Title: Oona Out of Order
Author: Margarita Montimore
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Published: February 2020, Macmillan Audio
Length: 11 hours 30 minutes
Source: ALC via Libro.fm
Summary:
“Reminiscent of Liane Moriarty’s What Alice Forgot and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, Oona Out of Order is a delightfully freewheeling romp.” —Booklist (starred review)
Just because life may be out of order, doesn’t mean it’s broken.
It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life
before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the
year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to
study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion
for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year
begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her
fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful
house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she
will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order…
Hopping
through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is
still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who
will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to
a man she’s never met?
Oona Out of Order is a remarkably
inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the
moment, even if those moments are out of sequence. Surprising, magical,
and heart-wrenching, Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about
the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.
My thoughts: I may not in general be a fan of time travel books, but this one completely captured my heart and maybe it was Oona herself, but there is just something about this book that I loved. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to read it and I’m so glad I did. It’s a quirky, thought-provoking tale that will stay with you long after you finish it.
Would you be happy if you were to know all that is to come in your life? If you somehow knew everything that was going to happen, good and bad and maybe had the opportunity to alter it? This book is such good fodder for that as we travel with Oona back and forth in time each New Year’s Day.
I think one of the biggest takeaways of this book, at least for me, is that life is best lived when we take it moment by moment and not when we are always thinking about the next thing. Yes, there are times when life has hurt and not always gone the way I may have wanted, but that has only made me a stronger, better person. Life can’t always be sunshine and rainbows. You have to weather the storms at times. This book will make you see that and I love it all the more for that.
I will be recommending this book to everyone. And it is one that I know I will be rereading at some point just because I loved it so much. And oh how I would love more of Oona some day!
Audio thoughts: This was a fantastic audio…I loved the way Brittany Pressley brought Oona alive in her narration. Her pacing and intonation was spot on and I thought she infused just the right amount of emotion and tension in her voice as was necessary. I thoroughly enjoyed this audio.
This is now on my TBR list!