The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Spring 2022 Group Read Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

Just a note for any non-USA people struggling to find this book - it's known by the alternative title in the UK & probably elsewhere: The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart

(Could a note be perhaps made on the task that this is the same book?)

it just so happens that when i was looking at library books - this one was available to listen to - so i decided to dig in today - so far i'm like 45 minutes in, but i've laughed out loud a few times and can't wait to see what happens next

i finished this up today and it made me heart happy - it was just a feel good book - yes there was some obvious angst with different elements of the storyline - but overall just a good read. The last chapter completing the circle just awww....but I can't imagine living when I knew what was going to happen to all these people in the future.

I kind of wish that it was discovered why she time-travels...

I am so glad I picked this book as a group read. This book was unique in a number of ways. I enjoyed reading her adventures through the different decades, watching her grow and learn yet not grow and learn. I'm usually not a fan of "product placement" but in this book, it really worked.

As Dee mentioned, the closure of the circle was a perfect ending and there wasn't too much more I would want to read. I think the most challenging thing would be not telling people things accidentally or trying really hard to make certain things not occur.

It was interesting that those who knew about her secret never seemed to question it. Is it genetic? Are there others out there? What would happen if they ever met?

right - i wanted to know about what caused it...how did they discover this happened to her - was her first jump when she was actually turning 19, or did something accidently happen when she was a kid? i just wish that part had been fleshed out a bit more

After it first happened, I thought it would be discussed at some point. If her first jump was when she turned 19, that's a lot to unravel. At the same token, imagine trying to explain all of this to a 3 year old!

maybe a prequel with her mother discovering it - i lean towards it being genetic and skipping a generation...so kenzie's kids (if he ever had) would inherit it...(maybe he meets up with that guy in New Zealand and they fall in love)

I like the idea of a prequel!

I guess I have a very different take on this book - I honest didn't see what the point of most of it was. First, it seemed to me that there ought to have been some point in these jumps. Why???? Why were there two jumps regarding the husband and then no more about him? Why the year of massive drugs/alcohol/sleeping around? It just seemed as if these were random little short stories, and then they moved on to something else.

Amy B
You know, I love me a good time travel book. This, unfortunately, was not a good time travel book. I see a lot of comments already about how it was never explained why this happened to Oona and I agree with that. But the other part of it was that she was just so unlikeable and made the worst choices. Part of me feels shallow that I dislike the book because I dislike the main character. And I tried to be sympathetic that she is basically a teenager at the beginning, being forced into an intensely stressful situation with not a lot of maturity or experience to be able to handle it. But she constantly made poor decisions and it just wore me down. I was rolling my eyes too much at the end and really didn't enjoy it.
One good point though, I was listening to the audiobook version and the reader performing the book, Brittany Pressley, did an amazing job.

I have read quite a few time travel novels and this one has a unique twist. The main character wakes up in a different year of her life each New Year's day and thus lives her life out of order. Each part of the book tells you what age the character is in accordance with the year she is in, and the how old she is based on how many years she has experienced. It makes for some interesting scenarios. Why Oona lives her life out of order is never explained.

It is most similar to Replay or The Time Traveler's Wife in that the character can make decision based on knowledge of having lived a part of their later life (such as investing on stocks, or betting on sports games, I really enjoyed this book, it was very refreshing take on time travel.

I liked this book overall, but there were many parts that I questioned. I had to let go of a lot of those questions to just enjoy the story, which I did. I didn't hate Oona as much as other readers did, but there were times I rolled my eyes at her choices and outlooks.

Sandy wrote: "I guess I have a very different take on this book - I honest didn't see what the point of most of it was. First, it seemed to me that there ought to have been some point in these jumps. Why???? Why..."

I felt the same way. A lot of promise in this book and not a lot of payback. Why didn't we get the jump where she has to make the tough decision to give away Kenzie. WHy didn't we get the jump where she has to live through Dale's death. I just liked the book, thought it would be great if we could live through these moments.

I liked the book, didn't love but liked. For awhile i was made as it just kept feeling like a copy of the TIme Traveler's Wife. But then they pulled the storyline in with Kenzie and it started to get interesting. It had the potential to get interesting and then just ended too soon without really dealing with anything.

I was happy to see the closure with Dale but wanted more impactful moments for Oona to experience. The first half of the book's jumps seemed not a big deal to other events she experienced in her life.

Is this being made into a movie/series or does anyone feel like it should? Reading it all it kept feeling like it's begging to be made into an adaptation for film.

Amy wrote: "Amy B
You know, I love me a good time travel book. This, unfortunately, was not a good time travel book. I see a lot of comments already about how it was never explained why this happened to Oona a..."

I read a few reviews before hand that had similar complaints. Maybe I went into it reading and thinking that but I would agree with you. For most the book it was woah is me vs trying to figure out how to live and expand on those moments she does have.

I love time travel books so they usually get at least a three star review from me. The premise of this one was interesting but I agree with other posters who stated that it would have been better had some of the more difficult life situations had been addressed. I also didn’t really care for Oona, she seemed rather shallow and somewhat naive during some of her years. I understand she was 18 when this first happened but other than that first time jump, anyone would’ve wised up quickly after that. She was annoyingly childish for most of the book.

Louise B

I liked the concept of this book but the story itself didn’t work for me. The plot seemed to be based entirely around Oona’s relationships and to a large extent she seemed to waste her time. She seemed to feel there were a set of rules she had to follow, like not checking on whatever happened to past friends. Her Mom wouldn’t tell her key pieces of information about her life. I didn’t really understand this at all - who was to say the timeline couldn’t be changed? It wasn’t really clear to me why the novel told the story of 7 specific years, particularly as 2 of them were about a really boring relationship, albeit out of order. A bit disappointing.

I am starting this one today. I am just in her first jump. I am enjoying it so far. I feel for Oona jumping with her 19 year old brain into her 51 year old body! I thought it was so funny how she was noticing her body's aches. It must be quite the shock to find your young brain in the aches and pains of middle age :) I always wish I could transport my middle aged brain into my 20s aged body. I'm sure Oona will get some chance to do that

I ended up enjoying the book. I liked Oona fine - even though she made poor choices sometimes - she was young and dealing with some stressful stuff I would have liked to see the year she decided to have Kenzie even though she couldn't raise him. Or maybe the leap after she lost her mom. I think this would have made a good tv show and they could add some years. I also would have liked to see some of her more wise years.

I didn't know if I would like this or not. I've read other time hop books and they just ended up confusing me. This one didn't. I really enjoyed it. It made me think about what it would be like to hop around in time and if I would do it if it were an option.

Oona reminds me of my step children and how much they have grown in their 20's. The whole live in the moment theme resonated with me.

I have only read a couple of time travel books - not usually what i pick but i enjoyed it. I listened to the audio version.

Oona was a flawed character but who isn't at that age. I found her comments, tendencies were in line with most people of that 19-26 age group. She wanted what she wanted in the moment and gradually learned to reflect on the other people in her life and her impact on them.

I had to keep telling myself that throughout the hops we were shown in the book, Oona was never older than 26 mentally. There was only one time when she was mentally older than her chronological age, and that was at the end of the book.
I thought it was interesting that the one area where she used knowledge of the future to her own advantage was the financial decisions she made.

I enjoyed it. It made me laugh out loud and cry.

This book is not something I would usually pick up, but figured I would give it a chance. Overall, not a bad read, but I felt like it didn't live up to its potential. I felt like the jumps were random and arbitrary and most lacked any real difficult decisions. As mentioned above, this felt more like a series of short stories then one larger work. The book did keep me reading and wondering what would happen next. I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't the best book of the year and not the worst. I'm glad to have stepped outside my comfort zone for this one.

I didn't care for this one in the beginning. It felt too fluffy. It eventually grew on me. And I love time travel stories. This was a little different though. I thought the title was clever and it fit the story.

An interesting premise even if it sounds messy; the back and forth and all around. It felt a bit like that too but then isn't life messy... I guess it's kind of like The Time Traveller's Wife in that you pop in and out different times with no one the wiser. It's a bit like coming of age too, I guess, though a crash course for 19yo Oona. I got a tad bored after 3-4 time periods but it's a fairly easy read and fun to travel through time with her a bit.

And yes, I'd love to know why/how she time travelled!! How did Madeleine find out? What was her reaction etc etc etc...

I love time travel books and enjoyed the concept of this one. Oona did not annoy me like she did some readers. I am not a big music fan so many of the bands were not familiar to me. I might have missed some of the symbolism there but it did not seem like a big loss.

I have been thinking about the year in the club scene. The big question for me is how did she end up there. I get that she was always a big fan of the latest music but the drugs did not seem to fit. However if that one came right after she had to give up the baby I can see her trying to forget.

I like many of the other readers would have liked to see more years.

This book is ... interesting!
I really like the concept and I like the way she leaves notes to her future self, but the content is fairly superficial and if you don't know the music that is referenced you will miss out some subtleties. There is a lot of gratuitous sex/drugs/drinking and this overshadows the parts that are good.
We never find out why Oona time-jumps or how her mother is aware of it and is thus able to help her. I feel that the book stops abruptly - did Oona continue to time-jump after this? Did it all stop once she understood the direction her life would take?

I can see this being a great miniseries with each episode being a year in Oona's life, but as a book it started slowly, got weird in the middle and finished abruptly ...

I really ended up enjoying this book though I wasn't sure I would at first. At first, I found it kind of too twisty - I had a hard time getting a handle on how old she was, who she would or wouldn't know, what was happening. Finally, I had to decide to just accept it and keep reading (much like Oona had to do with her life!) and I enjoyed it much more that way. I ended up feeling like the book had some really interesting things to say about the ways that we all feel a complicated mix of loss, regret, nostalgia, joy when we look back on our pasts, and yet if we were able to revisit the past, would it be so great? Oona's struggle to stay in the present and find joy, no matter her circumstances, are just a heightened version of what we all deal with.