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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. Where is Katie as the novel opens?

2. About what do Suzanne and the painter talk?

3. How is Matt's hair described?

4. How many balls does Suzanne have to keep balanced?

5. What does Suzanne realize from attending Matt Wolfe's party?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Matt do for Katie during the month of June?

2. What does Katie do when she takes a break from reading Suzanne's diary?

3. Describe what happens on July 18.

4. How does Katie take comfort while dealing with her emotions?

5. How does Suzanne describe Melanie Bone?

6. What has Katie admitted to herself about Suzanne?

7. How does Katie describe Matt and what do they do on the day they meet?

8. How does Suzanne describe her new life?

9. Where do Matt and Katie go the next day after working until noon?

10. What does Suzanne say about Matt's house?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The first scene in "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" begins with a traditional scene in a romance. A woman in a bathtub. All women know she will be either waiting for a lover or comforting herself because of a fight or break-up with a lover. The reader is told that the big, fluffy cat in the room with her is named Guinevere. To keep the romance and courtly love in full view of the audience is the Labrador named Merlin. There will be some type of magic.

1. What is a cliche? Do you think the comment about a woman in a bathtub is a cliche? Why or why not? Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

2. What do you think the author is attempting to do by naming the cat and dog Guinevere and Merlin? Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

3. What do you think is meant by the statement, there will be some type of magic, referring to the first fifteen pages of the book? Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Patterson is once again pulling all the emotional strings. Suzanne's heart attack gives her an enemy waiting to attack her life throughout the book. Heart disease can be fought but no one has a say when that heart will quit beating. Here she is a broken hearted heroine. With heart disease in her family, she has a target on that heart at all times. Next we have betrayal by the man she thought she loved. Betrayal of her body and then betrayal by her man.

1. Discuss reasons why Suzanne's heart attack would be considered an antagonist. Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss the metaphoric connotations that Suzanne's "heart is broken" might have following her heart attack. Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the idea that one never knows when death will come and how that might be important in "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

There are a number of interesting questions raised by "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". Questions that Patterson most likely want readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Patterson' agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Patterson' probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

4. Research the life of Patterson and see if/where his life may have influenced his writing.

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