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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. At Torrance High School, what color were three bands of tiles that went around the entire boys' bathroom?

2. Where are Jeanette's husband and babysitter from?

3. Who taught Cal and Albie how to make match guns?

4. Where did Bert and Teresa go for their honeymoon?

5. How long did Beverly and Bert's marriage last after Cal's death?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jeannette describe Albie in Chapter 5?

2. How did Bert and Teresa meet?

3. Why do Fix, Caroline, and Franny go to Teresa's house on Fix's birthday?

4. How does Teresa feel after her flight to Switzerland in Chapter 8?

5. What does Holly do at the airport in Lucerne while she waits for her mother's flight to come from Paris?

6. In what way is Leo and Franny's relationship doomed even before the house guests in Chapter 6?

7. How did Fix and Marjorie get their house in Santa Monica?

8. Did Teresa date or marry after her divorce from Bert?

9. In Chapter 8, what are Teresa's reasons for retiring?

10. What does Franny's mother tell her to make for dinner in Chapter 6?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is told from a third-person omniscient point of view. The stories that the narrator tells follow different characters. How does the point of view affect how the stories are told and what readers know about characters and events?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 4, readers discover who Franny is and what motivates her. How does the author develop Franny’s character—through implicit or explicit details—and how does the way that Franny is portrayed reveal her strengths, weaknesses, motivations, conflicts, and personality?

Essay Topic 3

After Teresa retires, she visits Holly at the meditation center in Switzerland. What does the meditation center mean to both of them, and what benefits do both women gain from the center?

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