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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 institution is Jana's opening at in Chapter 10?

2. Who does Eline say is like a father to her children?

3. What does Anton remember most vividly about his mugging?

4. What is a distinguishing, and, to the narrator, ridiculous-looking part of Kees's appearance?

5. Who is Anton's wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator move out of Adriaan's apartment in Chapter 12?

2. What is unusual about the food at the gallery opening in Chapter 10?

3. What is the narrator's impression of Anton when she first meets him?

4. What impression does the narrator form of how his colleagues regard Kees?

5. How does Adriaan respond to the narrator's questions about his trip to Lisbon?

6. What story does Anton tell that reflects somewhat poorly on both him and the story's subjects?

7. In Chapter 9, why does the narrator come to understand the former president asks for her specifically?

8. In Chapter 10, what does Jana tell the narrator about how she first met Eline?

9. What does Amina tell the narrator is Kees's reputation?

10. What does the narrator think might have changed in her first meeting with Kees if she had known he was a lawyer at the court?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Kitamura describe the narrator's sense of home and belonging in the beginning of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Why does the narrator ultimately turn down Bettina's offer of a permanent job in translating at The Hague? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

When and how does the narrator begin to differentiate between herself and her colleagues who are translators at The Hague? What does she begin to realize about the nature of the work during the former president's trial? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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