View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the main job that Luther Caleb did for Elijah Stern?

2. What did Marcus's mother call him as a nickname?

3. What activity did David Kellergan do that constantly annoyed his neighbors?

4. What was the name of the Motel where Harry and Nola had planned to meet to run away together?

5. What did the inscription on the manuscript that was found with Nola's remains say?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did David Kellergan tell Marcus he always listens to music in his garage so loudly?

2. What did Harry tell Marcus about the second chapter of a book?

3. Why did Marcus decide to write a book about Harry and Nola's relationship and Nola's murder after insisting he would not?

4. What is one main reason that Jenny Quinn thought Harry might be in love with her in 1975?

5. After Marcus began receiving threatening notes, what happened that was a far more dangerous warning for him to stop his investigation?

6. What did Harry tell Marcus is the only way to know if he really loved someone?

7. How were Nola Kellergan's remains found?

8. How did Marcus achieve his successes in high school and college, in both sports and writing?

9. What is the Writer's Disease Marcus Goldman describes at the book's start?

10. When Marcus questioned Jenny as part of his investigation, what did Jenny tell Marcus about how Harry felt about him that shocked Marcus?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Harry gives Marcus advice about women, and he also gives a somewhat controversial, provocative speech about a real-life sex scandal on Marcus's college campus. What is your assessment of Harry's general attitudes toward women? Cite specific examples from the text in your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Why do you think Tamara Quinn is so concerned about impressing her friends and associates in Somerset? Why does Tamara act so pretentiously? When forming your answer, take into consideration her journal entries and the brief scenes revealing her dialogue with her therapist.

Essay Topic 3

Harry loves the house at Goose Cove, which he eventually buys, at least in part because he thinks it will be a perfect setting in which to write. What does the ruin of the house through arson symbolize? Discuss the evolving meanings of the house at Goose Cove from when Harry first moves in in 1975 to when Marcus decides to restore it at the novel's end.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 823 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample