The Midnight Library
So hopeful, yet?
“The universe tended towards chaos and entropy. That was basic thermodynamics. Maybe it was basic existence too.” Page 12.
Know what I miss? Laboriously, and painstakingly copying a quote from a book, or textbook, then checking the quotation twice, once for typing errors, and once for actual mistakes. The old ways die hard.
These quotes, just highlight and tap on “copy,” then “paste.” Sort of ruins the experience of copying another author’s words over.
‘Librarians have knowledge. They guide you to the right books. The right worlds. They find the best places. Like soul-enhanced search engines.’ Page 84.
Hat tip, librarians. I prefer, the original User Interface. Stop, think about, librarians are architects of information, no matter how one looks at it. That I might have a Victorian/Virgo”mental fetish? Just a footnote.
“To be part of nature was to be part of the will to live.” Page 134.
Wait, wait, she mentioned Marcus Aurelius. Although a cursory search didn’t yield anything, I’m sure that’s in one of the translations of Marcus Aurelius.
Premise of the narrative frame, reminds me of the short, “Hanging at Owl Creek,”1 or something. Must look that up.
There was an inkling, an idea, dawning early on, that this was a one of those “Happily ever after” stories, and it deals with some of the crushing pain of madness, too, mental illness, maybe, I’m not sure, but thread was there. Pulling on that thread as the tale unravels.
Guess this was short-listed as one of the best books of 2020, and for me, it was a tonic, a mental balm on the open and festering sore that the last nine months have been. By the two-thirds point, I pretty much knew what as going to happen, but the gentleness of the prose kept me reading, as did the story itself.
There’s a grudging respect, from my own, personal understanding of matters metaphysical, to the Near-Death Experience, to the aforementioned short story, not to give anything away. However, it was still a very satisfying — and hopeful — outcome. Not a climax like winning a war, but more gentle vanquishing of the various demons.
It could happen. Either way, highly recommended.