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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. How does Nora handle Bill's lies regarding Gennifer?

2. If Nora was propositioned by JFK, what is the one thing she would not have been able to do?

3. According to Nora, what keeps people going as they search for something they have lost?

4. What does Nora offer the reader as she dispenses her advice and wisdom?

5. What does Nora do with the classics?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Nora's desk environment.

2. What does Nora begin talking about when describing her life in New York?

3. What are the advantages of Nora's neighborhood?

4. What happens to Nora when she is seven months pregnant that changes the course of her life entirely?

5. Why happens one day when JFK walks by Nora one day?

6. What event leads to Nora's personal story of being an intern at the White House while JFK was President?

7. What does Nora believe makes a great story?

8. What political issue makes Nora unwilling to support Bill?

9. How does Nora feel about what happened between Bill and Monica?

10. What is Nora's problem in college?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nora Ephron talks about the glamour and public intrigue with the Kennedy White House. It was deemed the time of "Camelot". America has a love affair with fame. Fame sometimes serves as a justification for living. Write an essay on the reality of fame, public intrigue, and glamour. Refer to 3 contemporary "stars" and how fame and fortune have affected their life, either for good or for not. Explain how public people often have to protect their private life and how fame might just be an illusion to happiness.

Essay Topic 2

In the chapter titled "Le Strudel Perdu" Nora discusses the topic of loss through a very vivid description of cabbage strudel and her quest to find it after one of her favorite Hungarian bakeries closes. Nora discusses the idea of loss and the infinite quest to look for what gave you joy that is now gone forever. Write an essay about a significant loss in your life, on that you had to let go of the outcome of in order to heal. Perhaps your loss ended joyfully. Maybe it did not. Connect 3 of Nora's points on loss and letting go in your own essay, interlacing her narrative in with yours.

Essay Topic 3

Nora talks about her friend Judy and Henry. Judy found a lump on her tongue and only lived for a year while Henry lived until he was eighty-two. Henry had time to prepare, so much so that he had a folder on his desktop that was titled "Exit". Write an essay comparing and contrasting the death experience of Judy and Henry. Write about 5 pros and 5 cons of each? Finally, how would like your life to play out?

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