Book Review | The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart

“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.’⁣’

What a concept. 🤯 Imagine living your life completely out of order. You may be 18, then 51, then 27 externally, but living chronologically mentally. This is the predicament Oona finds herself in one NYE. On what should be her 19th year, she suddenly finds herself in her 51 year old body. ⁣⁣Ok let’s get this out of the way. As with any time travel book, you have to suspend a bit of logic for this to work (to not suffer from a brain malfunction🤯).⁣

With that aside, I really enjoyed this one! The pop cultural references were so fun and I loved spotting all the cameos of people who would make it big in years to come. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a Spotify playlist for the book, which really brought it to life. I can see this so vividly as a movie. (Can someone make this happen please?!). ⁣⁣

While I was frustrated at times with Oona, I felt quite sad for her overall. Her predicament meant that she was never living ‘in the moment’, but rather playing a supporting role to the ‘other’ Oona’s. The ones that came before, and the ones that will come after. The little messages, hints at how to navigate the new year, the hurdles and triumphs…ultimately, their hopes and their dreams. ⁣⁣

Even with all that knowledge of the future, the ups and downs, the marriages, divorces, illnesses and inevitably, the deaths, Oona lives a pretty quiet and solitary life. It’s hard to provide any form of stability or commitment when the very fabric of your existence is not linear. I mean we are born. We age. We die. But not for Oona, leading to the central question…⁣⁣

How much of life is predetermined? How much influence do we have? Are we simply hurtling towards what is already written in the stars? And would knowing what happens in the future stop us from taking chances in the present? Are you a fan of time travel books/movies?

Thanks so much to @hachetteaus for sending this my way for review!