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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 expedites the application of Sumaiya's family for asylum?

2. How is Pete Jones injured in war?

3. Which mythical figure flew too close to the sun and ended up dying?

4. What does the unnamed writer's father put in the dream house he builds?

5. Where does the unnamed writer find out that not a single refugee wants to immigrate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What personal story of loss does Mina share with Asma in Part IV?

2. What happened to Linda Abdullah's father at the end of his life?

3. In Part III, how does Mina's mother react after the car accident in her childhood?

4. What affliction does one woman tell Mina she has in Part IV that Mina can find no physical cause for?

5. Who is Sumaiya most worried about in her family for after she dies?

6. What does Mina know happened to Lesbos and the refugee situation there after she left?

7. What destroys the writer's family home in Lebanon eventually?

8. What particular topic does Mina remember Francine having written about in 2009?

9. What does Rasheed say Mina should wear so the women in the refugee camp will trust her more?

10. Why does Mina want to buy a Jaguar in her midlife?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Mina ultimately help Sumaiya to end her own life? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusion.

Essay Topic 2

What complications about the motivations and goals of the aid workers on Lesbos does Alameddine reveal throughout the novel? What are some of the different and opposing perspectives different characters, including Emma, Rasheed, and Mina take about the aid workers? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

What do you think Alameddine is trying to reveal to the reader at the many points in the novel in which he points out Western - and particularly American - apathy towards refugees from other parts of the world, especially the Middle East? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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