The chapter begins years before the scene you just left. A character is alive again, a familiar house has different occupants, and the narrator assumes you will catch up. You do not necessarily need to reread everything. A small distinction between two timelines can help.
One timeline records the order in which the book tells you things. The other records when those things appear to happen in the story’s world. They may deliberately disagree.
Keep the chapter order intact
On one side of a notebook page, write the chapter or page reference. On the other, add only the time clue the text actually supplies: a date, a character’s age, a season, or a phrase such as “before the move”. Leave a question mark when the relationship remains uncertain.
For an invented example, chapter one might show a person returning to an empty shop. Chapter two might show that same shop opening twenty years earlier. Record both scenes without assuming the opening explains every detail of the return.
Separate clues from your reconstruction
Use a different mark for an inference. “This seems to happen before the wedding” is not the same as a date printed at the start of a chapter. Keeping uncertainty visible prevents an early guess from becoming a fact that makes later scenes seem contradictory.
Do not search for a complete online timeline during a first reading unless you are comfortable with spoilers. An apparently minor date may reveal a relationship or outcome that the author has not yet disclosed.
When a transition feels confusing, return to the last clear time marker and read the opening paragraph of the new section. You may only need to re-establish whose memory or viewpoint you are following.
After finishing, revisit the two timelines. Ask what the telling order allowed you to misunderstand, anticipate or discover. That question can make the structure interesting in its own right, rather than treating it as an obstacle to remove.