Oona Out of Order

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
Fiction
2020 Macmillan Audio
Read by Brittany Pressley
Finished on March 14, 2020
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

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? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.

The quirky, eye-catching cover art of Oona Out of Order grabbed my attention while I was perusing Libro.fm. Knowing nothing about the author's previous novel (Asleep From Day) or the premise of this story, I was still intrigued and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a wonderful book and Brittany Pressley does a fabulous job with the narration. There were a few surprises here and there and, for the most part, Montimore manages to avoid some of the more overused tropes of time travel narratives. While not entirely lighthearted, this is an inventive and thought-provoking tale. I look forward to reading more by Montimore and while it's early in the year, I have a good feeling that Oona Out of Order will hit my Best of 2020 list. Well done!

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.