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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who spends the night with Simon in Ward 86 once he is diagnosed with the illness that will come to be known as AIDS?
(a) Varya and Klara.
(b) Klara and Gertie.
(c) Daniel and Varya.
(d) Robert and Klara.

2. What tradition does Gertie refuse to partake in at Saul's funeral?
(a) She refuses to kiss Saul one more time.
(b) She refuses to give the eulogy.
(c) She refuses to slit her clothes above her heart.
(d) She refuses to greet the pallbearers.

3. What do the Gold siblings bring to the fortune teller as payment for her services?
(a) Money.
(b) A dead rat.
(c) A sand dollar.
(d) Their mother's set of tarot cards.

4. What phenomenon had Klara found magical as a child before finding out its true nature?
(a) Aurora Borealis.
(b) Acid rain.
(c) Red tide.
(d) Electricity.

5. What does Simon NOT count among the events that occurred directly as a result of the fortune teller's intervention?
(a) His arrival in San Francisco.
(b) His dance career.
(c) His relationship with Robert.
(d) His deep connection with Klara.

6. In contrast to her brothers' bar mitzvahs, Klara's bat mitzvah takes place not individually but in a group of how many girls?
(a) 10.
(b) 7.
(c) 3.
(d) 6.

7. What years are covered in Part One, Chapter One, when Simon's story is focused upon?
(a) 1975-1977.
(b) 1980-1986.
(c) 1969-1979.
(d) 1978-1982.

8. When the Gold children reach the fortune teller's door, Varya is surprised because she had thought that magic would be what?
(a) Luminescent.
(b) Tangible.
(c) Detectable.
(d) Magnetic.

9. What is NOT named among Simon's "earliest memories of Ward 86" (87)?
(a) The calm voices of the nurses.
(b) The squeak of meal carts.
(c) The shocked looks on the young patients' faces.
(d) Robert's terrified eyes.

10. What does Daniel say he is doing when Simon asks?
(a) He is staying at home to care for his children.
(b) He is in culinary school.
(c) He is in medical school.
(d) He is managing Saul's dressmaking business.

11. What feat does Klara tell Simon will be the main event within her magic show?
(a) A ventriloquism act.
(b) The Jaws of Life.
(c) A disappearing act.
(d) A mirror maze.

12. To whom does adult Daniel bear a resemblance, according to Klara?
(a) Their grandfather Otto.
(b) His brother Simon.
(c) Their sister Varya.
(d) Their father Saul.

13. What date does the narrator finally reveal as the one foretold to Simon by the fortune teller?
(a) February 19th.
(b) March 5th.
(c) December 20th.
(d) June 21st.

14. Simon recalls that the fortune teller had never asked for what item?
(a) His palm.
(b) Money.
(c) Forgiveness.
(d) His name.

15. The Hindu family in the Gold family's building calls the fortune teller a "rishika" (5), which means a what?
(a) A seer.
(b) An imp.
(c) A spirit.
(d) A savant.

Short Answer Questions

1. What item does Klara place upon each table on the night of her performance at the Cabaret theater called the Committee?

2. What is the name of the Gold siblings' paternal grandfather?

3. What is the address of the Gold family's apartment?

4. In what year does the novel's prologue begin?

5. In what type of venue does Klara NOT perform her act during her early days as a magician?

(see the answer keys)

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