The book is a story about Nora Seed, a woman in her thirties whose life was kind of pathetic and seemed like nothing was ever worked out. She herself was somewhat pessimistic in life, and she always thought that she was the one to blame for her crappy life. She also thought that she managed to blow every chance she had in her life. She was full of regrets. The regret of an unsuccessful love life, the regret of leaving the band that was her brother's dream, the regret of disappointing her dad by stopping swimming, the regret of not joining her friend, Izzy, to go to Australia, the regret of what she thought was her being a bad cat owner, and so much more. All the misfortune and suffering that has happened in her life has led to her decision to end it all at midnight.

Turned out, she ended up in a mysterious library where the shelves went on and on infinitely. The books were all green, with different shades of green with different widths and no title. She was at the midnight library, a place between life and death where the clock had stopped at midnight. The books were her lives, the infinite possibility of the other lives she might've lived. She was guided by a mysterious figure who took the form of her teacher, who comforted her about her father's death back at school, Mrs.Elm, the librarian. In that library, there was one special book that was different from the others. It was so thick and heavy, The Book of Regrets, where all of her regrets in life had been written.

The rules of the midnight library were that Nora was allowed to choose any kind of life she wanted to try; when she read the book, she would automatically be transported into that life, but the moment she felt any slight of regret, she would be taken back to the midnight library immediately. But, when she had found the life that she really wanted, where she was longing to live a life hard enough, everything about the midnight library would be just like a weird dream, and the life would be hers. She then tried all kinds of lives she could have lived and what she thought was the life that’d made her happy where she could undo all of her regrets. The life where she married Dan and had a pub together, which has always been Dan's dream, the life where she didn’t give up on her band and become a star, the life where she didn't stop swimming and became a famous Olympic swimmer, the life where she joined her friend, Izzy, to go to Australia, the life where she is a scientist at the Arctic.

She tried all kinds of life, and it turned out that what she thought might be the life that would make her happy was just another living nightmare. Her married life with Dan turned out to be a disaster; her brother died when she was a famous rockstar, and she didn't feel happy about her life as an Olympic swimmer and the life where she joined Izzy to go to Australia because Izzy died in a car accident. She tried all kinds of lives, but nothing has changed, except for one life where she married a surgeon named Ash. Ash was a kindhearted nerd, and she had a daughter named Molly with Ash. In that life, she felt love, something that she didn't get back in her root life. The lack of love might be the fundamental problem of her life. But eventually, it wasn't the life that she thought she wanted.

She also found out that it wasn't always a 'library'; it can be different for each person, and sometimes it can be a 'video store'. But one thing is for sure: the person who guided them to the form of someone who has helped them at a significant time. Hugo, a guy she met who was also a life traveller, or 'sliders', is what Hugo called it. They came to a conclusion about a parallel world and that the library and the librarian were how the brain simplified that mystery of the world. No one knew what or how, but they knew they were given a chance to undo all of their regrets. In all that life that she had lived, she learned one important thing: she didn't want to die. The midnight library was collapsing, and that's when she made the important decision that she wanted to live. Even though to live is to suffer, she wanted to live; she wanted to fight and keep on living.

In the end, she managed to get back to her root life, where she had overdosed and managed to get help just in time. Nora didn't care if her life was crappy, she wanted to keep on living, and she did. She learned a lot of important things, and she was nobody. Things in her life had gotten better, and she was moving forward to a better life. She talked again to her brother after so long that she had found meaning in life.

My general opinion of this book was great, and it was a life-changing book. I reflected a lot after reading this. The way the author portrayed Nora’s depressing life was so good, and it's not hard to feel empathy toward the main character. It taught me a lot about life: to live is to suffer, but that's life. Sometimes, we don't have to understand life. Sometimes, we just need to live it. The way Nora’s character grew over time as we progressed to read each of the pages, we were invited to Nora’s journey to find meaning in life, to find a reason to keep on living after she committed suicide and ended up in a mysterious library between life and death. She has been given a chance to undo all her regrets, and she found a lot of meaning in her life. She’s a nobody who has experience being everybody. However, besides that, I won't deny that the pattern of the plot can sometimes be repetitive, and the ending was somehow can easily be expected. But, overall, it was great. 

Writer: Steven Andrew S.
Editor: Febby Cahya Diva