Oona Out of Order Hardcover – March 5, 2020

I was really attracted to the concept of this book but ultimately it seems I was looking for more depth. Won't say much more as it could turn into spoilers. Read and enjoy!!

I purchased this because I liked the author's concept of life occurring out of order. I loved Kate Atkinson's Life after Life and was hopeful that this might be in a similar vein. Unfortunately, the author was not able to execute the concept in an effective manner. The entire plot just ended up in a confusing mess. I also felt the author relied on too much stereotypical descriptions of different time periods. Overall disappointing.

Nice plot, interesting characters and a story that makes you think about the time and the way we choose to live our lives.

I love a time slip story and this is a particularly inventive one. From the age of eighteen onwards, every New Year's Eve, Oona Lockhart jumps into a different year of her life. She could have lived only twenty years, but be in the body of her sixty year old self, or vice versa.The cyclical nature of her time travelling ties poor Oona into knots. Sometimes she leaps into a year where her previous self has left a letter to let her know what is going on in her life - who her friends are, or even who her husband is. Other times she is totally unprepared for what she finds - jumping into an inebriated body at a New Year's party. Occasionally she has already lived a nearby year and so has an idea of what is to come. But try as she might, even with both fore- and hind- sight, she is unable to rectify any of her past or future mistakes. We never learn the reason behind Oona's condition but it's such an engrossing idea and so well explored that it really doesn't matter.When we first meet her aged eighteen, Oona is the keyboard player in a band. Music is a common theme in the story, and is often the way she connects with other people - it's a common language no matter how old she is internally or externally. The first time she jumps into an older body and discovers her extensive music collection is a joy to read.Oona is a marvellously complex character. Sometimes her decisions are downright infuriating, but her life is fascinating and I simply didn't want this to end.

I loved this book so that it has claimed a place as an all time favorite.I adored the music references which really resonated for me and helped to magically transport me to the time Oona was in.My disappointment is that I can't get my hands on a copy of Asleep from Day for a sane price. I had loved this book so much that I spent ages trying to find one which I would have devoured if possible.There is magic in these pages if you are open to a wonderful spell and willing to be taken on a magical journey.

The basic premise of this novel, that the main character Oona’s life, is like a pack of playing cards, each card representing a single year, that gets shuffled each time she has a birthday, is a difficult one to get your head around. If you put scepticism to one side and just go with it, it is interesting and in some ways profound. I question some of the core values that place youth as intrinsically better than age but that’s probably my own bias as an older woman. A very original piece of writing.

What I liked best about this book was the clever and complex plotting. At certain points I had to pause and think about it for my brain to catch up! I also really liked how the whole story made me think of life being cyclical rather than linear, and I've been trying to think of life like that recently; as having 'seasons'.What I liked least about the book was probably the depiction of the drug scene as I wasn't sure this was realistic, but that's just my opinion and I don't like to focus on negative elements when someone has made something so creative, as I certainly couldn't do it!My favourite character was Oona. I think she was a really great protagonist and she was believable because she was emotional and complicated. You rooted for her at times, and hurt for her, and got frustrated at her in the way you would with a real person.Favourite quote: 'you have to stop trying to mess with your fate...you need to let the bad shit happen and stop trying to undo it' - so true!I probably would read another book by this author, but it wasn't my absolute favourite, so I probably wouldn't actively seek other books out.