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.
Literary Devices
Allusion
Montimore’s use of allusion—a reference to another literary work or other cultural touchstone—does many things in this novel. Characters often allude to pop-culture icons, musicians, and events to ground the reader in the current time period. However, the most significant allusions come in the titles of the novel’s sections, as they set the tone for the chapters that follow and encourage the reader to feel something before they’ve even read the first sentence. The songs alluded to epitomize a genre—new wave—from the time that Oona first leaves, or they are the influencers of that music. Because of the songs’ popularity, many readers will know at least a few lines and the general tone of the music. For example, by titling Part 5 after The Pixies’ upbeat song “Here Comes Your Man,” Montimore foreshadows that Oona will spend most of the chapter enjoying falling in love. The lyrics of each song also point toward events or ideas that appear in the novel, adding depth to Montimore’s choices. For example, the lyrics from Kate Bush’s “Under Ice” evoke Oona’s sense of drowning under the emotional weight of her situation, as well as her fear of water. Music is so central to the novel that Montimore even set up a playlist for readers on Spotify.
Point of View
Point of view is the perspective from which a story unfolds. Oona Out of Order is written mostly in close third person, meaning readers rarely get out of Oona’s head. This point of view is helpful for creating suspense, as readers largely see what Oona sees, and those small bits of information feel like tiny pieces of a vast puzzle that slowly comes together. Oona’s tattoo, jewelry, and trinkets are examples of images that initially lack explanations, leaving both the reader and Oona to wonder how she acquired those things. The story’s dialogue functions similarly. For example, when Madeleine mentions that Oona once revealed information about the future that hurt her deeply, Mortimore invites the reader to anticipate more information about this fight between mother and daughter.
While the point of view is mostly consistent, Montimore occasionally pulls out of Oona’s head into omniscient third. She largely does so to create cliffhangers at the end of chapters where Oona leaps. The effect is two-fold. First, it gives the impression that Oona’s consciousness has momentarily left while she travels through time. Second, it provides an ironic commentary on Oona’s final thoughts of the year, as Oona is usually wrong in her assumptions about what comes next.
Irony
Irony is a literary device involving a mismatch between expectations and reality. Much of what Oona experiences is colored by her lack of knowledge, and Montimore uses this ignorance to support ironic revelations as Oona travels through time, asking the reader to compare Oona’s original belief about a situation (and the reader’s own) with the reality. This irony manifests in both large and small ways. Examples of the latter include characters’ claims about the nature of their relationship with Oona, such as Kenzie saying he is her personal assistant. He does indeed assist her, but not because she is paying him (as Oona assumes). Rather, he is her son—a fact that doesn’t emerge until close to the end of the novel. A more dramatic example of irony occurs when Oona spends entire chapters berating herself for letting her marriage fail and for being an imposter only to discover that Edward is the ultimate fraud. A second irony is layered on top of this, as Edward goes out of his way to lie, steal, and betray Oona, but this doesn’t end the marriage. Instead, the pair gradually grow apart.
