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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 does Meg learn is Lorelei's cause of death?

2. What does the description of Maddy fussing over Beth foreshadow?

3. What does Meg mean when she complains that her family's behavior is "lurid"? (206)

4. How does the family celebrate once they finish clearing their first room at Bird House?

5. What does Lorelei think Meg should do with her money instead of spending it on a ski vacation?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Meg's answer to Colin's question about how she is feeling about Lorelei's death demonstrate her complex feelings about her mother?

2. During Beth's September, 2006 visit to England, what contrast is there between her attitude toward the affair and Bill's?

3. In her February 5th email to Jim, what ideas about the generational perpetuation of trauma does Lorelei express?

4. What does Lorelei tell Jim about the trauma in her own childhood?

5. How do Rory's remarks during dinner at the pub in Chapter 14 show that he has genuinely changed?

6. What assurance does Lorelei offer Jim about their relationship and his drinking, and how does this relate to her own struggles with hoarding?

7. What is Vicky's perspective on the way Lorelei helps her during her illness?

8. When Beth receives Meg's text about Lorelei's computer password, why is she so relieved and happy?

9. What point does Lorelei make about Valentine's Day in her email to Jim?

10. What evidence is there at Vicky's funeral and wake that Meg's attitude about Colin and Kayleigh is changing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

You have spent some time considering how the loss of Rhys impacted Rory later in life. Now, choose a different family member and write an essay that makes and defends a claim about how Rhys's death impacted this character. Consider their relationship with Rhys, their individual personality and capabilities, and in what way their later life might have been different had Rhys lived a natural lifespan. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Consider all of Lorelei's emails as a single body of text. How do they demonstrate her growth? How does knowing that Lorelei is capable of change impact the reader's feelings about how her story ends? How does it affect the reader's feelings about other characters in the story? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the impact that seeing Lorelei's growth has on the reader, connecting this to the book's larger ideas about family and character. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is Meg's role in the Bird family? Why is she the one who gets off to the most successful start in life, and why is she generally able to hold her life together despite the obstacles in her way? Does Meg know herself and what she needs better than the other Birds? How does this impact her ability to understand and relate to other people? Does Meg know herself well enough to follow through on her beliefs, or do her actions sometimes contradict her beliefs? Would you say that she is better or worse than other characters, in this regard? Write an essay that explores how the failings that seem to plague the Bird family either do or do not plague Meg, and that analyzes why Meg seems bound for a more successful life from the start. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

(see the answer keys)

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