Have you ever wanted to just end it all? Most of us at some point or the other have wondered what would happen if you ceased to exist. Queue in Nora Speed- a girl that had many possibilities. Growing up and different paths she took, sadly after life happening the one path she wants to take is no longer existing. After realizing she should stop beings a count-down begins. As a daughter she feels she failed, as a sister she feels she let her brother down, as a career she feels she really buggered it up. Nora stops. **Note: this will have spoilers after this point.
In limbo land, a world that is and isn’t there is infinite possibilities to see what could have been with the different life options you could have taken. A library exists in your consciousness- one that shows all options you could have taken. This book is gobsmacking. Have you ever wondered if you took a different path? I know I have. What would have happened if that childhood friend never moved away? Would you have gone to university together? Would you have not dated that punk looser? Would you have a chain of bad regrets? What would your regrets be? The librarian is kind enough to show you this part- it may be hard to stomach, but to have the choice to make an infinite other amount of choices, it is priceless.
Nora could have been an Olympic Swimmer, a chess champion, a rockstar, a Glaciologist, a professor, a teacher, caretaker, a poet, a lover, a friend, a swim coach, a wife and a mother. Instead, she took a path that was kind of forced upon her. She didn’t want to be an Olympic swimmer, the pressure was too much- she wanted to live. Sadly, by choosing to live, she looses the best parts of her self. Through loosing the best part of herself, she ends up in the “Midnight Library” it shows you that sometimes you have to loose yourself to find yourself, and sometimes finding yourself is self care and love.
I won’t finish this and say how the book ends- I will say it is a wild ride. It is messy, it is sad, and it is beautiful. You never know where you will end up; but what you do know is sometimes where you started, is the best place to be. Read this book- you will NOT be sorry.
*Disclaimer, I snagged the featured photo from Penguin Books.
The Whistling Pen 