Time heals all. But what if time itself is the disease?
—Wim Wenders and Peter Handke, Wings of Desire
Oona Out of Order is a 2020 novel by Margarita Montimore.
It's 1982. Oona's friends have gathered to celebrate New Year's Eve and her nineteenth birthday. She is the keyboardist (although she would rather play guitar) for a band called Early Dawning and Dale, the frontman, is her boyfriend. Everybody starts to count down to the next year and —
Oona does not make it to next year. She wakes up in a strange house, wearing unfamiliar clothes. And a friendly guy claiming to be her personal assistant who tells her it's 2015. She has leaped through time to her 51-year-old self's life.
Tropes appearing in this novel
- Be Careful What You Wish For: 1982 Oona has to choose between going on tour with the band (which would require taking a semester off) or attending a year-long academic program in London. Before the countdown to the New Year, she wishes she did not have to choose. The leap to 2015 and being 19 in the body of a 51-year-old takes care of that for her.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: A downplayed version for teen Kenzie, who finds using his mothers' names rather than Mama F and Mama S in conversation in simple. He does love them and addresses them as mom.
- Can't Take Criticism: Edward's restaurant gets bad reviews and few customers. Oona makes suggestions to increase business like improving the website and getting help with search engine optimization instead of just direct mail. He responds by getting sarcastic. The same happens when she points out the food is too fussy and too expensive.
- Catching Up on History: For her first leap (from 1982 to 2015), Kenzie helps Oona to catch up. To avoid overwhelming her, he suggests she start with iTunes and Wikipedia. He lets her pick his brain about events like 9/11. She is surprised that a Black man has become president and that gay marriage is legal.
- Country Matters: Oona calls Francesca, Edward's restaurant consultant, a "pretentious cunt" after finding out in 2003 that the suspicions she had about Edward and Francesca in 2004 were accurate.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: After leaping to 1991 Oona spends the year going clubbing several times per week. She finds herself needing alcohol and drugs more often just to feel normal. She is ready to ditch the lifestyle by the time her next leap approaches.
- Happily Adopted: Per Kenzie's backstory, he grew up with two women who adopted him, but they died while he was in college. In one of her leaps, Oona gets a chance to observe him as a teenager and realizes he is happy with Shivani and Faye.
- Help Yourself in the Future: After Oona leaps to 2015, her assistant hands her a letter written by her 2014 self, but it takes her a while to calm down enough to read it. It explains what is going on with her time-traveling, warns her to keep a low profile, manage her fortune, and that her mom is still alive. Her 2014 self also left her binders with information. For her leap to 1991, her 1990 leaves her a Post-It with a warning that she doesn't get until too late:Tonight you'll meet a curly-haired guy w/pale blue eyes. DO NOT HAVE SEX WITH HIM.
- Idle Rich: With her investments, Oona doesn't need to work, which allows her to travel or volunteer. She does make an exception when she leaps to the year 1999. She gets a job at a coffeehouse/record store, which makes it easier for her to keep an eye out (or spy/stalk) on her son.
- Info Dump: 2014 Oona has left a letter for Oona to read when she leaps to 2015:Every year, on your birthday, right at midnight, you travel through time to inhabit your body at a different point of your life. For exactly one year. Then you "leap" to another random age you haven’t lived before (could be older, could be younger). You’re physically and mentally healthy, but you’re experiencing your adult life out of order.
- Refuge in Audacity: In 1991 Oona is out with friends and one asks her where does her fortune come from. The intoxicated Oona breaks her own rule; she tells her friends that she travels through time and that "memorize[s] stuff that'll make me money. Mostly stocks, some sporting events, that sort of thing." After a bit of silence, all her friends laugh at her.
- The Reveal: Kenzie, Oona's personal assistant, is really the son she gave up for adoption. She is floored when she learns of their relation.
- Spoiler: In-Universe: In the letter she leaves for herself to find in 2015, Oona explains that she does not reveal certain information to her 1982 self to avoid taking out the fun of living. She does have to define what a "spoiler" is.
- Storyboard Body: Oona is surprised to find a tattoo of an hourglass with galaxies instead of grains of sand and the letters M.C.D.R. She figures the first two letters are for her parents' names (Madeleine and Charles) and the D is for Dale. They are her biological son's initials.
- Time Travel for Fun and Profit: How Oona maintains her fortune. She invests heavily in Apple and other companies and gets out in the nick of time. Kenzie reminds her to occasionally make a bad investment to avoid getting attention from RICO.
- Trust Password: Oona wakes up from her first leap not knowing where she is or what has happened to her. When she encounters Kenzie, she doesn't recognize him and doesn't believe him when he claims to be her 51-year-old self's personal assistant. In her mind, she is just 19, and it is 1983. Fortunately, he is prepared with anecdotes from the 1982 New Year's Eve party, like how she caught the band drummer doing cocaine.
- Unstuck in Time: Oona jumps to a different random year of her life each birthday, starting with her 19th birthday in 1982 jumping to her 51st.
- Young Future Famous People: In 1991 Oona and her friends go dancing at the Pyramid, and she spots Lady Bunny and RuPaul. She is tempted to tell them that they will be famous in the future, but figures they probably knew already.
- What Year Is This?: This happens when Oona does her second leap, this time to the past. She finds herself in a crowded club, in outlandish clothes, and can tell she is under the influence of something other than alcohol. She asks another woman what year is it, and she gets this in response: "You must be more messed up than I am. It's 1991. Happy New Year."
