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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 worry does Ava share on the web forum about her earlier life in Chapter 11?

2. What is Jonnie's and Mae's relationship?

3. What name does JJ tell Sylvia everyone calls him now in Chapter 10?

4. Who is the one person in Carrie's family who still seems to care about her?

5. What is one household chore Don helps Sylvia do when he comes to see her in Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Don feel about Jonnie's little girl, Sasha?

2. What was Sylvia's impression of Alice Graham, JJ's grandmother who took him in after his father killed his mother?

3. What problem has Ava been struggling with for years that becomes apparent in Chapter 3?

4. How do Marcus and Sylvia first become connected?

5. How does Ava react to seeing Henry's son for the first time when she comes across him in Walmart in Chapter 15?

6. What does Sylvia offer to do for Marcus that she is hoping he will not take her up on?

7. What is the significance of Brushy Mountain Road to residents of Pinewood, North Carolina?

8. What does JJ always call Sylvia?

9. What is the relationship between Mae and Jonnie Norwood, who co-run the restaurant called Sisters?

10. What kind of memories does Sylvia have about her own childhood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of the women in the novel - Sylvia, Ava, Carrie, and Jonnie, to name a few - are strong and resilient, but they deal with men who have betrayed or let them down in various ways. Pick two female characters who have been hurt by their relationships with men and compare and contrast how they deal with the betrayals.

Essay Topic 2

Why do you think Sylvia continues to speak with, and eventually forms a bond with, Marcus, even though she has never met him in person and had no previous relationship with him before he randomly dialed her number from jail?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring why JJ Ferguson seems to feel such strong positive emotions towards a town - Pinewood - where he experienced such tragedy and misery.

(see the answer keys)

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