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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. Which fellowship did Lucy finally win?

2. What was the amount of the stipend Lucy received as part of the Bunting fellowship?

3. How did Lucy feel about Ann's relationship with the man she dated?

4. In 1991, Ann moved to which state?

5. Who stalked Ann for awhile during this time?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Ann's opinion of Lucy's obsession with the Holocaust?

2. Why was Ann Patchett looking for an apartment in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1985?

3. Why was Lucy upset about Ann's dating a poet while living in Kentucky?

4. Describe an event in which Lucy was bullied in Scotland.

5. Who was Elizabeth McCracken and how did Ann meet her?

6. What were the circumstances of Lucy's disfigured face?

7. Who was Dennis, and why was he not a positive force in Ann's life?

8. How did Lucy struggle in Bunting and then in Provincetown?

9. What were Lucy's accommodations at Yaddo, and what was the only negative of the experience?

10. What did Lucy find strength in what made her consider writing non-fiction instead of fiction?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ann and Lucy spend some time apart throughout the book to contemplate their lives. What do they think about? What conclusions do they arrive at? Explain why they seem to always be in a contemplative mood.

Essay Topic 2

Substance abuse seemed to be an unnamed character in the book. How pervasive was the abuse? Why did it have such a prevalent place in Lucy's life? How did it affect her? How does it affect those impacted by Lucy's abuse? Explain how an inanimate object or characteristic can be a character.

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast Ann and Lucy. In what ways were they alike? In what ways were they dramatically different? What drew them together initially? What was the basis of their long-term friendship? Was the friendship an equitable one? Explain.

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