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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator tell Ari when Ari comes to visit him after he is attacked?
(a) That he did solve the Riemann Hypothesis.
(b) That football is boring.
(c) That he has broken off with Maggie.
(d) That he is from another planet.

2. What will the consequence be, if the narrator surrenders his gifts?
(a) He will never become fully human.
(b) He will have to start again as a human child.
(c) He will never be able to return home.
(d) He will start to decompose in Earth’s atmosphere.

3. What happens when the narrator reaches out to touch Isobel’s neck and kill her?
(a) Gulliver bursts in and interrupts.
(b) Newton growls at him and stops him.
(c) She turns over and says she loves him.
(d) The narrator has a qualm of conscience and stops.

4. What is the narrator moved by at Daniel Russell’s funeral?
(a) Tabitha’s genuine grief.
(b) His own artificial tears.
(c) The mourners’ beautiful singing.
(d) Isobel’s generosity toward Tabitha.

5. What does the narrator hold onto, in the ambulance, when he lets go of everything else in the world?
(a) His gifts.
(b) Gulliver’s guitar pick.
(c) Newton’s leash.
(d) Isobel’s hand.

6. How long does Isobel say it has been, since she and her husband talked as openly as they talk after Hamlet?
(a) Decades.
(b) Years.
(c) Months.
(d) They have never talked so openly.

7. What does Gulliver tell the narrator about Isobel?
(a) She wants to move.
(b) She misses him.
(c) She is dating.
(d) She has been diagnosed with cancer.

8. What is it that the narrator appreciates about Isobel, as she tends his wounds?
(a) Her nose.
(b) Her smell.
(c) Her soft voice.
(d) Her hair.

9. What prevents the narrator from telling Ari about his origins?
(a) Gulliver interrupts.
(b) Ari’s wife shows up.
(c) A violet headache.
(d) Maggie phones him.

10. What does the note say, that the narrator finds blowing down from Gulliver’s room?
(a) No one will miss me.
(b) I’m sorry.
(c) You deserve this.
(d) I’m happier now.

11. Where does the narrator say Isobel is inviting him when she invites him upstairs?
(a) To a series of hard conversations.
(b) To an envelope full of bills and responsibilities.
(c) To the alternate reality of sex.
(d) To a box of dark memories.

12. What does the narrator say he always needed, instead of emotions?
(a) Strict commands.
(b) Directives from superiors.
(c) Teamwork.
(d) Mathematical truth.

13. What is the narrator’s suggestion to Isobel, regarding Gulliver?
(a) Discipline him.
(b) Accept him.
(c) Send him to boarding school.
(d) Punish him.

14. How does the narrator try to get Gulliver to kill himself?
(a) By slitting his wrists.
(b) By taking pills.
(c) By falling down the stairs.
(d) By hanging himself.

15. How does the narrator characterize Maggie’s gaze?
(a) Accusatory injury.
(b) Thoughtful restraint.
(c) Terrible honesty.
(d) Startling frankness.

Short Answer Questions

1. What Talking Heads song does the narrator listen to over and over?

2. What does the narrator say is as universal as oxygen?

3. Who does Maggie say the narrator looks like?

4. What is the consequence for the narrator, of bringing Gulliver back to life?

5. What is life like for the narrator after he loses his gifts?

(see the answer keys)

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