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A Winter Reading Challenge: The Midnight Library and The Wife Upstairs

15 Dec

As the winter season approaches, many of us seek indoor shelter by a warm, cozy fire with a mug of hot chocolate or herbal tea. And what better way to enjoy this moment than curling up with a good book and wrapping yourself with a throw blanket.  This winter, I challenge you to take an adventure and read not only something new, but something out of your typical comfort zone.

Recently, I challenged myself by reading two books that I would not normally read, because of the genres. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig falls into the category of fantasy/ science fiction, which I rarely read and The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins is considered a romance novel with a touch of suspense and southern charm, which almost never appeals to me. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by both novels as they lured me into their compelling stories and quirky, offbeat characters. You can borrow them as ebooks or digital audiobooks from eLibraryNJ or eBCCLS. They are also available in print from Hoboken and other BCCLS libraries!

The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
As a longtime Librarian, The Midnight Library initially appealed to me on one level only, its title, which intrigued me. It begins “between life and death there is a library and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices…Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?” I think many of us ponder what our lives would have been like if we had made other choices. Would you have chosen a different career path, married someone else, or lived in some far off exotic land? The possibilities are endless and arouse our imagination.

The fascinating premise suggests that somewhere beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life.  The protagonist, Nora Seed, is a middle-aged woman with low self-esteem, whose life hasn’t gone exactly as she planned since she has endured many hardships and has made many poor life choices. She is faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, or realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist. Therefore, she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place. Nora’s experiences are spell-binding and the radical changes in her life outlook are engrossing. This was a reading challenge that was definitely fulfilling and worthwhile.

The Wife Upstairs
by Rachel Hawkins
The Wife Upstairs is a completely different genre, focusing instead on romance, southern charm, and an element of suspense, only one of which (suspense) remotely appeals to me. To say I was “going out on a limb” when I selected this book to read, would be an understatement.

A young woman named Jane arrives in Birmingham, Alabama to start a new chapter in her otherwise dreary life. She is hired as a dog-walker in a gated community full of McMansions shiny BMWs, and bored housewives. The type of place where no one will notice if Jane pockets some jewelry from the side tables of her wealthy clients. And no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.  

However, her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester, a recently widowed, handsome and wealthy man who lives in the luxurious gated community. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend and their bodies were never found, which causes some intrigue and suspicion in the community. Janes views Eddie as an opportunity to advance herself, because he is rich, brooding and handsome and can offer her a lifestyle that she has always yearned for.

As Jane and Eddie get closer to each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty who launched a successful southern lifestyle brand. How can plain Jane ever measure up to Bea’s beauty and success? Can she win Eddie’s heart before her past, or his, catches up to her?

The comparisons to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre are uncanny, although this a smart, modern day retelling. Although the characters are all evil and vile, I still found myself rooting for Jane with her mysterious past. She is the most sympathetic and flawed of all the characters and seems to be most well-rounded. All the plot twists and turns kept me in suspense and the haunting spirit of Bea kept me riveted. The Wife Upstairs channels the gothic atmosphere of the American South and puts a modern twist on the beloved classic Jane Eyre.    

Written by:
Ethan Galvin
Information and Digital Services Librarian

Are you up for our Winter Challenge? What books are you planning to read outside your usual genre comfort zone? Share them in our comments section!

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She’s the Man on the Twelfth Night: A Modern Movie and a Classic Play

24 Oct

In the comedy of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night it is ironic how there is a romantic happy ending but only tragedy is his romances – but that is the irony and beauty and also frustration of Shakespeare’s genres.

Now, although I’m sure while Shakespeare may have seemed ahead of his time, he would thoroughly appreciate being labeled as one of the original Rom-Com artists there were. And in this label of rom-com comes a modern twist on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night called She’s the Man. In case some were not aware – yes, Amanda Bynes’s She’s the Man was based on Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night.

Now, while some of the originality of the comedic twists and satire may be lost in this modern day version, what shocked me the most was the accuracy in its depiction – while I’m aware of this contradiction this portrays, let me elucidate.

Shakespeare was very direct in his meanings – even if they seemed hidden within his plays – about sexuality, gender and love. He always found a way to get across how blurry all the lines can seem when it came to one’s identity in romance and attraction and even personality. Twelfth Night was one of those plays that all the lines were so blurred that they almost came across as very clear. It was evident that his plays were meant to entertain – just as the modern day rom-com movie interpretation – but what it also revealed was the reality of mixed identity in all of us.

What the performance reveals by way of concealing in Twelfth Night as a text, is how the way one dresses suggests the existence of a sense of “truth.” It is with this suggestion that we are presented within this “truth,” “true” identity. On the same note, it elaborates on having more than one “true” identity. It is suggested that if the true self is a performed self, then this justifies moreover that the many layers of clothing one can put on, allows them to perform – reveal – many “true selves”.

In turn, in “She’s the Man” Viola of course changes her attire to match that of Sebastian’s, but in actuality she is only putting on another layer of her true self in order to fit in and succeed in love, in identity and in life. It’s not that her true layer is a man, it’s what her true layer as a man represents within the movie, and within the play.

More so, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or, What You Will alludes this within the second title What You Will. This suggests that what you will – will power – yourself to do is who you are at that moment. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “will” as “desire, longing, and disposition” (OED). It is in this very definition of “will” meaning “disposition” that we see another suggested implication of the title meaning. So, What You Will could possibly translate into “What You Control”, and what one controls within this play are the clothes they put on. It is the tangible covering of the different layers of clothes that each character puts on that only reveals another “costume” or performance of themselves.

It is in this act of “will” that we see Viola try to take control of her identity, of her disposition. But all this is hidden in a comedic plot line with witty quips, satiric innuendos, and “happy endings.”  Having read the play, it is interesting to see the deeper development within each scene in the film adaptation. It’s also strange to feel a sense of relation to Disney’s classic Cinderella, whom also identified and changes her future in love and personality by what she wore only for it to be stripped away at the stroke of midnight. It’s strange to see how powerfully Shakespeare was onto something way ahead of his time – and the shear fact of how one can be identified by the layer they put on, both metaphorically and literally.

If you often find Shakespeare intimidating, you can borrow a variety of accessible versions of Twelfth Night from BCCLS Libraries including the original text with a modern version side by side, a retelling in rhymed couplets for kids,  a filmed version starring Helena Bonham Carter, and even a comic Manga adaptation.  Also check out our previous post on how to stop hating Shakespeare!

Written by:
Sherissa Hernandez
Adult Programming Assistant

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