Book 49 - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Reading date - December 2020

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

I am always very sceptical of Matt Haig books and I don't go out of my way to read them because I find his whole shtick a bit cringey.  I know he has battled with his mental health and that he tried to commit suicide a while ago but then he found love and brought himself around.  This is obviously something to be applauded but I find his whole vibe a bit weird.

I read his other one a while ago (one of the early ones, before I knew his MO).  The one I read before was about a teacher who could time travel, it was called How to Stop Time and it was a bit weak.  It was about a time travelling teacher..but a very, very, very poor imitation of the Time Traveller's Wife.

I find he tends to churn out books with a cheap, pseudo-positive message where the storyline is weak and everything at the end is tied up in a neat little bow.  I think that is a bit of an insult to people who suffer from mental health issues.

Anyway, someone said I would enjoy this so I gave it a whirl.  Why do I listen to people?  His work is so damn trite and I honestly cannot see how it helps anyone.  The book is depressing from the get-go.  The protagonist has a relationship which has just broken up, her cat gets killed and then she loses her job.  She then decides to kill herself.  

The midnight library is a library you find when you're in the no mans land between being alive and dying where you can choose certain books handed to you by a librarian that show you different versions of your life..one shows you how life continues if you die and others show you how life is if you live. Fair enough, right?

Well..to me..and to anyone else who reads this book, it is a massive guilt trip.  The protagonist is shown different lives and she dislikes most of them...the one that she likes the best is the one where she is in a loving relationship but her brother is dead.  I mean ??? I just don't see the point of it.  

Anyway, it was a quick read as most of his no substance books are, but I've finished it and that's that.  

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