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. What do both Frieda and Annie have in common?

2. From where does Karen tell Annie and Graham she has just arrived?

3. Why does Annie begin to laugh in Chapter 8?

4. What is the problem with Rosemary Gregory?

5. How does Sarah know that Thomas is interested in her?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Annie surprised by Sarah's behavior at Annie and Graham's home?

2. Why does Annie feel shame when she thinks about her previous marriage?

3. What leads to Graham's affair with Rosemary?

4. What is learned about Sarah's relationship with her mother, based on what she tells Thomas?

5. Why does Annie love her car so much?

6. What does Annie notice at the beginning of Chapter 7 about Graham?

7. At the beginning of Chapter 3, what is Graham remembering and why?

8. What does Annie realize, towards the end of this section of the book, is changing regarding her relationship to her children?

9. What advice does John Norris give Graham over their lunch date?

10. How does Annie feel about Graham's body?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Annie feels a sense of relief multiple times, in regards to her closeness with people. What are two times that she feels this relief? What are the events surrounding this sense of relief? What does this reinforce regarding Annie's personality as it was described early on in the book?

Essay Topic 2

The novel begins with the narrator describing the end of both Annie and Graham's first marriages. What does the reader learn about the ex-spouses, as well as both Annie and Graham? What might be the purpose for starting out the book this way? What tone does it set? Are these details about Annie and Graham's lives important? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Both Sarah and Annie initially are happy to be alone - Sarah in her childhood home and Annie leaving for the Vermont lake house. How do their feelings change? Why do they change? What does this say about both of them?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,028 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample