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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. Who does Ethan's sister end up marrying?

2. What advice does Maribel's mother give about being with a man like Schuyler?

3. Where did Maribel grow up?

4. During a conversation with Maribel, what does Schuyler suddenly say that Veronica can bake quite well?

5. When does Ethan tell his family that his new love interest is a man?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the beginning of Chapter 2, how can Joe's relationship with his high school girlfriend, Veronica, be described?

2. Why do Schuyler and Maribel start crying after hearing the historian give a lecture about nineteenth century working conditions?

3. What surprises Joe about Veronica's relationship and marriage to Schuyler, her husband?

4. How is Jack described by Joe in Chapter 2? Why does Nok worry about him when he is a teenager?

5. After Gil suffers from a second stroke, where does he go and who takes care of him?

6. How is Veronica described when Joe discusses Veronica's family and her growing up in Queens?

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

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

9. How does Abby, Gil's first wife, handle the news about her husband's secret?

10. When Jake and June visit Joe and Nok, and they are about to eat the orchid cake made by Veronica, what task do they do in order to cut the cake?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

After discovering Gil's second family, Ethan, his sister, and mother all handle the news quite differently. Explain how each of these characters handles the news in his or her own way, explaining how his or her reaction reveals his or her characterization.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Nok's relationship with money in the novel. Why does she tell her sons that they are lucky? How and why does money equate to luck?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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