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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who nearly falls during the morning hike in Chapter 17?

2. What does Jessica envy in Chapter 7?

3. As the novel begins, Yao is called to help a woman named whom?

4. Where does Frances live?

5. How did Frances and Paul Drabble meet?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to Yao following the events of Chapter 1?

2. What do Masha and Frances have in common, as Frances discovers in Chapter 23?

3. Why is Ben unhappy with Jessica?

4. Once alone in her room for the first time, what does Frances discover?

5. What information does Masha learn about Carmel in Chapter 24?

6. In Chapter 28, whom does Heather remember seeing in the hospital cafeteria? How did she react?

7. What happened during Masha's near-death experience?

8. What factors cause Frances to have a meltdown on the way to Tranquillum House?

9. What does the reader learn about Carmel's background in Chapter 21?

10. Who is Ray, and what does he want? How does Lars feel about this desire?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

An epigraph is a short quotation at the beginning of a book. The epigraph to this novel is a quote from Rumi: “You suppose that you are in trouble but you are the cure. You suppose that you are the lock in the door but you are the key that opens it.” How does the epigraph reflect the lives of the characters? How does the epigraph reflect the novel’s themes?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the role of Ben’s Lamborghini as it pertains to the lives of Ben and Jessica.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze how the novel’s setting influences both the characters and the novel’s plot.

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