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  • The Midnight Library

  • By: Matt Haig
  • Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
  • Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (10,021 ratings)

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The Midnight Library

By: Matt Haig
Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
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Editorial reviews

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON

READERS' MOST LOVED BOOK OF 2021

WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR FICTION

Nora's life has been going from bad to worse. Then at the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth she finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?

Publisher's Summary

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON
READERS' MOST LOVED BOOK OF 2021
WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR FICTION

Nora's life has been going from bad to worse. Then at the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth she finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?

Please note: contains references to suicide and listener discretion is advised

©2020 Matt Haig (P)2020 Canongate Books Ltd

Critic Reviews

"Beautiful." (Jodi Picoult)

"Uplifting." (i)

"Absorbing.' (New York Times)

What listeners say about The Midnight Library

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    6,654
  • 4 Stars
    2,322
  • 3 Stars
    713
  • 2 Stars
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Performance
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  • 3 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    2,119
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Tacky

I don’t usually say much on this site, but I have to be honest - I spent as much time cringe-laughing as I did listening to this book.
The premise of the story is sound enough. Unfortunately, the plot is so underdeveloped that it reads as though a junior high school student wrote it (one who wasn’t likely to pursue writing at that) and the end result was something of a hybrid between a hallmark sympathy / graduation card and a tediously-long dinner time sermon from your recently-woke second cousin about how he found inspiration and now needs to mansplain it to you.

Half chapters of repetitive platitudes are flogged like a dead horse and things that are perfectly clear to most readers are elaborated on (again, mansplained) to the extent that you wonder if this isn’t in fact a transcript intended simply so that the author can hear himself writing. We get it. You’ve found a simple kind of spirituality and now want to explain it to us as if we’ve never had an existential or philosophical thought in our lives. Such spiritual insights are delivered in a strange mashup, where inspiration and creative prose somehow gets stuck in a rusty old engine and we listen to the equivalent of a reading of a car manual until the existential moment is over.

The narrator does her best, but it is very difficult to make something of this. I am pretty sure I was giggling too much to pay attention to the extremely long-winded and completely overdone conclusion of the story, but if you’re looking for an ending that your English teacher would have lynched you for, look no further.

I love this podcast called ‘My Dad Wrote a P*rno’. This reads like that but there is, apparently no intention to be funny.

Good luck!

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128 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Bored

What could have been a good story became dull and tedious by the amount of prattling on and lack of depth. I guessed the end well before reaching it and I didn’t enjoy the journey getting there.

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56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

My favourite book of 2020

Having experienced depression this book has served both as a masterpiece of fiction but also self help. It is exquisitely written too. No other book of 2020 has come close to it for me. I listened over two days whereas usually an audiobook might take weeks. I just couldn’t stop listening.

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Slow burn, boring boring stuff

wish I never started this...
listened to it in 1.4x speed so that it would feel like a "normal speed" audiobook, still couldn't go through the whole thing, gave up 3/4 through.

Story about a girl with a boring life, going into alternate boring lives through a magic library. Don't waste your time

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

An idea we've all thought about, beautifully manifested through a simple story, with an endearing protagonist and science and philosophy woven gently through. Carey Mulligan's narration is brilliant.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I can’t stop thinking about this story

Such an unusual story.
I loved how different it was and it made me think about the other lives I could of had. I highly recommend

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Didn’t want it to end!

I loved this, Matt Haig at his absolute best. Makes you think (as usual) and full of his trademark honesty and ultimate hope. Fantastic narration too.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Tedious, didactic, cliched

No nuance or elegance to this story, message and 'meaning' are slathered on thick at the expense of character and plot. If you fancy being hit over the head with a message then sure. The bad poetry and philosophy riddled throughout. I rolled my eyes so often and so hard I thought I might detach my retinas. Even the delightful Carey Mulligan couldn't redeem this for me. Listened at high speed and still couldn't wait for it to finish.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Novel concept

Loved the Midnight Library.....
A timely reminder of the importance of appreciating exactly where we are, right now, today.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • KJ
  • 17-12-2020

Fell flat

Not sure what the fuss is about. Average, slightly long-winded story. I was eager for it to end.

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17 people found this helpful

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