Book · 2020
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
A woman between life and death gets a library of every alternate version of her life and has to pick one before dawn or die for real.
What does Reddit think of The Midnight Library?
Every top-upvoted quote about The Midnight Library in this sample is a complaint, which is itself worth noting given how often the book gets recommended elsewhere. The ↑1007 comment doesn't get why everyone thought it was so deep. The ↑651 comment downgrades it to 'a middling network drama that gets cancelled after 5 episodes.' The most detailed objection, at ↑457, goes after the premise directly: depression treated as a string of regrets fixable by trying a different job, a different partner, a different life, called 'a complete misunderstanding' of the subject. The ↑546 comment makes a structural version of the same complaint, calling the repeated resets 'a literary Groundhog Day' that gets more tedious with less care in each new scenario. Even the lighter comments are pile-on jokes, like the ↑607 line about knowing exactly which book would show up first in the thread. Nobody in this sample is defending it.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Depression reframed as regret, and Reddit calling that framing a misunderstanding
- · Every parallel life as a fresh chance, structured like renewable TV episodes
- · The default answer whenever a thread asks for the most overhyped book
- · A premise more discussed than actually defended in the top comments
Common praise
- + The ↑457 comment describes the premise in enough detail — infinite libraries, one regret undone per life — to make clear the concept itself isn't the problem, just what the book does with it.
- + The ↑607 comment jokes that this was the first thing they expected to see in the thread, which at least means it's become Reddit's default reference point for this exact conversation.
Common criticism
- − The ↑1007 comment says flatly it didn't understand why everyone thought this was so deep.
- − The ↑651 comment compares it to 'a middling network drama that gets cancelled after 5 episodes.'
- − The ↑457 comment calls the depression-as-regret premise 'a complete misunderstanding' of the subject, and the ↑562 comment separately calls the whole thing 'trite and shallow.'
- − The ↑546 comment calls the repeated life-reset structure 'a literary Groundhog Day' that gets more tedious, with less care in each scenario, as it goes.
- − The ↑419 comment can't figure out how it 'gets promoted so heavily.'
Who it's for
Go in expecting the structure of a choose-your-regret adventure with the moral of a fortune cookie, because that's the ↑651 comment's read, not just mine. If depression-as-fixable-by-trying-a-different-life is a premise you can forgive for two hundred pages, you'll have a fine time; the ↑457 comment says it can't. This is Reddit's reflex answer whenever a thread asks for the most overrated book of the last five years, so at minimum you'll know what people mean when it comes up again.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Midnight Library?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“The Midnight Library. It was like a middling network drama that gets cancelled after 5 episodes.
“The Midnight Library was trite and shallow
“I know I’m an extreme outlier on this, but I really *really* didn’t like ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig. It was like being trapped inside a literary Groundhog Day. Intensely irritating & it just got more tedious as the book progressed. Each scenario was written with less care and detail than t…
“Midnight Library. I think it might be my most hated book. A complete misunderstanding of its core subject matter and mental health in general. It seems to think depression is completely based on regrets in your life? It takes the stance that if you had just stuck with that thing you liked at one po…
“The Midnight Library. The concept of the library itself was interesting, but I found the writing very basic, the plot predictable, and the message unoriginal.
“*The Midnight Library*. I didn’t hate it, but it felt very cliche and did not live up to the hype.
“Midnight library... I mean the premise is fun but it felt like it was written for children to teach them about managing expectations and not believing social media/influencers. Every adult I spoke to guessed the entire plot by the time we opened the first book in the library.
“The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. the protagonist just didn't resonate with me at all, felt so flat for some reason. skillful writing but not for me:(
“Midnight Library. I thought it was sentimental drivel
“The Midnight Library. Pretty much just a self help book crossed with the worst Hallmark movie of all time.
“The midnight library. I found it AWFUL and it took me ages to read it. I gave the book too much time so I didn’t want to mark it as a DNF
“The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I had depression at the time, and thought it would be comforting or thought-provoking. It was neither.
“The Midnight Library. Good concept but lackluster execution. Preachy and sappy but an easy read
“The Midnight Library by Matt Haig- It completely changed my perspective on having regrets and the “what ifs”.
“The midnight library by Matt haig. It’s loved but it just wasn’t for me, repetitive. On a positive Matt haig note, The Humans, The Comfort Book, and Reasons to Stay Alive were all enjoyable.
Convinced? Pick up The Midnight Library
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with The Midnight Library — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Midnight Library — frequently asked
Why does Reddit dislike The Midnight Library so much?+
Mainly the depression premise. The ↑457 comment calls it 'a complete misunderstanding of its core subject matter and mental health in general,' arguing it treats depression as just a string of regrets fixable by trying a different life. That's the most detailed complaint in the top-upvoted quotes, and nothing displayed here defends the premise against it.
Is The Midnight Library as deep as people say?+
Not according to the top comment here. The ↑1007 excerpt says flatly, 'I didn't get why everyone thought it was so deep,' and the ↑562 comment calls it 'trite and shallow' with no hedging attached.
Is The Midnight Library like a TV show?+
That's the ↑651 comparison exactly, 'a middling network drama that gets cancelled after 5 episodes.' The ↑546 comment makes a similar structural complaint, calling the repeated life-resets 'a literary Groundhog Day' that gets more tedious with each pass.
Why does The Midnight Library keep coming up in 'worst books' threads?+
Predictability, mostly. The ↑607 comment jokes that it's the first thing they expected to see the moment the thread opened, and the ↑419 comment separately can't explain how something like it 'gets promoted so heavily.' It's become the reflex answer for this exact question.