would've happened if she'd stuck with competitive swimming, been a better cat owner, been nicer to her parents, followed her best friend to Australia or become a glaciologist? The Midnight Library is a 2020 work of fiction by the New York Times bestselling British author Matt Haig. 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. There is tragedy, but it feels muted by the existence of infinite chances. What details do you notice that show that this story is not taking place in the United States? 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. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. But Nora longs to find a life to settle down in. Summary and Review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - The Bibliofile Back at the Library, Mrs. Elm explains that basically even if Voltaire was an indoor cat, he wouldve died anyway from a heart condition. The call is amicable, and they agree to remain friends. 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 the Library continues to burn, Mrs. Elm tells Nora that theres a way that she can escape. As they talk, Nora is disappointed to learn that shes still on antidepressants in this life. Nora lives a hundred lives. Because who, in their darkest moments or maybe just on a Tuesday hasn't wondered what life would be like if only Nora certainly has. And again, yes, they're presented that plainly. 'Midnight Club' ending explained: Mike Flanagan reveals his plans for The Midnight Library - Wikipedia You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime. The mystery-horror series follows a group of eight terminally ill patients at Brightcliffe Hospice, run by Dr. Stanton. As Nora continues her Arctic adventure, Hugo approaches her. -- Nora decides to die, and she overdoses on pills at midnight. Nineteen years later, Nora is now a 35-year-old woman who is unhappy in her life. Review: 'The Midnight Library,' By Matt Haig : NPR Photo by Ivo Rainha on Unsplash. what sucks a measure of the color and life from 'The Midnight Library' is that Nora, as a character, doesn't really want anything. If you really want to live a life hard enough, you dont have to worry, Mrs. Elm tells her. He doesnt recognize her, though, because in this life they were never neighbors. Book Review and bookclub questions for Matt Haig's The Midnight Library As she begins to read, Nora is transported into a pub called The Three Horseshoes with Dan there as her husband. The Midnight Club season 1, episode 10 recap - the ending explained On Instagram, she has 11.3 million followers. . Hed be dead of an overdose. As many of you know a book with a library speaks to me. GoodReads. 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. Next, Nora tries something different, a life where she moves to America, marries a Mexican-American man named Eduardo Martinez and they live on a small vineyard in California. As she gets to one part, many of the regrets are related to Dan. In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Somewhere between life and death, Nora Seed finds herself wandering the marble hallways of a never-ending library; "The Midnight Library.". Nora is able to see this memory, and she also sees that Joe had tried to go in after her to help, but others had stopped him. Final Thoughts on our Book Club Pick: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Afterwards, Nadia is very happy to see her brother Joe and that they get along well. What do the stories mean? Word Count: 1083. Next, Nora asks to see a life where she had decided to move to Australia with Izzy. 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! Finally, Nora recalls how Ash had once asked her out and tries a life where she'd accepted that date. by Matt Haig. This moment occurs at the end of Nora's first adventure in a parallel life. Her cabinmate is Ingrid Skirbekk, a Professor of Geoscience, who is part of the International Polar Research Institute. He had been staunchly against her staying in the band. The Library dissolves as Nora decides to live. Mrs. Elm reminds Nora of a time when shed done a dangerous swim across a river to try to impress Joe and other people at a party. This is where we begin, in Matt Haig's new novel, The Midnight Library: with a young woman on the verge of making a terrible choice. While talking with Raj, Lydia reminisces about her relationship with Gas 'n Donuts: "but her nostalgia for the place had never been strong enough to outweigh her dread of dredging up the past" (138). Mrs. Elm (or something that resembles her) is here and serves as Nora's guide, explaining that the Library exists between life and death. 1. But, plot twist, each is about a life that could have been, had one made. Clue #2: The Midnight Club novel's ending. A neighbor, Ash, informs her that her cat, Voltaire ("Volts"), has been hit by a car. Our club will be discussing this soon. She just lost her job and cat, has fallen out with her brother and best friend and generally assumes she's a giant disappointment. When Nora asks why Mrs. Elm sent her into that life instead of just telling her outright that she wasnt a bad cat owner. High quality The Midnight Library-inspired gifts and merchandise. Hugo tells her that his version of her Midnight Library is a video store filled with VHS movies. Why Everyone Should Read The Midnight Library - She Gets Around Mrs. Elm asks Nora what book shed like to start with. The Midnight Library is an insightful and poignant exploration into regret, second chances and ultimately the joys and tribulations of simply living. Every night at midnight, the patients meet in the hospice library to. The library offers her the chance to reflect on her life and her regrets and to try different lives, lives where she'd made different choices. She is overwhelmed by her happiness but also plagued by the notion that this life is not hersit belongs to some other version of Nora, and she has taken it from her. Nora thinks about the career in glaciology shed considered but didnt end up pursuing after Mrs. Elms (joking) suggestion so many years ago. Her best friend, Izzy, has moved to Australia, and the two struggle to keep in touch. 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. Nora discovers that she is surprisingly content in this life, and she suspects this is the one shell want to stay in. But as she experienced more and more lives, her list of regrets began to shrink. Shes professionally fulfilled writing a book on her favorite philosopher and about as content as one could hope. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig review - the Guardian What transpired was a magical story about Nora Seed. The first few lives Nora tries on are those that absolve her biggest regrets. That is a simplification. (She overdoses. Its a disappointment, and Nora soon finds herself back at the Midnight Library. The Midnight Library Gifts & Merchandise for Sale | Redbubble a book review by Fran Hawthorne: The Paris Library: A Novel A blending of traditional reincarnation and the Many Worlds theory. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: Learning To Live : BookerTalk Start earning points for buying books! The Real Meaning Of The Midnight Club's Ending & Story. 8. Soon, Nora is jumping from possible life to possible life with ravenous abandon. Another prominent theme that I loved in the Midnight Library was that of regrets. Want to know what people are actually reading right now? Still, she wonders what would have happened if shed stuck with it. Ravi blames Nora, but Nora says she was getting panic attacks that would have made it impossible. Instead, here, her mother had started drinking a lot after their father left and shed hid her sickness from Nora and Joe. 7. The Midnight Library is different for each person who enters it. One of the reasons I love to read is because it quiets my mind. The Midnight Library opens with a teenaged Nora Seed, who is smart and a talented swimmer. The Midnight Club Ending Explained. Instead, Joe got a job he dislikes in IT, and Ravi still plays small gigs but is broke. . Next, Nora goes by Mr. Banerjees house. And she didn't want to live any other life than the one that was hers. Moreover, Nora must remember what she . Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. It turns out she would have made it to the Olympics, and her dad would still be alive (in her root life, he died young). Despite him being perfectly nice, Nora wasnt too enamoured with this life and she bids it farewell. However, in the current reality, Doreen had never found affordable lessons, and Leo had taken a bad turn in life. "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. Each book represents a different version of Nora's life, a life of joys and sorrows, people and places, events and tragedies that spawned from a single choice, a decision, or in the case of this girl so full of regrets, something that didn't happen because she didn't make that choice. 3 Important Life Lessons From Matt Haig's 'The Midnight Library' 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Overdose. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site status, or find something interesting to read. The Midnight Library Marmalade and Mustardseed If this summary was useful to you, please consider supporting this site by leaving a tip ($2, $3, or $5) or joining the Patreon! The Midnight Library is a 2020 novel by Matt Haig. Which path to commit to without regret.". What would've happened if she'd stuck with the band she and her brother and their friend Ravi had started rather than bailing just when they were about to get big? eNotes.com She has spent over a decade unhappily working in a music store and finds herself struggling with her mental health. She and her brother have become estranged to such an extent that he avoids her when he visits Bedford. More importantly, she is just deeply, seemingly irretrievably, sad. The Bibliofile's review of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The music store she used to work at as a salesperson has closed down. Nora experiences a number of alternate lives in which she achieves a great deal of success in one area of her life at the expense of all the rest, be it in music, swimming, or polar exploration. Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Starblazers. He realizes that he was dismissive of her panic attacks and it wasnt until Ewan got them, too, that he realized they were serious. The Midnight Club Season 1 Ending Explained - IGN Chapters 60 63 (No Longer Here, An Incident With the Police, A New Way of Seeing, The Flowers Have Water). She sees that the lawn is overgrown. It's the outlier of the " Flanagan-verse, " both youth-focused and semi-anthologized. Afterwards, Nora thinks about her parents, the disappointments and the crushed hopes in their lives. 9. Voltaire wasnt hit by a car. 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. THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARYBy Matt Haig. And the magnitude of that is staggering, given that a life can be determined or redirected by a single event. And there we have it: Noras root life, the one she so despised, had a purpose after all. The book is not one to be missed. Shed ended up part-way through and not knowing which way to go in order to survive. For those readers who. The interviewer, Marcello, also mentions that the media seems to give her a hard time and talks about her tumultuous career. He had an affair with Nadia and left Noras mother. Angela Hauptis a freelance writer and editor. certain categories of personal information, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information. From there, Mrs. Elm encourages Nora to pursue less "obvious" paths. . 8. She had a difficult father, she became ostracized from her brother when she jumped ship on the band they were in together, just as it started to be successful. As she comes to understand her loved ones better, she comes to forgive them more easily for their transgressions and the complications of their relationships. They have dinner together and watch a Ryan Bailey movie. Everything changes because of Anya's . In the library, Nora learns that the life she gave her cat was one of the best he could have experienced. As the night goes on, she notices how much Dan drinks and when they get into an argument, she learns that Dan has been unfaithful. 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 . Next, Nora is transported into a life where she moved to Australia with Izzy, but finds out Izzy would have died in a car accident. But in Mike Flanagan's adaptation, the tales they tell are actually from other Christopher Pike stories. That the prison wasnt the place, but the perspective.. As the story progresses, Nora finds herself in lives that she could be more satisfied with than others that proved more difficult. Comment on the use of imagery in "Games at Twilight.". 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 . The Midnight Club Ending Explained: What Did That Final Cliffhanger The Midnight Library. To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. Dylan mentions having happened to have seen Mrs. Elm not too long ago at the Oak Leaf Residential Care Home, a retirement home. Nineteen years later, Nora is now a 35-year-old woman who is unhappy in her life. The moment you decide you want that life, really want it, then everything that exists in your head now, including this Midnight Library, will eventually be a dream.