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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. Where is Ben going?

2. How did Cole navigate when he was in the Army?

3. Who calls for Joe at Karen's apartment?

4. What does Cole show Dolan he has learned when he confronts her in her car outside of Parker Center?

5. What division are the military trainers looking to fill?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Cole go to see Eugene Dersh after the autopsy?

2. Why does Lucy Chenier move to Los Angeles?

3. How does Pike know Frank Garcia?

4. How does Karen find out that Pike is in love with another woman?

5. Why is Eugene Dersh the LAPD's suspect in the five murders?

6. Why is Pike nervous about entering Parker Center, and what happens once he does enter?

7. Why does Pike come to Cole's house in Chapter 10, and how do they interact?

8. Why is Frank Garcia blaming the police for Karen's death?

9. Who is Eugene Dersh and what is his role in the novel?

10. Why does Cole talk to Curtis Wood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Elvis Cole has two important relationships in the story--one with his friend and partner Joe Pike and another with his girlfriend Lucy Chenier. At times, the reader feels that Pike and Chenier are fighting for Cole's attention. Compare and contrast Pike's and Chenier's relationships with Cole. How does Cole balance between the two people? Why does he choose one over the other? How does the character who is pushed aside react? What do Cole's actions and his relationships with these two characters say about his personality? Use specific examples from the text in the response.

Essay Topic 2

The reader does not learn a great deal about Pike's emotions and personal relationships with women. In the story, Pike has intimate relationships with two women--Paulette Wozniak and Karen Garcia. Describe these two relationships. How are they similar? How are they different? How do these relationships show another side of Pike the reader has not seen previously? Use specific examples from the text in the response.

Essay Topic 3

A requiem is a "mass for the dead." Using this information and the story itself, explain the meaning of the book's title, L.A. Requiem. How is the book's title significant to the plot? What can the reader deduce about the book from the title?

(see the answer keys)

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