Homeseeking Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Karissa Chen's Novel
This quiz covers the full arc of Karissa Chen's Homeseeking, from the 1938 Shanghai longtang to the 2008 Los Angeles reunion. Questions are grouped by type: plot and sequence, character motivation, theme and symbol, and synthesis. Each question is grounded in the novel's events; the answer key at the bottom explains why each response is correct. If you need a refresher, see the study guide or the ending explained.
Plot and Sequence Questions
1. In April 1947, what is Haiwen preparing to do as the novel opens?
- A. Audition for a conservatory in Shanghai
- B. Enlist in the army with other recruits
- C. Travel to Hong Kong for a business trip
- D. Marry Suchi in a small ceremony
2. What object does Haiwen leave at Suchi's house before his departure in April 1947? (Short answer)
3. In January 2008, where does Howard first encounter Suchi after decades apart?
- A. At a retirement community party
- B. At a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles
- C. At a cemetery in Taipei
- D. At a choir rehearsal in New York
4. During their 2008 reunion, what does Suchi reveal about her sister Sulan? (Short answer)
5. In 1945, what does the fortune teller predict about Haiwen and Suchi's relationship?
- A. They will marry within the year
- B. They have strong yuanfen and will be pulled together again and again
- C. Haiwen will die far from home
- D. Suchi will become a famous singer
6. When Haiwen and Suchi reunite in Hong Kong in 1966, what does Suchi return to him? (Short answer)
7. In 1985, after Samson leaves for college in Los Angeles, what does Soukei do?
- A. She divorces Saikeung immediately
- B. She flies to New York to visit Sulan
- C. She moves into Samson's dormitory
- D. She returns to Hong Kong alone
8. In 2008, after learning her mother is alive in Shanghai, what does Suchi decide to do?
- A. She refuses to believe the news and stays in Los Angeles
- B. She flies to Shanghai with Samson and Haiwen
- C. She asks Howard to go alone to find her mother
- D. She sends a letter but does not travel
Character Motivation Questions
9. Why does Haiwen enlist in the army in 1947? (Short answer)
10. Why does Suchi hide the letter from Siau Zi from her sister Sulan?
- A. She wants to marry Siau Zi herself
- B. She fears the letter is a trap set by the Communists
- C. She wants to protect Sulan from a coercive marriage
- D. She plans to use the letter to bargain for her parents' safety
11. In 1981, why does Howard destroy the envelope containing Suchi's phone number?
- A. He is angry at Suchi for marrying another man
- B. He chooses to appreciate his family and let go of the past
- C. He fears his wife will discover the letter
- D. He decides to move to New York to find her
12. Why does Soukei stay with Saikeung for so many years? (Short answer)
13. In 2008, why does Suchi refuse to discuss the past with Howard?
- A. She has forgotten most of their shared history
- B. She is angry that he left her in Shanghai
- C. She believes the Suchi he knew died long ago and she survives by not looking backward
- D. She is afraid her son will disapprove of the conversation
Theme and Symbol Questions
14. What does the violin symbolize for Haiwen and Suchi throughout the novel? (Short answer)
15. In the epigraph from In the Mood for Love, what does the dusty windowpane represent?
- A. The unreachable past
- B. The barrier between past and present
- C. Nostalgia for vanished time
- D. All of the above
16. What does the gold ring represent in the novel? (Short answer)
17. What does the lantern that Suchi's mother lit symbolize?
- A. A warning of danger
- B. Hope and guidance home
- C. A religious offering to ancestors
- D. A signal of Communist activity
Synthesis Questions
18. How does the novel's alternating narrative structure—Suchi's story moving forward in time and Howard's moving backward—shape the reader's understanding of their relationship? (Short answer)
19. Compare how Suchi and Howard each cope with grief and the loss of their shared past. (Short answer)
20. What does the novel ultimately suggest about the meaning of "home"? (Short answer)
Answer Key
1. B. In April 1947, Haiwen is about to board a train with other enlistees; he leaves his violin at Suchi's house and mentally traces his path to her window (Chapter 3). Later, he enlists in his brother's place (Chapter 20).
2. His violin. Haiwen sets his violin against the chipped paint of Suchi's door before leaving, as described in Chapter 3.
3. B. Howard and Suchi recognize each other at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles in January 2008 (Chapter 4).
4. Sulan died in 1990. Suchi tells Howard this during their reunion conversation (Chapter 4).
5. B. The fortune teller says they have strong yuanfen and will be pulled toward each other like tethered by string (Chapter 7).
6. His violin. Suchi kept Haiwen's violin for nineteen years and returns it to him during their 1966 Hong Kong reunion (Chapter 16).
7. B. After Saikeung leaves for Singapore, Soukei stays a week with Samson, then changes her flight and flies to New York to see Sulan (Chapter 19).
8. B. Suchi decides to fly to Shanghai with Samson and Haiwen to meet her mother, hoping to be recognized (Chapter 21).
9. To spare his brother Haiming from conscription. Haiwen learns that Haiming must be drafted to prove the family's loyalty after their father is detained, and he decides to enlist in Haiming's place (Chapter 20).
10. C. Suchi conceals the letter because it offers to protect their parents only if Sulan returns to Shanghai to marry Siau Zi; she wants to spare Sulan that coercive marriage (Chapter 11).
11. B. After fantasizing about reuniting with Suchi, Howard destroys the envelope and flushes it away, choosing to appreciate his family (Chapter 12).
12. Financial entrapment / she has nothing of her own. Soukei tells Sulan she has nothing of her own, and the marriage traps her financially; she also feels obligated because Lam pays Sulan's medical bills (Chapters 15 and 19).
13. C. Suchi tells Howard that the Suchi he knew died long ago and that she survives by not looking backward (Chapter 8).
14. The violin symbolizes connection, memory, and lost love. It links Haiwen and Suchi across decades, appears at key reunions, and serves as an emotional refuge for both characters (Chapters 3, 16, 20).
15. D. The epigraph describes bygone years as a dusty windowpane—visible but not graspable—and expresses a wish to break through it to return to vanished time, encompassing all three options (Chapter 1).
16. The gold ring symbolizes love, commitment, and the enduring bond between Haiwen and Suchi. Haiwen's mother gives it to him to consider marrying Suchi; it later appears in his violin case and is finally passed to Suchi's mother to return (Chapters 20, 12, 22).
17. B. Suchi wonders if her mother kept lighting the lantern to lead her daughters home; it represents hope and guidance (Chapter 21).
18. The forward and backward timelines create a sense of inevitability and convergence. Suchi moves toward the future while Howard moves toward the past, yet their stories meet in the present, emphasizing how memory and longing persist and ultimately bring them back together.
19. Suchi copes by suppressing the past—she says she survives by not looking backward and refuses to discuss painful memories. Howard copes by trying to reclaim the past—he seeks out Suchi, revisits Shanghai, and attempts to break through her resistance. Both use music as a way to process grief, but their approaches differ: avoidance versus confrontation.
20. The novel suggests that home is not a place but a set of people who share the same ghosts and memories. As Suchi reflects, home lives on inside you when those people are gone; it is found in the connections that endure across time and distance (Chapter 21).
For further discussion of the novel's themes and ending, visit the questions and answers page.