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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 does Jordan tell Bruce about the change in his eating habits in Part III?

2. What happens around the one-year anniversary of the flight crash?

3. What does Edward tell Shay about his hunch about who wrote all the letters in the duffel bags?

4. What does Lacey wear to her job interview in Part III?

5. What does Besa ask Edward that deeply embarrasses him in Part IV?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Part III, what are Edward's feelings on New Year's Day?

2. In Part IV, why does Edward decide to start to change his eating habits?

3. What does Edward confess to Shay that he thinks the duffel bags of letters he finds in his uncle's garage could be?

4. Why are Lacey and John so panicked about Edward's health and mental state in Part III?

5. What do Shay and Edward realize many of the letters in the garage ask of Edward?

6. Who gives Edward and John a ride away from the hearing and how does this person interact with Edward?

7. What is one of the reasons Edward does not want to to go the unveiling ceremony of the crash memorial?

8. In Part IV, what starts to happen on the airplane just around the time Crispin Cox is pronounced dead?

9. What does Jordan notice about Mark and Veronica that almost no one else on the plane seems to have noticed?

10. What does Jordan tell Bruce in Part III about his diet that upsets Bruce?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Edward stop playing the piano after the plane crash, and what does the piano and playing the piano seem to symbolize for Edward? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Napolitano's handling of the theme of trauma. How does Edward work through his trauma, and how do other characters in the novel, both his age and older, both loved ones and strangers, help him through the process?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay explaining how Edward chooses to handle his relationship and his sessions with his therapist, Dr. Mike. How does Edward's relationship with Dr. Mike change over the course of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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