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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. What is installed throughout the Tranquillum House property?

2. Which book inspired Frances to become a writer?

3. With the silence broken in Chapter 13, Ben expresses concern about what?

4. What is the name of the "outback serial killer"?

5. What does Lars's partner want Lars to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Paul Drabble and what does the reader learn about him in Chapter 8?

2. What is Ben concerned about his car as he arrives at Tranquillum House?

3. What happened to Yao following the events of Chapter 1?

4. Who is Zach and what does the reader learn about him in Chapter 12?

5. Why is Tony famous?

6. Who is the director of Tranquillum House? How has she been transformed?

7. What happened during Masha's near-death experience?

8. What does the reader learn about Zach's death in Chapter 26? Why does Napoleon blame himself?

9. Whom does Frances meet as she takes a tour of Tranquillum House? What does she think about them?

10. What about the Marconi family confuses the director of Tranquillum House in Chapter 9?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who is Paul Drabble and what role does he play in Frances’s development? How would her development change (or not) had Drabble not been included in the story?

Essay Topic 2

What might have happened to Frances had she never attended the retreat at Tranquillum House? Argue for an alternative reality based on what the reader knows of her history, actions, and beliefs.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay explaining the significance of the title of the novel, Nine Perfect Strangers. How does the title reflect the lives of the characters? How does the title reflect the novel’s themes? How does the title’s meaning change over the course of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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