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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 is the name of the gym Adam and Martha eventually join?

2. What error displays most often on Gopnik's fax machine?

3. Where does Adam take Luke on rainy days?

4. How many haute couture shows were in Paris in Couture Shock?

5. Which is not one of the animals mentioned in the taxidermy shop in Winter Circus?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why wouldn't the Rookie have fought in WWI?

2. How did the movement to lower the age of retirement begin in France in The Chill?

3. What does interest in sports identify a Frenchman as?

4. According to Gopnik, what is the French dream of producerism?

5. What game does Adam play with Luke at the Ritz pool?

6. When Adam and Martha tell friends that they are expecting a girl, what do their friends tell them?

7. What are the complaints of the waiters of the Balzar restaurant in A Handful of Cherries?

8. What prompts Gopnik to invent the bedtime story of The Rookie for his son Luke?

9. How did the Cafe de Flore get its name?

10. What was the goal of the strikers in the chapter, The Strike?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the French cooking tradition differ from the American cooking tradition and how does this translate to the French appreciation of food?

Essay Topic 2

How does Gopnik establish the dichotomy between French and American thought in the novel? Illustrate it through at least three anecdotes?

Essay Topic 3

What is Adam Gopnik's writing style? Discuss both the mechanical aspect of his writing and his "voice" throughout the novel. Make sure and discuss what literary tools and devices he relies on most and what specific parts of the text reflect his voice.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 650 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample