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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The Hindu family in the Gold family's building calls the fortune teller a "rishika" (5), which means a what?
(a) A spirit.
(b) An imp.
(c) A savant.
(d) A seer.

2. What book does Klara buy at the magic shop after gleaning more information about the fortune teller?
(a) A book of Wiccan spells.
(b) The Book of Divination.
(c) A book of card trick instructions.
(d) The Torah.

3. Klara does not believe in the Jewish heaven because she considers it to be too what?
(a) Hopeless.
(b) Mysterious.
(c) Sterile.
(d) Perfect.

4. The narrator states that the timing of Klara's Jaws of Life trick must be "perfect or" (104) it will be what?
(a) Deadly.
(b) Humiliating.
(c) Chilling.
(d) Disastrous.

5. What feat does Klara tell Simon will be the main event within her magic show?
(a) A disappearing act.
(b) The Jaws of Life.
(c) A mirror maze.
(d) A ventriloquism act.

6. What excuse does Simon use when Gertie catches him leaving the apartment on the morning of the day he moves to San Francisco?
(a) He says that he has to feed the parking meter.
(b) He says that he is going to buy Klara a birthday card.
(c) He says that he is going to meet his boyfriend.
(d) He says that he is going to get a sandwich.

7. What does Daniel say he is doing when Simon asks?
(a) He is managing Saul's dressmaking business.
(b) He is in culinary school.
(c) He is in medical school.
(d) He is staying at home to care for his children.

8. What two items does Varya keep taped to the wall next to her bed?
(a) Maps and music posters.
(b) Concert tickets and playbills.
(c) Family photographs and family trees.
(d) Calendars and maps.

9. When Simon is promoted from understudy to another position within the ballet company, what position does he achieve?
(a) Full company member.
(b) Repertory member.
(c) Company captain.
(d) Featured member.

10. What is NOT named among Simon's "earliest memories of Ward 86" (87)?
(a) The squeak of meal carts.
(b) The calm voices of the nurses.
(c) Robert's terrified eyes.
(d) The shocked looks on the young patients' faces.

11. How many floors are contained in the building where the Gold siblings seek out the fortune teller?
(a) Five.
(b) Seven.
(c) Three.
(d) Four.

12. At what location do Raj and Klara scavenge for wood to build Klara's magician's cabinet?
(a) Ghiradelli Square.
(b) In the Haight district.
(c) The bookstore called A Clean and Well-lit Place.
(d) Fisherman's Wharf.

13. Simon remembers that he had drawn which same-suit cards from the deck during his encounter with the fortune teller?
(a) Four spades.
(b) Four clubs.
(c) Four hearts.
(d) Four diamonds.

14. How long after Simon's death is AIDS given its official name?
(a) Three days.
(b) Six months.
(c) Three months.
(d) Three weeks.

15. What item does Klara place upon each table on the night of her performance at the Cabaret theater called the Committee?
(a) A rope.
(b) A glass of water.
(c) A business card.
(d) A handkerchief.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does Gertie coddle the most out of all of her children?

2. What does Gertie say to Simon on the phone just before she hangs up on him?

3. What is Klara's reply when Raj asks her the secret of her Jaws of Life performance?

4. What does Simon NOT count among the events that occurred directly as a result of the fortune teller's intervention?

5. In what year does the novel's prologue begin?

(see the answer keys)

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