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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. To which of the following is Yuanyang’s name compared?

2. Which of the following does Leigh find in the book of poems pulled from the old cardboard boxes through which she searches?

3. Which of the following suggests Leigh visit Dorothy’s university?

4. As which of the following is “hao chi” glossed in the novel?

5. Which of the following does Leigh note Axel earns hourly?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons does Leigh cite in the summer before her sophomore year for going out with Axel and Caro?

2. What reasons does Axel give for having broken up with Leanne in the winter of Leigh’s freshman year?

3. What reasons does Leigh cite in the summer before her sophomore year for refusing piano lessons from Dorothy?

4. With what conversation does Tina attempt to distract Dorothy and Leigh after Dorothy calls 911 on herself?

5. How is the sale of the infant Yuanyang to another family justified?

6. What does Leigh posit is the point of photography?

7. What Ghost Month offerings does Leigh note after she retrieves Feng?

8. How does Leigh apologize to Feng?

9. What Halloween decorations does Leigh note in the fall of her sophomore year?

10. What reasons does Yuanyang have for thinking agricultural work easier than schooling?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Much is made in the novel about emails Leigh receives—rather than text messages or voicemail. What function does the choice or reported medium (i.e. email) have in the novel? How is that function achieved?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the irony of Leigh’s rejection of Faulkner in the second sentence of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Leigh notes that “It calms me to see everything more clearly, to note the sharp corners of the piano bench, the straightness of the curtains draping down against the window” (36)? Why might Leigh take comfort from straight, sharp edges? What in the text and in experience suggests that reason? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 643 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample