60 pages • 2 hours read
Margarita MontimoreOona Out of Order
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Bildungsroman
Oona Out of Order is primarily a bildungsroman, a literary genre that dates to Goethe’s 1795 Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and was formally named in 1819. The bildungsroman is often confused with the coming-of-age story, and while there is overlap, a bildungsroman is literally an “education” (bildung) “novel” (roman), a genre unto itself that chronicles the protagonist’s progress toward knowledge and maturity. Coming-of-age stories range across genres and can be bildungsromans, but not all bildungsromans are coming-of-age stories. Protagonists in bildungsromans make specific progress instead of merely growing up and usually change from being immature and lost to finding self-acceptance and understanding of their place in the world.
Oona is one such protagonist. Because of the narrative’s nonlinear structure, she does not grow up as she would in a coming-of-age story but rather grows into the major themes and lessons of the novel. Achieving wisdom about how to live her life is the novel’s goal, and it is only when she has internalized these lessons—Enjoying the Good Moments and Being Here Now, showing Consideration for Others, Being True to Oneself, and Finding Healthy Highs—that she returns to the beginning of the novel to start living well. This is difficult for Oona, as the lessons go against her original instincts and some appear to clash with one another. When she can balance them all, she arrives at wisdom and can participate fully in the novel’s final major theme, The Relationship Between Mothers and Children, taking her mother’s former place and setting an example of how to live fully.
Another feature of the bildungsroman that separates it from a coming-of-age tale is that the mature, educated protagonist gives back in some way. Oona does this by beginning to live for Kenzie and her mother rather than for herself. She changes her mindset to prioritize the well-being of her son and begins to understand what it means to put others first. She also becomes a successful philanthropist and volunteer, giving back on a larger scale.
The bildungsroman genre often features an array of archetypal characters, and Oona Out of Order contains many of note. There is often a kindly teacher, and while Madeleine is Oona’s most consistent mentor, Kenzie sometimes fills this role. Kenzie also serves as the enchanting friend, depending on Oona’s age. In the bildungsroman, the antagonist is often a wicked authority figure, and while neither Dale nor the villainous Edward are obvious authority figures, both convince Oona to give them control over her decisions and pursuits in some way.
Oona herself also fits the mold of a typical bildungsroman character. Protagonists of this genre are usually orphans, misfits, escapees, or, like Oona, artists. The Künstlerroman, a subgenre of bildungsroman, deals specifically with the process of artistic maturation, and Oona’s journey is a struggle to become the artist she is meant to be. At the beginning, she naively gives up the instrument she was born to play in deference to her boyfriend Dale, and she spends the rest of her journey recovering her talent, passion, and love of the instrument.
Genre Context: Time Travel
Time travel stories have early roots. From the ancient Greeks conjuring ghosts from the past to make predictions to Merlin aging backward and “remembering” the future, storytellers have played with time since the beginning.
The premise of time travel narratives often centers around one of two ideas: Either there is a focus on fate, predetermination, and the question of whether human actions matter, or there is an emphasis on the protagonist changing history, whether by intent or accident. Oona Out of Order addresses both in that it combines the question of predetermination with Oona’s attempts to change her fate. However, the novel doesn’t answer whether this is possible, instead switching focus to ask why this should matter: Its message is ultimately one of enjoying the moment. For most of the novel, Oona rails against her past and future selves and tries to do things differently, but by the end, she stops leaving instructions to influence her past and future selves’ actions and decides to enjoy the time she is in.
Time travel narratives make use of various plot devices, such as communication from the future, time loops, or experiencing time backward. Oona Out of Order employs the “time slip,” in which a protagonist appears in another time for unknown reasons. The most famous American example, Washington Irving’s 1819 Rip van Winkle, depicts its protagonist waking up in another era without having done anything intentionally to get there. Like Oona, Rip must figure out his new time and adjust.
In a 2004 periodical on science fiction in film, Sean Redmond says time travel “provides the necessary distancing effect that science fiction needs to be able to metaphorically address the most pressing issues and themes that concern people in the present” (Redmond, Sean. Introduction. “The Origin of the Species: Time Travel and the Primal Scene.” Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader, Wallflower Press, 2004, pp. 114-15). This is true for Oona Out of Order, as ordinary linear existence wouldn’t provide the lessons Oona needs. Casting Oona out of normal life and into extraordinary circumstances forces her to confront a very fundamental question that she would otherwise avoid: how she should live her life. By wrapping this question in a package of time travel, Montimore seeks to jar a similar recalibration in readers: The answers the novel provides aren’t new, but the presentation invites readers to consider the novel’s themes in a fresh light.
Using time travel also allows Montimore to manipulate the timing of plot revelations for greater emotional impact, as in Oona’s relationship with Edward. By withholding information about Edward from the reader and the protagonist, later revelations invite a stronger response: Oona (and, likely, the reader) has already formed an opinion of Edward, making the surprise greater and the corresponding lessons more profound.
Another time travel trope Oona Out of Order makes use of is the time loop: Kenzie teaches younger versions of Oona things that older versions of Oona will then teach a younger Kenzie, raising the issue of causality and creating an endless circle of influence that questions whether fates are fixed or predetermined.
Cultural Context: The Velvet Underground and the 1980s New Wave
Oona’s band and musical aesthetic are heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground, a group that had modest commercial success but tremendous musical impact. The Velvet Underground’s unique sound was the result of incorporating unusual musical elements such as John Cale’s viola-produced drones and drummer Moe Tucker’s unusual percussion techniques (Tucker often stood to play the base drum). Lead singer and guitar player Lou Reed’s deadpan voice and experimental playing inspired many—including Oona, who describes seeing him as a religious experience. The band’s countercultural eccentricity made them a favorite of later punk and new wave musicians, and this rebellious, experimental nature extends beyond Oona’s music to her character; she often pushes back against other versions of herself or against her mother, and she searches for who she is with each leap in time.
The novel’s part titles come mostly from 1980s new wave songs. The new wave movement was heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground and featured pop-style upbeat melodies and choppy guitar rhythms. The light and often humorous nature of the genre allowed eccentric, experimental personalities like Kate Bush to exist alongside Blondie and Wham! This tone of lighthearted eccentricity contributes to the mood of Montimore’s novel. While the novel deals with dark issues like addiction, family dysfunction, and existential confusion, it maintains an optimistic and often humorous mood. Oona’s musical tastes evolve as she embraces the innovations of later decades, but the positive tone of the new wave permeates the entire novel.
