a matt haig novel from the last year or so: speculative fiction with philosophic pretensions. i am only reading it because a friend is. i hated it at first, thinking the concept intolerably cheesy, but it’s beginning to grow on me. i can relate way too well with the depressed protagonist who utterly lacks ambition. and whose afterlife/purgatory appears to be a library. i don’t want to like her; it’s like looking into a mirror. ugh.
this is the book i would recommend in its place: MR. PENUMBRA’S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE, by robin sloan. it preceded the feeble THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by almost ten years, is thrilling and also features a book repository that never sleeps. it is a much more creative & entertaining tale.
xxx bookworm
