Audio Book Review: Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

Genre: Adult Fiction/Audio Book

Pub. Date:  March 1, 2020

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Source: Personal Copy

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

Goodreads says, "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."

Oona Lockhart's life is anything but ordinary.  On New Year's Eve 1982, she jumps to another year of her life, but in completely random order.  In 1982, she was worrying about whether to follow her band (and her boyfriend) on tour or to return to school; however, different years bring different problems and some of them much more complicated.  Each "version" of Oona, whether it be middle age Oona or younger, has its own set of problems and Oona must adapt to each "version" of herself.  Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore is a delightful audio book with a unique narrative.

Oona is such an interesting character in Oona Out of Order.  Just when I would start to get used to a certain version of Oona, we are plunged into a different time in Oona's life.  Just like in our own lives, our fifty year old self is much different than a twenty year old version, so just like it would take Oona some time to adapt, it takes us readers time as well. I love that Oona would leave notes and clues for her future self to help her navigate these uncharted waters, but sometimes Oona wouldn't take her own advice. Sometimes she was downright self destructive; however, I think it's a pretty profound observation on human nature.  

The best part of Oona Out of Order is the compelling narrative that Montimore comes up with; it's certainly an unique way to tell a story.  Montefiore's complex way of telling Oona's story is a sort of symbol for how unpredictable life is and how we need to go with the flow.  For me, this was the perfect book to get lost with while dealing with strict stay-at-home orders. 

The narrator of the audio book of Oona Out of Order is Brittany Pressley and I really enjoyed her take on Oona. I was worried that this novel would be hard to follow as an audio book, but Pressley did a good job holding things together. She's the perfect Oona and truly captured the various different Oonas that we meet along the way.

Oona Out of Order was an entertaining audio book that begs readers to ask what would it be like to live your life out of order? What would you say to your nineteen year old self?  What if? I really enjoyed this audio book and recommend it to fans of time travel novels who may want to try something a little bit different, yet memorable.