Matcha & Motifs Book Review: 3.5/5 

This was a lovely read, it felt out of the ordinary for me just a tad because I haven’t read such a funky type of plot in a while. It reminded me a lot of Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (which I also had such a hard time writing a review for, I never did). It’s the type of book with life lessons and an attempt to answer “what is the meaning of life”. These are fun reads in between everything else because they give me inspiration and hope in the human experience. 

Haig does a great job at metaphors. He also does a great job at bringing the story full circle, despite a plot that played with the conventions of time and alternate universes. The biggest science fiction this story focuses on is the “magic” of the midnight library. I liked the exploration of the midnight library. It is a slightly different version to everyone and it reflects a safe space for them. A movie store, a restaurant, a library. Every book, movie, or dish is a pathway to a different version of their life. This “place” is our brain trying to simplify and familiarize ourselves with a reality when we’re in a state of limbo. Additionally, the person we see is someone who was there for us during a hard time or God. It is such a cool concept to try and wrap my head around. I wonder what my version of this place would look like. 

***CONTAINS SPOILERS*** 

I think we can all see ourselves in Nora, and something that I’m relearning from this book is perspective. Everything is what we make of it. 

After having done it all and been everything, Nora wants to be herself. Her root self; the life that she was so miserable with. It’s interesting to see that after having everything, money, fame, success, what Nora took away was that to love and be loved is the thing that makes life worth living. It took her realizing that she made a difference in someone’s life to actually see the value in her own life. In her root life, she taught Leo piano and because of that, he stayed out of trouble. The small decisions you make can have such a tremendous effect on the lives of others. It’s so cliché because everyone’s heard an iteration of “to love and be loved” is the greatest thing life can offer. I think even after reading this book, and experiencing different lives with Nora, I am still skeptical. Just a teeny bit. Is this something that can truly only be learned the hard way? Or should I say, by living? 

In the book, when we finally made it to Nora’s perfect life, the whole point of the plot, things were still not right. Of course it cannot be, because we are still in the library. But for Nora, even though she feels that she’s found her perfect life, there is still a nagging feeling of undeserving and disappointment. It’s like this because we’re not supposed to find a perfect life, we’re supposed to find the good in a shitty life. That’s why this whole book is about perspective! It’s about seeing and focusing on the good in the bad. The grass is greener where you water it.  

I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed that Nora didn’t understand what she’s looking for, and went on a un-linear journey of self-discovery. Even though this book’s moral of the story is to see the good in the bad, it doesn’t ever say it. It shows it. That’s what makes it a good story. 
This review feels a bit different than my usual, I think that’s because this book is a little bit different than my usual. Please let me know what you think of The Midnight Library, I would love to discuss in the comments.