The Chaos

Feb 28, 2012 Ceridwen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Ceridwen by: mermaid friend

Shelves: fantasy, grrrrl-power, o-canada, pomo-a-go-go, reviewed, urban-fantasy, young-adult, lgbt

I'm very interested to see how this novel will play to the young adult set. I thought it hit some things absolutely perfectly, but I'm 20 years years from my young adultness, and I know that. This is the thing: so often, when I read young adult novels, or watch teeny movies, the social systems in play seemed to be cribbed from 80s movies or musicals. There's the popular kids, who are obviously evil, and the everyone-else, who are some kind of Marxist uptopian rag-tag group of misfits who win the...more I'm very interested to see how this novel will play to the young adult set. I thought it hit some things absolutely perfectly, but I'm 20 years years from my young adultness, and I know that. This is the thing: so often, when I read young adult novels, or watch teeny movies, the social systems in play seemed to be cribbed from 80s movies or musicals. There's the popular kids, who are obviously evil, and the everyone-else, who are some kind of Marxist uptopian rag-tag group of misfits who win the dance-off or whatever.

Ask everyone you know what group they belonged to in high school, and the vast majority of them will demur with some comment about how they belonged to multiple groups. "I didn't have the one," they will say. "I guess you could say I moved between them." That's fine. I don't think they are lying or anything; but still, we moved. Most of us did move among them this way or another: the NHS snobs, the dance-line whores, the cross-country assholes, the date-rapists from hockey. We all moved from a group of slagged identities to another. We slagged identities to get by.

Sojourner, the daughter of a white Jamaican and a black American, was slagged so hard in her last school that she had to move schools. The whisper campaign started - girls being casually mean that deepened into everyone being purposefully mean - and then it ended in Sojourner face down, gum in her hair, fucked in all ways but the most literal. She starts again in a new school, and this book starts again after she's found her trio, built her rep, and then had her trio fall apart due to a fight with the other girl in that claustrophobic group she calls home.

Her relationships with her friends are all beautifully sketched, from the bathroom scenes to the after-dance-practice moments. I'm 20 years from this, but I could feel the truth of two girls working out their anger with one another about a boy, and talent, and things harder even to say out loud. There's a brilliant social realism at play here, that gets seriously complicated when the the weird metaphorical changes begin, changes embodied in the Chaos of the title.

Sojourner goes with her brother to a poetry slam while their parents are out of town. It's a shivering frission of getting out, using the fake ID, trying to pass as just a few years older. (This is Canada, so drinking age is 19, and Sojourner's 17 isn't far off, but still world's away, the way it is.) She gets hit on by a dude who fails her race test - he can't tell she's mixed race, and when she tell him, he says some stupid things. Then she meets a spoken word poet who is in a wheelchair, and she fails the same kind of ableist test that she just applied in racial terms to a dude in a bar. It's an incredibly adroit juxtaposition: one identity understanding doesn't translate to the other. Then everything goes to hell.

For whatever reason, a volcano rises in the bay in Toronto, a vortex sucks away her brother, and all manner of weirdness unfolds. The streetlamps turn to crayons; a hippo wears a hat and talks. Some of this weirdness is ground in mythology, and there is an extended riff on Baba Yaga and her chicken-legged house - a riff full of all kinds of physical comedy that I enjoyed - and other mythological figures. Jamaican folklore also figures pretty prominently, as does Jamaican culture and accents, and those I felt were the stronger magical sections, more bound with Sojourner's family and identity. Sometimes I was all in with this, and I thought the way the overt metaphors dealt with the internal structures was amazing and true. Sometimes I just felt beset by weird that was hard to understand. But Sojourner is not Jamaican, she's hyphen-Canadian, and it makes sense that the metaphors are going to be mixed

On some level, this is a novel of Toronto. Sometimes there is a fantastic sense of place, nods to the way Torontonians deal with their social situations, smart comments on the varying layers of Toronto society. I'm not from Toronto, though I have visited a bit, so I got a bunch squee about various touristy locales. But sometimes the physicality failed, and I had a hard time understanding where we were, and what that might mean to someone in the know. I enjoy city-stories though, in general. I like when people write cities, how place is identity, and identity shifts with place. The physicality isn't as strong as something like Zoo City, but it still mostly works.

I really don't want to get into spoilers, especially because I think I'm one of the first to review, but this ends with a sort of obliqueness I enjoy, unperfected. The way this story manages certain identities, I thought it was cool how they were taken on, but occasionally were touched in a way that was more schematic and less character-driven. Damn, I just deleted a bunch of sentences that were spoilers for shore, and y'all should read this and get back to me so I can talk about it. Rarrr.

I can't say whom to recommend this to. It's smartly written, interesting, complex, but it might be more fun to think about than read, you know? Dang, I just made it sound like it isn't fun to read. There's a lot of weird here, weird that might be metaphorical for more upsetting things, and nothing is easy. Hot damn, neither is adolescence, so that is a flat win in my book.

I received an ARC from someone cool, but no expectations were placed on my review, fwiw. (less)

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Mar 18, 2013 TheBookSmugglers rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Know Yourself”, says 16 year old Sojourner “Scotch” Smith’s English teacher as though Scotch has not been struggling with the issue of identity all her life. Her father is a white Jamaican, her mother a black Canadian. She thinks of herself as black but her skin tone is so light, she can easily “pass” for something else (not that she wants to but it has been pointed to her by clueless people who think they are helping ). She also deals with the unfair expectations from her traditional father on...more “Know Yourself”, says 16 year old Sojourner “Scotch” Smith’s English teacher as though Scotch has not been struggling with the issue of identity all her life. Her father is a white Jamaican, her mother a black Canadian. She thinks of herself as black but her skin tone is so light, she can easily “pass” for something else (not that she wants to but it has been pointed to her by clueless people who think they are helping ). She also deals with the unfair expectations from her traditional father on what he considers to be femininity and how he expects her to be a good girl. At her older school she had been mercilessly slut shamed and bullied by other girls but now that she moved away from all that, she is finally settling down and hoping to be able to experiment more without being shamed for it (although the fear is always there). Or she was until she got into a fight with her best friend over her former boyfriend and those tar-black blemishes started to appear in her skin. Not to mention the pesky floating creatures which keep appearing around her.

That’s when the world suddenly, inexplicably, goes to shit. In London, the Big Ben is blowing giant soap bubbles and chanting dirty seventeenth-century drinking songs. In Canada, a Volcano suddenly appears in the middle of Lake Ontario and covers the sky with its ashes. Scotch’s brother is sucked by a bubble of light and disappears into the phone lines and Scotch herself is slowly becoming something else as the tar-blemishes start to engulf her, as she is chased by her aunt’s not so imaginary dog. As she goes around Ontario in search of her brother – and of a safe place – she encounters all sort of creatures including a Sasquatch and Baba Yaga and her house. All of a sudden the entire world is able to see the madness that everybody carries inside.

From a Spec Fic perspective the book is wonderfully surrealist. It is a Fantasy tale that mixes stories from the Caribbean and Russia and once the story gets going, it is easy to be sucked in by its trippy-a surprise-at-every-corner chaos. I enjoyed this aspect of The Chaos although only to a certain extent as, from a personal point of view, its extreme surrealism was unfortunately a deterrent for a more deeper connection to the story and characters.

Which brings me to its main theme: at its core this is a book of self-identity and discovery. And Scotch’s journey of self-discovery is not only interesting but also incredibly diverse and extremely honest in its approach. She has friends at school that are on a polyamorous relationship, her best friend is gay. And although she obviously loves her boyfriend she also thinks of experimenting and about snogging other people all the time. For a YA book this is a HUGE thing as more often than not, YA – especially Paranormal Romance – tends to be really problematic when it comes to its widespread tendency toward Heteronormativity.

Scotch is also incredibly aware of racism. She is a keen observer of how society treats her brother (who has a much darker skin tone) as well as being constantly on the lookout for hand waving racism. One scene early in the book takes place at a bar and she starts talking to this guy and he loses all points with her when he starts saying idiotic things about her being of mixed race (the “she can pass” comment for example is one of those things). At the same time though, even though she is very race-aware Scotch can still be a homophobe ableist dickhead in the same casual way she calls other people on racism. Even though her best friend is gay, she constantly uses homophobe slurs in internal thoughts and once she lets it slip how she thinks of herself as “normal” because she is not gay. I found this aspect of the novel very compelling: that the fact that someone is AWARE of racism for example doesn’t necessarily translate into being an instant ally to other identities as well.

That said, although I completely 100% agree and appreciate this celebration of diversity and the positive, progressive messages, I did have problems on how those were incorporated into the story. I can’t help but to feel that there was a certain forced didacticism that felt disjointed and disconnected from the overall story. I don’t know, I tend to think that in a scenario where the world seems to be going to shit, where you are in constant danger of death, where your brother is gone to gods know where, you simply wouldn’t have time to consider Issues. It just broke the flow of the story at points and I felt that because of that, the connection between Spec Fic and Contemporary YA was not as seamless as it could have been.

The Chaos is an interesting book but one that I didn’t quite love. It also has the dubious honour of being one of the most surreal books I have ever read. Ultimately, despite agreeing and admiring its thematic premise, I appreciated it more than I truly enjoyed it, if that makes sense. Still: a very good book, different from anything I have read in YA for a while (if ever?).(less)

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Jan 02, 2013 Raina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: gltbq, feminist, funny, high-school, magic-realism, not-amerika, ya, urban

I freakingADORED this book. I'm really heartbroken that it's just a touch too mature for my local middle school booktalks.

It starts out as a quite realistic urban Canadian story about a black girl and her dance team drama. Her brother's been in prison for drugs, her parents are superstrict, and she's having serious friend troubles.

And I woulda been fine with it staying that way, to be perfectly honest. Scotch has a strong voice. She's got some serious conflict going on and I was interested in s...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I began this book knowing nothing of Caribbean folklore, and left knowing nothing of Caribbean folklore. The author never explained anything, so if you wanted to know how this tied in with Caribbean folklore you'd have to do your own research.
That's not to say this wasn't a good book, because it was. All the characters were realistic, and though they didn't get much time to develop, the little they had was good. They all had their small defining moments, and even ones you weren't supposed to lik...more I began this book knowing nothing of Caribbean folklore, and left knowing nothing of Caribbean folklore. The author never explained anything, so if you wanted to know how this tied in with Caribbean folklore you'd have to do your own research.
That's not to say this wasn't a good book, because it was. All the characters were realistic, and though they didn't get much time to develop, the little they had was good. They all had their small defining moments, and even ones you weren't supposed to like I ended up liking.
I could relate to Scotch in a lot of ways, and a lot of ways I couldn't. This is Hopkinson's first young adult novel, and she captured the mind of a teen very well. I really hope she writes more teen fiction in the future.
The plot was crazy, so it certainly wouldn't be for everyone. I absolutely loved it. Descriptions of some things needed improvement (I could never fully wrap around what the Horsemen looked like), but it did capture what would happen if things went to chaos.
The book mentioned Scotch having problems with her cultural identifies, and I mostly didn't see it. Sure sometimes she talked about having trouble with fitting in with both white and black people, but it didn't seem to really show it until the very end, and then it was only a second or so.

*SPOILER STARTS HERE*
Really it was just a sentence or so saying the black goo made her skin a darker brown. I did like how this was handled, and I was glad Scotch felt more comfortable with her identity, but the book's description made it sound like discovering her cultural identity would be a big thing. Really, she never seemed to explore not explain it.

*SPOILER ENDS HERE*

The feelings of the characters towards one another were real, the emotions more than just words on paper. I really liked Scotch's relationship with Rich.
Like I said, this book isn't for everyone, but if you can handle crazy stuff, I definitely recommend this book.(less)

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May 21, 2012 Scott rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

This YA fantasy did not captivate me. I do like some fantasy books, but this one was very strange. The main character, Sojourner (or "Scotch"), was exceptionally compelling - a teenage bi-racial Jamaican immigrant to Canada - and the initial setting was completely realistic. However, fantastic elements start creeping in, and the entire story collapses into a mish-mash of figments of imagination from dreams or nightmares as a large volcano appears in the middle of Lake Ontario. The real problem i...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, my-library, mythology, paranormal-read, young-adult-read

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

My Summary: Scotch just wanted to spend the night at a poetry slam with her brother after a long day. But things are never easy for Scotch, whose mixed-race heritage makes her feel like an outsider in every social group. But race is the least of her worries when strange things start to happen: a volcano appears in the Toronto Bay, and her brother disappears. Scotch's world turns to chaos a...more

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Mar 10, 2013 The Young Book Collector rated it 2 of 5 stars

Before I go any further with this review, I want to let y'all know that I really tried to like this book. Some are probably wondering as to why; it's just a book, right? Okay, to be honest, I get excited whenever I get my hands on a fantasy novel written by a black author, so it's very comforting knowing there are some out there. I was searching the internet for black authors who wrote speculative fiction and, with various others, Nalo’s name came up. Then I got a chance to read her short-story...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: appeal-element-setting-place, lgbtq, appeal-element-character, apocalypse, appeal-element-plot, kid-teen-issues, bullying, fantasy, re-visioned-fairytales, legends-or-myths, writing-back, supernatural, ya, thoughtfulness-required

There were many, many things I really liked about The Chaos. I loved how real Scotch's voice was and her interactions with her brother and family rang very true for me. It may be a cliche for the teen girl to change into more conservative, parent-approved clothes before heading home, but it helps establish Scotch's character and family dynamics. The Chaos is certainly an original end-of-the-world scenario in a sea of other YA apocalypses. The distorting, manipulating, oozing rolling calf was a g...more There were many, many things I really liked about The Chaos. I loved how real Scotch's voice was and her interactions with her brother and family rang very true for me. It may be a cliche for the teen girl to change into more conservative, parent-approved clothes before heading home, but it helps establish Scotch's character and family dynamics. The Chaos is certainly an original end-of-the-world scenario in a sea of other YA apocalypses. The distorting, manipulating, oozing rolling calf was a great addition to the story, especially in opposition to the rule-dominated Russian folktale witch character (who shared many characteristics with traditional Western fairy tale witches, like the one in Hansel and Gretel). Some reviewers have complained about the inclusion of the rolling calf as they are unfamiliar with it. I think anyone familiar with fairy tales can figure out what sort of mythological being it is. And if it inspires some young person to look up rolling calf and duppies and Caribbean mythology to learn more then so much the better.

I feel a little ridiculous making the following criticism of a novel called "The Chaos", but nonetheless: the book is a little too chaotic. I really liked the opening parts, especially the characterization of Scotch and the way she thinks about boys. I can't remember ever reading a teen girl POV that struck me as so absolutely authentic, especially in terms of responding to the male gaze. Once the Chaos hits and things start happening - the volcano, various transformations - those authentic reactions seemed to disappear. Everyone, not just the main characters, responded extremely calmly to the situation considering what was happening. It made the stakes seem quite low. People were worrying about last family, but no one was losing their minds over the fact that the the world was absolutely mad. At one point someone suggests that the Chaos is manifesting people's inner inner lives, but this has little resonance in terms of the story as any connections, if they exist, are very hard to decipher. Scotch's journey is very haphazard, and (view spoiler)

I love Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber for its mix of Caribbean mythology, amazing characterization, and science fiction and hoped that The Chaos would be similarly engrossing. For me, it wasn't; but I would certainly recommend it to teens who are bored of the zombie apocalypse, interested in strong, active female characters, looking for representations of their culture and experiences, and like creative imaginary worlds. (less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Tine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, 2013

The Chaos is een heel gepaste titel voor dit boek. Ik bedoel, ik heb al heel wat boeken gelezen waarin rare dingen gebeuren, maar deze is toch wel van een heel ander soort. Aan het begin van het verhaal ontmoeten we Scotch en komen we te weten dat ze kleine, zwevende paardenhoofdjes ziet die niemand anders kan zien en dat haar huid langzaam maar zeker bedekt wordt door zwarte, kleverige plekken. En, weet je? Dat is nog maar het begin. Pas daarna breekt de hel los: Izbushka (een huis op twee voge...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Kathyred rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, fantasy

"Scotch" moved to a new High school because she was incessantly bullied at her old school. Yet now black blemishes are appearing on her skin and she keeps seeing horse heads floating around. I would have no problem giving this to someone in a rough situation emotionally, and this even has a bi-racial heroine. Fantasies with non-white central characters are rare enough that I really wanted to like this. But for me as an adult, the story just didn't flow. The odd things that happen (the "chaos") t...more

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Nov 13, 2012 April rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian, coming-of-age, diaspora, dystopian, family, generation-y, gritty, imaginative, jamaica, african-american, racism, science-fiction, strong-female-lead, woc, young-adult, multicultural-utopia, the-mixed-experience, lgbtqi

I wanted so badly to like this book. There were a lot of promising elements. A strong female lead with a distinctive voice, a multicultural utopia (it was even beyond Ender's Game I kid you not), imaginative.. It was tough to read, though. As the title indicates, "chaos" reigns, and basically anything can happen, so it's really disorienting and tough to suspend your belief. I kept waiting for the moment when the main character wakes up and it was all a dream (The Wizard of Oz style). It never ha...more

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Aug 17, 2012 xenu01 rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book in an afternoon.

I know people say that this book is too chaotic, but I don't think that it suffers for that. Who else but Nalo Hopkinson would have a rolling calf and Baba Yaga in the same book? And- no spoilers, but let's just say she finds a very neat way to poke a hole in the idea that lighter skin is better.

The only complaint I have at all is that it wasn't long enough, which is why the characterizations of people other than the main character felt a little bit flat and on...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Hallie added it

Shelves: 48-hour-book-challenge, ya, fantasy

I may add stars later - still trying to decide!

From LJ:

Well, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought of writing anything coherent about this one, so have a Goodreads synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Scotch struggles to fit in—at home she's the perfect daughter, at school she's provocatively sassy, and thanks to her mixed heritage, she doesn’t feel she belongs with the Caribbeans, whites, or blacks. And even more troubling, lately her skin is becoming covered in a sticky black substance that can't

...more I may add stars later - still trying to decide!

From LJ:

Well, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought of writing anything coherent about this one, so have a Goodreads synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Scotch struggles to fit in—at home she's the perfect daughter, at school she's provocatively sassy, and thanks to her mixed heritage, she doesn’t feel she belongs with the Caribbeans, whites, or blacks. And even more troubling, lately her skin is becoming covered in a sticky black substance that can't be removed. While trying to cope with this creepiness, she goes out with her brother—and he disappears. A mysterious bubble of light just swallows him up, and Scotch has no idea how to find him. Soon, the Chaos that has claimed her brother affects the city at large, until it seems like everyone is turning into crazy creatures. Scotch needs to get to the bottom of this supernatural situation ASAP before the Chaos consumes everything she's ever known—and she knows that the black shadowy entity that's begun trailing her every move is probably not going to help.

A blend of fantasy and Caribbean folklore, at its heart this tale is about identity and self acceptance—because only by acknowledging her imperfections can Scotch hope to save her brother.

Actually, that's kind of helpful because I don't think it's great as descriptions go, though it's easier to criticize than to write one myself. Starting from the top, Scotch (also known as Sojourner, which is such a wonderful name) is hardly the perfect daughter; she may hide things like the clothes she *really* wears at school, and she may have hidden the fact that she was going out with a white guy, but that's not quite 'perfect'. Provocatively sassy is an odd one, but I think the third is just a bit off: I'd read this description, and read Hopkinson discussing it, and expected Scotch to feel more obviously as if she didn't belong. In the book, she gets grief about not looking like her darker brother, but she's very able to deal with it. And she simply doesn't *take* the grief about her Jamaican accent not being right or the like (from some of the kids at school).

Anyway, the Chaos is the name given to all the weird stuff that happens, both in Toronto and around the world. And it's seriously weird, which in a way is all I feel like saying about it - it's Seriously. Weird. If you don't like random surreal things happening for no reason, this is probably not the book for you. I really liked it, but I'm not at all sure that I'd be able to justify it if I were writing a real review of the book. It's a bit too random and there's a bit of heavy metaphorical layer to the randomness that I'm not sure totally works. But this isn't a real review - hurrah!

Anyway, the Chaos is now dealt with! And there's a really interesting YA story there too, though it's not at all as simple as "Teen of Mixed Racial Identity Comes to Terms with her Identity". But the thing about that YA story is that Scotch is a real jerk at times, and her repeated "Oh no, she didn't!" moments got to be a bit annoying. The first one is quite neat though. She's just dealt with a guy in a bar (her brother snuck her in so she could hear him perform his poetry) who's being all flirty until he sees her brother. When Scotch tells the guy it's her brother rather than her boyfriend, he says ALL the awful things about how they can't be related, really, and then goes on to say the most hideously awful thing about how she could even 'pass as white'. She's duly disgusted, but tells him off with (alas, probably practiced) ease. And shortly after, she's talking to a girl, Punum, who's just performed, and assumes it's her first time performing (she's in a wheelchair). Punum calls her on it asking if it's because she hasn't seen "a chick doing spoken word, or a crip doing it?" When Punum says that Scotch can't use 'crip', Scotch says she gets it, because it's 'like me being black. There's names we can call ourselves that other people better not.' The way Scotch understands her own situation perfectly, and has very much missed that people with a disability should get the SAME RESPECT, is really well done. But next page she starts to realise that Punum is gay and thinks "Great. I had a big old dyke stepping to me. Or wheeling to me. As if." ::smacks Scotch::

And then she falls into the trap of thinking she's so awesome for defending Punum (verbally) when Punum has gone out to take on the police who have been beating up a guy in a wheelchair. But right after defending her, she acts in exactly the same way, if down a notch, by assuming that Punum can't possibly make her way across town without Scotch there to hold her hand, despite its being perfectly obvious that Punum is more than able. Furthermore, her thought is that Punum should be 'grateful' to her for the defending, instead of being 'so mean'.

Aaaand then, a short time later, she says the inexcusable thing: about how she'll be the only one (of her threesome of friends) who's 'normal' if another one of the three is gay as well. (Her relationship with Ben, who'd been dating guys for a while, had seemed so lovely, and HE is so lovely, that this comes as even more of a smack in the face.)

There's something slightly odd going on about sexuality and gender already though, and I'm finding it a bit hard to pinpoint. At the start of the book, the threesome has broken up (with Ben staying friends with Scotch) because, she says, Gloria is trying to 'steal' her boyfriend. Actually, her ex-boyfriend. Actually, the ex SHE dumped, quite coldly. (She had some reasons, which have to do with the weird, but still.) But even though Scotch only admits later that she actually dumped the bf, and oh, yes, realises that Glory wasn't interested in him anyway, and she and Ben have both stopped being friends with Glory over it, there's never quite the acknowledgment of how horribly unfair she's been, and how hurtful it must have been to Glory. I found that a bit off, even though Scotch does learn a lot of things, including about her own bad behaviour as she goes on. (I loved Ben's trying to get them to stop fighting, muttering "Two girls fighting over a guy. How original." Also Glory's calling her on the 'trying to steal' line - "Like a boy is a candy bar you carry around in your purse with no will of him own.") There's also a degree of oddness in the whole 'slut' thing. (The book's term, not mine!) There's a little bit of expositional dialogue between Ben and Scotch near the beginning, which is rather awkward in trying to explain the double standard about girls being 'sluts' and boys being 'studs', but Scotch still seems ready to call another girl a slut, given that she was bullied so horribly at her previous school about it (and just because she was bustier than the other girls).

So, I suppose the thing I'd really love to discuss with friends is whether Scotch's awful behaviour in the ableist, homophobic senses is used well enough by the text to justify its being there. Because, honestly, it's quite painful. And I'd also love to know what people make of the final outcome of her whole transformation into the 'Tar Baby' thing. Me, I'm not quite certain I see that as a great resolution to her pre-transformed self. [Adding a spoilerific explanation for this GR write-up, because spoilers are easy to do here: (view spoiler)(less)

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Apr 15, 2012 Giselle at Book Nerd Canada rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, from-publishers

Scotch is half Jamacan and half white. And all her life people claim her to be part of every kind of race just because her skin colour is such a light brown. She feels like he never fits in. Her parents are too strict, her best friends Ben and Glory are wrapped up in their own lives and her brother Richard is busy trying to stay out of trouble. One night after her parents go on a trip, Scotch and Richard go to an open-mike bar and try to have fun. Only that’s when a volcano explodes in the middl...more

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May 02, 2012 Darlene rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, books-given-for-review, 2012-debut-author-challenge

I received this ARC for review from the publisher. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.

This is a very bizarre book!

Sixteen year-old Sojourner (nicknamed Scotch after the Scotch Bonnet Jamaican pepper for her red-hot dance moves) is the biracial daughter of a white Jamaican father and African-American mother. People often do not believe that she is “black”, and she feels that her skin is not dark enough and wishes that her contrived Jamaica...more
I received this ARC for review from the publisher. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.

This is a very bizarre book!

Sixteen year-old Sojourner (nicknamed Scotch after the Scotch Bonnet Jamaican pepper for her red-hot dance moves) is the biracial daughter of a white Jamaican father and African-American mother. People often do not believe that she is “black”, and she feels that her skin is not dark enough and wishes that her contrived Jamaican accent was authentic. She has an older brother, Rich, whose skin colour is darker than her own...the colour she wishes that hers was. Her best friends are Gloria (who later turns out to be lesbian) and Ben, who is gay.

Scotch has broken up with her boyfriend, Tafari, who is close friends with her brother. She doesn’t want Tafari to find out her secret, which is that she has been developing black, sticky patches on her body that appear to be growing. She has tried creams and remedies, but nothing seems to help this bizarre skin condition. She is also afraid that she is losing her mind because she sees what she calls “Horseless Head Men,” little heads with no bodies, which appear to be invisible to everyone else.

Scotch’s parents go away for the weekend, and Rich invites Scotch to come with him to Bar None during spoken word open-mike night so that he can share his poetry. An eerie bubble appears from below the stage and gets larger as it moves across the room. Scotch dares Rich to touch it and, when he does, the world changes forever. A flash like a lightning bolt appears, and a volcano grows in the middle of Lake Ontario. Both the bubble and Rich have disappeared, and there is a large hole in the ground where the stage and bubble used to be. Now, the Horseless Head Men are visible to everyone instead of just Scotch.

Scotch sets out to try to get to find her brother as she makes her way to her Auntie Myriss’s house. She encounters many bizarre things along the way, among them a witch with a flying house named Izbouchka that has two feathered dinosaur legs that believes (the house, that is) it is a bird and even lays eggs. A black blobby mass that smells of asphalt with angry yellow eyes starts to chase Scotch, and she winds up down by the lake where she finds a woman bobbing in the water. Scotch realizes that it is her Auntie Myriss, and she rescues her. Auntie Myriss keeps asking where “Spot” is, her imaginary guard dog. Only Spot is no longer imaginary. It seems that Spot is the black tarry creature that has been chasing Scotch! Auntie Myriss tells Scotch that Spot is a “rolling calf” which can also take on different shapes such as a sweet kitten or a dog. All the while, the black, sticky patches on Scotch’s body are growing.

No one knows why The Chaos occurred, but the world survives although some people, like Scotch, are changed. Scotch always wanted to be “blacker,” and now she has her wish: A real-life tar baby.

Hopkinson is a new-to-me author, and this is her debut novel in the Young Adult genre. I wish that I knew more about Caribbean folklore to understand more of what was happening in the story, in particular the “rolling calf.” I would venture a guess that the witch with the flying house was Baba Yaga, who is portrayed in Russian folklore. There were a couple parts of the book that shocked me with respect to sexuality (no, I am not referring to the homosexuality). There was a comment about Scotch “blowing” the whole basketball team and another about masturbation, which are topics that I do not like to see in books meant for Young Adults. Is this a book that I would feel comfortable letting my teenage daughters read? I wouldn’t, but others may feel differently. I also did not care for the swearing and Scotch’s behaviour, who often deceived her parents. For example, she had what she called “real” clothes (skimpy and revealing) that she stashed away in her backpack to change into as soon as she got to school instead of the “regular” pants and tops that she wore around her conservative parents. The premise of the book was interesting, but I just could not connect with Scotch because I did not particularly like her.

MY RATING: 2 stars!! Meh, it was just "ok."(less)

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Apr 28, 2012 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

*ARC courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada

Scotch's life hasn't been easy lately : she's having weird black and sticky spots growing on her skin and she's seeing bodiless horse heads wherever she goes. When her parents are out of town for a few days an underage Scotch and her brother go to a local bar for poetry slam. What promised to be an uneventful night turns out to be far worse than anyone would've dreamed of. A mysterious bubble of light appears out of nowhere and when her brother touches...more *ARC courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada

Scotch's life hasn't been easy lately : she's having weird black and sticky spots growing on her skin and she's seeing bodiless horse heads wherever she goes. When her parents are out of town for a few days an underage Scotch and her brother go to a local bar for poetry slam. What promised to be an uneventful night turns out to be far worse than anyone would've dreamed of. A mysterious bubble of light appears out of nowhere and when her brother touches it, he instantly disappears into the unknown. A few seconds later, a volcano appears. Let the Chaos begin!

Scotch is your normal sixteen-year-old girl. She's now in a new school after other students mistreated her. The only thing she wants is to fit in and avoid drama like any normal teen. People often can't tell she's mixed-race : her father is white Jamaican and her mother is black American. Her life is suddenly turned upside down after her brother disappears and the whole city has gone mad. People are transforming, including Scotch whose skin is getting blacker every second. Mythical creatures have appeared and the city is getting weirder. In the midst of all this Chaos, Scotch is determined to find and rescue her brother.

I can describe The Chaos in one word : weird! Weird in a good way. I challenge anyone to find a book similar to this one. It's unique and captivating. I love the mythology and Caribbean folklore added to the story although I know nothing about Caribbean culture, it was still fun to read. The weirdness happening all over the world will put a smile on your face : the Big Ben is blowing gigantic soap bubbles and singing drinking songs, islands are made of gumdrops, there's a chicken-legged house and the list goes on.

For her first young adult novel, I think the author did an excellent job. The dialogue is well-written and the teens are described realistically (before the Chaos that is). The emotions they have are very age-appropriate.

The Chaos proves to be an entertaining and out of the ordinary read. It's refreshing to read a YA novel like this one. I'm saying it again : I can guarantee you haven't read anything like this. Although the ending left me a bit disappointed, The Chaos is an excellent read that I recommend to anyone who wants to read something new.

4 out of 5 stars!(less)

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Aug 29, 2012 Chrystal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-book-challenge-2012, arc, young-adult

Okay I thought this book would be amazing since it was located in Toronto (close to where I grew up). It proved to be an interesting location for this novel, but mostly so because of the areas of Toronto that it covered and the heritage of the characters as well. The Chaos starts out with some teen angst about having had to change schools due to bullying at Scotch's previous high school and her fears that she just might be going crazy because of the things that she is seeing and the crazy skin i...more Okay I thought this book would be amazing since it was located in Toronto (close to where I grew up). It proved to be an interesting location for this novel, but mostly so because of the areas of Toronto that it covered and the heritage of the characters as well. The Chaos starts out with some teen angst about having had to change schools due to bullying at Scotch's previous high school and her fears that she just might be going crazy because of the things that she is seeing and the crazy skin issue she is currently dealing with. Scotch is a an interesting character because she tries to embrace her mixed heritage and to fit in among her peers, but most of the time she just feels like she is left out of both the whites and the blacks since she isn't truly one or the other to them. She is fiesty and sassy in her attitude, which thankfully helps her make it through the impending craziness that is about to happen to downtown Toronto.

The entire randomness that happens in this story happens after a volcano erupts in the middle of Lake Ontario one night while Scotch is out hanging with her brother. She also has a weird black sticky substance growing on her skin in patches that she cannot explain. After both of these weird events happen, Scotch's life is turned upside down with so many random things happening to her and the people around her. Apparently there is a mix of fantasy/whimsy and some Carribean folklore (like the rolling calf) tossed in to, but the entire thing is just over the top and crazy. Not much makes sense as to why the things are happening, but let's just say a lot of random things happen and there is an appearance from a Baba Yaga type witch and a chicken inspired house (my first ever experience with Baba Yaga folklore was in Random Magic and was happy to see this witch show up in yet another novel).

I would have to say the one thing I took away from this novel was the sense of finding oneself and of figuring out who you really are when it comes down to it. Scotch seems to be stuck in a place where she doesn't know where she belongs or who she truly is until all of this randomness hits her full force. By the end of the journey she figures a few things out, fixes broken friendships and actually makes an effort to deal with some things she regrets in her past. All it took was a volcano to spring up in the lake, an imaginary dog named Spot to come to life, the flying horseless headmen to take over and for animals to wear clothes and talk in strange ways. Who knew?

The only thing I think that took away from this book was that it had too much going on at times. Almost too many different events happening when reality changed to chaos. I did enjoy the mythology and folklore and I even looked up a few things that I'd never heard of before and they were quite interesting. If you are into folklore, learning about different cultures and apocalyptic novels that are not zombie inspired this just might be the book for you.(less)

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Oct 25, 2012 Reut (reutreads) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally reviewed on reutreads, a young adult book blog.

Let me give you a warning: while reading The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson, do not expect anything to make sense.

With that in mind, let's review, shall we? (Did you see what I did there?)

So The Chaos is a very original book. Like the blurb says, it's a blend of fantasy and folklore. I know very, very little about Caribbean culture so I completely had no idea what was going on in this book. I mean, I understood what was going on but the interwea...more

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Apr 24, 2012 branewurms rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, poc-characters, poc-authors, read-2012, weird

Getting the negative out of the way first: I'm not fond of the inclusion of things like "omg" and "wtf" in prose (or even in dialogue, unless the characters are texting/msging/etc., or are huge dorks actually saying "oh em gee") and find it distracting. Also, while I liked how inclusive this story was, at times the recurring "Scotch learns to be less of a clueless jerk about Issues" theme seemed a little anvilicious and didactic. I mean, this story did deal quite a bit with themes of identity an...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Ellen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Sometimes when adult writers pen a YA title it works, and other times, well . . . It takes more than just placing your character in the teen age range. There has to be a genuine feel for the teen audience, and sadly, with cookie cutter observations like boys who sleep around are studs, and girls are sluts, Ms. Hopkinson just doesn't get it. One of the few books I DNF - which is a bummer, given the dearth of decent characters of color in YA fantasy, I was really hoping to love this one.

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Feb 03, 2013 Michelle (tinyturtle88) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-group-challenge

I generously give this a 3.

What I liked:
1-It was based in Canada and made for an interesting backdrop. I've not read any books set there.
2-Scotch was half White Jamaican and half Black American. And the accent flitted around the book at
times. I also like how the book addressed the social issue of the different shades of 'being black'
3-There were such a diversity of characters; from her family, to her friends, to people at school, to
the neighbors.

What I didn't care for:
1-Um, all the weird...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Sarah added it

Shelves: fantasy, novel, spiritual, urban, ya, unfinished, fairytale, people-of-color

I just couldn't get through this one and gave up halfway through. Scotch was not a compelling character and I found her descriptions of the Horseless Head Men confusing rather than intriguing. I guess they come from Caribbean folklore? I feel like I still don't know anything about these creatures having read it. I also didn't care for any of the secondary characters. I loved her proudly standing up for her skin color and heritage but overall, eh. It just couldn't hold my interest.

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Sep 27, 2012 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: since-oct-2011, sirens

I enjoyed this book a lot, which is sort of strange considering I don't normally like the chaotic and anything-goes sort of world. I found Scotch engaging enough that I liked watching all this happen through her eyes. The book is somewhat slow to get to the Chaos, but I enjoyed glimpsing Scotch's life as a story in itself.

This is a tough book to describe without giving things away, but it was well written, inclusive in a way that most books in these genres are not, and enjoyable to read.

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Jul 10, 2012 Angelina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, ya, supernatural

Chaos is the name for what's happening, but surreal is what this story ends up being. It is a crazy mash-up of mythologies that often get overlooked. There is everything from Jamaican lore to slavic folktale in this novel. This mash-up effect lends the novel the pizazz it needs to keep the reader engaged.

It is sometimes reminiscent of Clive Barker's horror fiction and at others it reads more like social diatribe. I admire what the author was attempting to do with the social commentary, but it of...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Shanrina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, young-adult

This was the most engrossing book I've read in awhile, but it was a little bit disappointing in the end. I felt like there were some things missing, and although I thought Scotch was very well done I wish some of the other characters had had a little more depth.

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Mar 11, 2013 Annie rated it 2 of 5 stars

The main character here was interesting, but the plot was much too incoherent to grab me. I stopped round about the time when the giant bubble sucked Scotch's brother into oblivion and then a giant volcano randomly appeared in the city along with lots of creepy, smiling mythological creatures.

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Jul 10, 2012 Jared rated it 4 of 5 stars

Weird, but interesting. Hopkinson perfectly captures the voice of a teenager, and the discussion on race and sexuality is well-written and never over-wrought as it weaves throughout the story.

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Dec 27, 2012 Tanita S. added it

Another super-quirky, super-surreal novel, really original.

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Jun 30, 2012 Melinda added it

This book was really... weird... I have no idea how many stars to give it. It was the weirdest book I have ever read and that is all I can say about it.

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Dec 30, 2012 Peg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, folklore, realistic-fantasy, sj, young-adult

I liked it, but had some issues. Mixing in the supernatural & folklore is interesting. Wonder if I'd see that volcano erupting here in Rochester?

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