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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 Suzanne's office?

2. What does Katie tell Lynn and Phil?

3. What does Katie do when she tells Dr. Sassoon she is pregnant?

4. What question does Katie wonder?

5. What does Matt tell Nicky?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Matt tell Nicky about the accident?

2. How does Suzanne fare as the days go on and what does she do once day with Nicky?

3. What does Katie do one night for her friends the Browns?

4. What does Matt announce one day before daylight and what do they do?

5. What surprise does Matt arrange for the end of the wedding ceremony?

6. What questions does Katie ask as she is reading the diary?

7. What had Matt's friends and coworkers done while Matt and Suzanne were gone from the house for three days?

8. What do Matt and Suzanne do at midnight on the day before Nicky's first birthday?

9. Why does Katie go to the Vineyard and what does she think about on the way there?

10. Who does Katie think of calling and does she do so?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sometimes a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and sometimes it is the other way. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" is? Explain your response.

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

Many novels, and perhaps a majority, of novels ends on a happy note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think many (most?) people want what they perceive as a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why not?

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each one in light of "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and whether or not it fulfills all three, two or one of the reasons you mention. Give examples as to why "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" is or is not successful in fulfilling the reasons you discuss.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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