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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 does Maribel meet Schuyler?

2. How does Maribel feel when she is with Schuyler?

3. What new job does Veronica have which she loves?

4. On page 12, which book from his childhood does Ethan remember thinking about?

5. Why does Maribel eventually go back to Schuyler's hotel after their fight?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Maribel say she gets out of her relationship with Schuyler?

2. How does Veronica handle losing her husband, Schuyler, after he is killed overseas?

3. After Schuyler dies, what scary dream does Veronica dream about?

4. How does the structure of the novel help readers understand the secrets to happiness?

5. What does Maribel say about Schuyler's mind in Chapter 3? What does she say about her own self in comparison to him?

6. How does Ethan react to his father's secret?

7. Describe Ethan's childhood. How does he feel about his father traveling often to Asia for work?

8. Why does Gil refuse Nok's request to send Jack to a private school?

9. After Ethan phones his mother to say Gil probably missed her, how does Abby react?

10. In Chapter 3, how is the hotel described that Schuyler and the crew stay in?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 4, Rachel said that she "loved her brother's stubbornness." Write an essay analyzing what you think her comment meant about Saul's character in this chapter.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay summarizing and then analyzing what you think to be the most significant chapter in the novel connected to the theme of love.

Essay Topic 3

Joe expresses that his mother was a Buddhist yet was "bribing the cycle of karma with petty cash" (80). Write an essay analyzing Joe and his mother's relationship with Buddhism in the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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