The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
While Nora's story in The Midnight Library conveyed a similar message, I found the plot rather predictable. However, there are still some nuggets of wisdom, which also felt like snippets of tweets I would expect from Matt Haig (a form of storytelling that doesn't create long-lasting character impressions for me). My favorite tweet-able lines from the novel:
The only way to learn is to live.
Doing one thing differently is often the same as doing everything differently
You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
It seems that many of us, especially my peers of the same generation, are always searching for meaning and purpose in our lives. Nora's story reminds us that by living our lives, we are already creating meaning and purpose in our every moment and action. Meaning and purpose is not something that we have to define clearly for ourselves, but rather is something that is always in our presence. We may not always see it there.
I still consider Matt Haig's The Humans is one of my all-time favorite
novels, though The Midnight Library didn't quite strike the same chord within me.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
I am still digesting this book as the ending has me rather perplexed. Kya's story reminded me that people are complex, there is no such thing as black-and-white as right-or-wrong, and that we all make choices that are ultimately rooted in survival. I rooted for Kya throughout the book because I see the pain she endured, the trauma, and the expectation of abandonment from those that are supposed to love her. Yet, Kya's pain (which I wish upon no one) is exactly what allows her to grow in ways that I admire. A contradiction of how life itself unfolds, I suppose. Despite her insistence that relying on others results in hurt, Kya's survival and growth was also inherently connected to others: Tate, who taught her how to read; Jumpin, who treated her like his own daughter; and Mabel, who was Kya's only female role model growing up.
Perhaps Kya's story also reminds us that while we may think we cannot need others in our life for fear of pain and hurt, there are always those who built us up to who we are today that we may not consciously acknowledge.
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman
For the past week, I kept wondering why I am so intrigued by Eleanor Oliphant. When I read the first chapter, I sometimes found myself wishing that I could be a bit more in how she accepts the blatant realities of her life, clearheaded on the parts that don't make sense yet not accepted much by the negativity and perceived-stupidity of all that surrounds her. In some ways, I envied her way of thinking, minus her life-plan with the musician, which I perceived as coming from a place of fear and trauma. There is contemplation on the internet regarding Eleanor as being neurodivergent, which is not discussed explicitly in the book.
Gail Honeyman wanted to tell the story that stemmed from the lived experience of loneliness; how a young person "may not speak to another person from leaving the office on Friday night until returning on Monday morning. That this is possible when someone moves to a new city, rents a one-bedroom apartment, takes a new job where she has little in common with her colleagues..."
Eleanor's life is mostly isolated until she meets her new coworker, an emotionally intelligent Raymond. Gail Honeyman described him as the everyday good guy that is often left out of so many stories.
I will leave you with this thought from Eleanor when she is at a social gathering, which is worthy of reflection as we move into 2021:
All of the people in the room seemed to take so much for granted: that they would be invited to social events, that they would have friends and family to talk to, that they would fall in love, be loved in return, perhaps create a family of their own.
