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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 decision does Charlie make about Miles' job?

2. What injury does Brian suffer in the accident with Miles?

3. How does Sarah react to Brian's description of the actual accident?

4. What does the narrator say he was waiting for in the weeks after Missy's death?

5. At what other places does the narrator admit to watching Miles and Jonah other than their home?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Charlie react when he learns that Miles arrested Otis Timson?

2. What threats against Miles does the district attorney and the Timson family attorney make to Charlie?

3. Despite a reluctance to return to jail, what is Sims Addison doing in Chapter 17 when Miles pulls him over?

4. How does Miles react to Jonah's questions about his mother when he finds Miles watching home videos?

5. Why does Miles tell Sarah he took the gun out of the gardening shed? Why does Miles say he can no longer see Sarah?

6. Why does Miles not arrest Brian when he sees him at Missy's grave?

7. What detail of Brian's story finally gets through to Miles and makes him realize that it was only an accident?

8. In Chapter 26, what does Charlie do when Miles reports for work first thing in the morning?

9. How does Miles react when Sarah and Brian tell him the truth about the accident that killed Missy?

10. In Chapter 20, where does Charlie decide to go in order to try to help Miles out of the mess he has created for himself?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following in an essay:

1) Point of view.

2) Setting.

3) Language.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following relationships in an essay:

1) Miles and Jonah.

2) Jonah and Sarah.

3) Sarah and her mother.

4) Miles and Charlie.

(see the answer keys)

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