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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. Following the Christmas Eve incident, what does Richard notice about Karina?

2. How do Richard's brothers recommend he fight ALS?

3. What does Richard ultimately do with all of the letters he has written to his father?

4. Why does Richard continue to participate in the clinical trial?

5. When Richard is walking around the kitchen while Karina is in New Orleans, what does he inspect?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Dr. George and what service does he offer Richard?

2. What offer does Elise make as Karina, Elise, and Grace take a morning walk? How does Grace help this plan?

3. After moving back in with Karina, how does Richard spend his time?

4. What does Karina imagine during the piano lesson with Dylan?

5. After the incident on Christmas Eve, what two tests are performed on Richard? What are the results?

6. What happens when Karina first sees Richard writing a letter to his father? How does Richard respond?

7. While Karina is in New Orleans, what trouble befalls Richard?

8. What surprising information do Richard's brothers tell him at the funeral? What is the effect on Richard?

9. Following her trip to New Orleans, what surprise does Karina have for Richard? How does he respond?

10. How did moving to Boston impact Richard and Karina? What does Richard think about the move?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The idea of one’s personal story is a common idea in the novel. At one point, Karina thinks “how the story of their lives can be an entirely different genre depending on the narrator” (29). Discuss how Richard, Karina, and Grace might tell different versions of the same shared history.

Essay Topic 2

Helen Keller once wrote, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Explain how the characters of Richard and Karina illustrate Keller’s words.

Essay Topic 3

The idea of his legacy is important to Richard. How does Richard’s opinion on his legacy evolve over the course of the novel? What point is the author trying to make regarding this idea?

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This section contains 890 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample