2. In the Introduction, the author tells us that this is his ___ venture into autobiography.
(a) Second.
(b) First.
(c) Fifth.
(d) Third.

3. What was the title of the lost book the author's mother hunted for in her room?
(a) Ansel Gibbs.
(b) The Last Battle.
(c) Les Malheurs de Sophie.
(d) Now and Then.

4. What did the author's mother use when she "struck to kill?"
(a) Book.
(b) Cane.
(c) Chair.
(d) Tongue.

5. In Part One of the book, what was not a tradition in the Buechner family in relation to death?
(a) Ministers.
(b) Churches.
(c) Last rites.
(d) Funerals.

Short Answer Questions

1. The author said that he told his father's story both as the child "I was in 1936 and still am in ___."

2. In the room of the author's mother what kind of magazines are on her chaise lounge?

3. The author's mother's motto, translated from French is, "you have to ____ in order to be beautiful."

4. Who tends to more publicly lose touch with themselves and with God, according to the author?

5. When the author's sick daughter had to be hospitalized, how many miles away was she?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author describe his father's suicide?

2. How did author's mom respond to his fictionalized version of his father's death and how did her reaction to this fist telling affect the author's writing about the death later?

3. What did the author deal with in first two autobiographies?

4. Why did the author's mother have so few friends as she got older?

5. According to the author, how does memory help us finish with the past?

6. How do ministers lose touch with God?

7. What was on the stained glass pieces in the author's office?

8. Why is the author telling his secrets?

9. Describe the author's mother's bedroom in her 79th street apartment.

10. Why did the author feel like a dwarf as depicted in C. S. Lewis' "The Last Battle?"

(see the answer keys)

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