OONA OUT OF ORDER BY MARGARITA MONTIMORE
Ever since I saw the cover and read the blurb, I knew I wanted to read the book. And after I won a giveaway for an Advanced Readers Copy I was in heaven. I actually did start the book, but wasn’t immediately pulled in. After all the amazing reviews for the audiobook, I decided to switch the format. And I’m glad I did.
Synopsis:
Just because life might be out of order, doesn’t mean it’s broken.
It’s new years 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 follow her heart and remain at home in Brooklyn to be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the new year begins, Oona feels lightheaded, woozy, and it’s not from the champagne. At the stroke of midnight Oona is torn from her life and everyone she loves, finding herself in her 51 year old body thirty-three years into the future. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that will with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. 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?
Hopping through decades, and a lifetime Oona Out of Order is a surprising, magical novel that explores the power of love, the bonds of family, and the wonders of life.
OONA OUT OF ORDER BY MARGARITA MONTIMORE
My thoughts
The plot for Oona Out of Order was incredibly unique. Ever since I read the blurb I was fascinated by the time jumps and couldn’t wait to read more about it. The idea of spending each year in a different time period. Not having control over which year the next one will be. Being catapulted through life. It all points towards a very different kind of book.
And in the end I was right.
Oona Out of Order is about time traveling, but nothing like you would imagine. The author doesn’t really explain how it’s all done, just that Oona starts each New Year’s Day in a different year. Often she has no idea who people are, especially if she hasn’t met them yet. She has no memory of the year before if she hasn’t lived it yet, that means her own history is unknown. All of this makes for an interesting plot.
The book is well written, engaging, and easy to read.
Now besides all of this I had some real issues with the time traveling.
Throughout the book Oona jumps 7 times into the future at different times in her live. There is really no rhyme or reason which year she jumps into. There is also no explanation of why it happens or how it all works. And because of it the story doesn’t always make sense to me. Oona has a financial manual (I’m still wondering where that one came from), that helps her make smart investment choices, but where is a manual for her life??? A manual of all the choices to make and not to make.
I think this irked me the most. The many bad choices Oona made even so she apparently had a past Oona who could have guided her better. Honestly I’m still struggling to make sense of it all.
It was disappointing at times the way Oona went on and on, finding excuses for not changing her future. I got tired of Oona not figuring out a better way to life her live. She had all these opportunities. She knew how to make money, the author mentioned how well she invested and how philanthropically she was all the time, but apparently that didn’t include her personal life.
So, to conclude this review, it was an interesting story, no doubt about that, I just didn’t agree with the execution. But all in all, Oona Out of Order is one of the more unique books of the year.
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I won a copy of this book from Flatiron Books for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
OONA OUT OF ORDER BY MARGARITA MONTIMORE
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