"Chaos And All That": a twist on an old theme

Liu Sola’s “Chaos And All That” is a wonderfully inventive and riveting fiction for those knowledgeable in China’s modern history, but may leave others struggling and confused. Unlike many novels set during the rise of the communist party in China, which usually parallel the personal lives of their characters with specific historical events, “Chaos and All That” captures the emotions of living through and dealing with these events through the flashbacks and ramblings of the narrator, Huang Haha.

The novel is set alternately in modern-day London and Haha’s memories of her youth in China. The adult Haha, living in London, begins to write a novel of her life growing up. Attempting to write her manuscript begins to take over her life, leaving her with scattered memories of her childhood and a present that is stuck in her past. Her life in London is overtaken by the one in China she had longed to leave.

The novel assumes a general understanding of China’s Cultural Revolution, which allows the author to play with time and moments within the novel, without having to anchor these to a specific timeline of greater events. Liu Sola is able, through the recollections of Haha, to paint a picture of how the cultural revolution might look to a young child growing up in the moment, without an omniscient view of major events occurring across the country. Liu then takes her novel to another level, by showing the life of the child through the confused, stuck-in-the-past adult Londoner she becomes. Liu Sola’s unique writing style takes her readers directly into Haha’s own confused and befuddled emotions in a chaotic whirl through time. 

Love is an equally important subject of the novel to the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution. With parents and any other guardian-figures being promoted, demoted, killed, taken away, returned, lost; their roles in the lives of Haha and her friends are largely insubstantial. Even Auntie, the one adult consistently present throughout Haha’s childhood and adolescence, is often reduced to a few sporadic rhymes and old sayings. This absence leaves Haha and her friends to discover and develop their own understanding of love, relationships, and marriage - an understanding that transfers into Haha’s relationships in London. Liberal ideas of love often conflict with more traditional ones as Haha and her friends struggle to determine what love is.

Haha and her friends’ relationships alone will leave a reader entertained and with plenty to think on, but an at least basic understanding of China’s recent history is necessary to understand many of the events of Haha’s childhood. The plot can be difficult to follow, and would likely be largely unintelligible to the uninformed reader. To appreciate Liu Sola’s novel, one should first review the mid-late 1900s of China’s history. Those who have will find a delightfully unique and engaging novel in “Chaos and All That.”