This month we had to meet online because of lockdown but in a way it was nice to go back to where all started. The good thing was that no one had to drive so we all shared a glass of vino during a great discussion. I hope we can meet in person next month!! I leave you with Maz for our February book review. Enjoy xx

The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 

An undemanding, feel-good, easy-to-read book.  Opinion was divided: some found it was just the comfort food needed during lockdown; others found it lacked depth.  

All agreed Haig got right inside the suicide mind at the beginning of the book, so much so that he gave a real insight into motivation. This, it was suggested, drew on personal experience.  Its premise was one we had all contemplated: the desire to relive our lives and correct bad decisions and mistakes, evoking the Frost poem, The Road Not Taken, referred to in the book.  It pointed out that what we often fail to realise is that even if we are able to relive our lives, mistakes are not easy to correct.  We are not omniscient - we have no control over events.  In his road out of despair, therefore Haig junks regret.

A consensus was that it ran out of material and might have been better as a short story.  The single focus of the plot was recursive to the point where we were simply faced with a list of lives visited.  It was too easy to anticipate the ending - Nora Seed’s name implied growth.  The resolution was too saccharine, and a little too woke for some.  Nevertheless, it provoked an interesting, focused and lively discussion.