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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 vegetable does Valeria talk about with her mother?

2. What city does Mirella repeatedly mention while on the phone with Sandro?

3. What was Valeria's father's job?

4. Where did Valeria and Michele go on their honeymoon?

5. What does Mirella sometimes wear at home in the winter?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Valeria phone's Giovanna, trying to find Mirella, what does Giovanna's mother tell her?

2. What does Valeria think would happen if she let her family know that she had taken a quick nap or gone for a walk?

3. How does Valeria's family react when she says she might keep a diary?

4. What does Valeria keep in her office drawer and what is its importance to her?

5. When Valeria had trouble with Michele early in her marriage, what would her mother do?

6. How does Valeria react when kissed or complimented in front of the children? How do her children react?

7. How does Michele react when Valeria tries to talk to him about Mirella, saying that her questions are about a colleague's daughter?

8. How does Michele react to the gossip about Mirella?

9. What happens when Valeria first gets home with the notebook?

10. The year before, what joke had the family made about Riccardo in Michele's tuxedo?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Valeria's relationship with her daughter develop over the course of the novel? What do they learn from each other?

Essay Topic 2

What role does secrecy play in the novel? Examine the effect of secrets on the characters' relationships and the larger story.

Essay Topic 3

Examine the idea of friendship in the novel. What does the book teach its readers about friendship, its value, and its limitations?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 678 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample