View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How far along was Nora in her pregnancy when she learns that her second husband is in love with another woman?

2. What does Nora mention she is unable to finish because so is so enraptured by a book?

3. Why can't Nora hear the question that JFK asks her directly?

4. What does Nora believe Bill did as a result of his affair with Monica?

5. What does Nora do with the classics?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the relationship that Nora draws between the reader and a diver?

2. What kind of relationship does Nora have with the characters she reads about in books?

3. Describe Nora's desk environment.

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

5. Why is Nora upset about not being able to find her favorite food since 1982?

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

7. What does Nora believe makes a great story?

8. What is the point of discussing a lost food?

9. Describe the success that happens on Nora's quest for the cabbage strudel.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nora conveys that the older generations, the Baby Boomers, are highly proactive. They are always into the latest craze about health and beauty. Write an essay on the aging Baby Boomers and their effect on society. What have been their greatest contributions and their greatest struggles? Include 3 resources and cite your evidence.

Essay Topic 2

Nora describes the feeling of reading and finishing a book as the feeling of being a deep sea diver, coming up to the surface and needing to decompress or else running the risk of getting "the bends". Write a critical book review of your favorite novel, one that made you feel the rapture Nora speaks of. Discuss character, plot, climax, and resolution. If you have not felt that type of rapture, write an essay on what you imagine that feeling to be like, using the diver analogy. Make sure you take a critical, academic approach to the book review so that the reader is drawn in, much like they are in a novel.

Essay Topic 3

Nora describes her time as an intern at the White House while JFK served as President. That time in history is often viewed as glamourous and filled with public intrigue. Write an essay on the Kennedy White House. Include the social, political, and economic climate of the time period and how it influence the culture of the United States. Be sure to add in new articles, quotes, and relevant historical data. Cite your sources.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 925 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample