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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. In Chapter 4, what is the unnamed narrator looking at on his desk as he writes this section of his story?

2. In Chapter 5, what is Miles thinking about as he drives home with Jonah?

3. Where does the unnamed narrator say Missy worked shortly after her wedding to Miles?

4. What does Jonah sleep with every night that Missy gave him?

5. In Chapter 13, what does Sarah say she once enjoyed doing at the bistros in the big city?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Miles tell Sarah about his family during their first date? How does Sarah react to the information?

2. What caused the demise of Sarah's marriage? How does she feel about this?

3. What reason does Sarah give for inviting Miles and Jonah to her family home for Thanksgiving dinner?

4. Why does Brenda insist on talking with Sarah about Miles? What does Brenda tell Sarah about Miles?

5. How do Sarah's parents react to meeting Miles and Jonah for the first time? What is Brian's reaction to Miles and Jonah?

6. How did Miles come to have a case file on the death of his wife? What does he do with it?

7. Why does the unnamed narrator tell the reader he went to Missy's funeral?

8. In Chapter 1, what did Miles find in Jonah's backpack? What does Jonah have to say about it?

9. Why does Miles insist that he is not a smoker? Who calls him a smoker?

10. How does Sarah react to the news that her ex-husband is planning to remarry? Why does she react this way?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Miles arrest Otis Timson? Should Miles have arrested Otis on charges of killing Missy? Should Miles have handled the situation differently? Why did Miles hold a gun to Otis' head? What charges could Miles face for doing such a thing? Was Miles acting inappropriately? What does it say about Miles that he did not kill Otis when given the chance? Why did Miles not tell Charlie immediately what was going on? What might have happened differently if Miles had gone to Charlie first?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following in an essay:

1) Setting: The small town setting and its impact on the characters.

2) Setting: The author's decision to set the novel in the 1980s rather than modern time.

3) Structure: The use of an unnamed narrator to preface the book.

Essay Topic 3

Who is Miles Ryan? Why is he having trouble sleeping at the beginning of the novel? What is Miles thinking about? What has his life been like since the death of his wife? Why has the death of his wife touched his life so profoundly? Why does Miles worry about his son, Jonah? Why does Miles think he is not the type of man to be alone? What does this say about Miles' feelings for his wife, Missy? How do the opening chapters suggest that Miles has changed as a person since his wife's death? Are these changes good? Bad? How have they impacted Miles' life overall?

(see the answer keys)

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