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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Even though Klara holds down two jobs as a receptionist and a restaurant hostess, she spends her weekends engaged in what activity?
(a) Working on her novel.
(b) Volunteering at the hospital.
(c) Scripting her magic show.
(d) Painting.

2. How old is Varya upon the opening of the novel's prologue?
(a) 16.
(b) 8.
(c) 13.
(d) 10.

3. On what day of the week does Saul's funeral take place?
(a) Thursday.
(b) Tuesday.
(c) Saturday.
(d) Sunday.

4. How long after Simon's death is AIDS given its official name?
(a) Three days.
(b) Six months.
(c) Three months.
(d) Three weeks.

5. What book does Klara buy at the magic shop after gleaning more information about the fortune teller?
(a) The Book of Divination.
(b) A book of card trick instructions.
(c) The Torah.
(d) A book of Wiccan spells.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Simon NOT count among the events that occurred directly as a result of the fortune teller's intervention?

2. What is NOT one way in which Simon describes his father Saul?

3. From what college does Gertie withdraw when she becomes pregnant with Saul's child at age 20?

4. What two items does Varya keep taped to the wall next to her bed?

5. What job does Gertie take after dropping out of college?

Short Essay Questions

1. How many years pass between the first knock Klara believes Simon is using to communicate with her from the afterlife and the second knock she hears?

2. Compare Varya's ideas about fortune telling with Ruby Singh's.

3. How is the theme of guilt depicted within Gertie's feelings about her son after his death?

4. When the narrator reveals that Raj has "big plans" (113) for overhauling Klara's act, what kind of changes does the narrator depict?

5. The narrator takes pains to explain that Klara does not share her magic with people in order to deceive them. What is her true reason?

6. How is repetition employed within the opening passage of Part Two:Proteus and to what effect?

7. What differences between Robert and Simon does the author depict as those that drive Simon to cheat on Robert?

8. How do the Purp employees and owners react to the news of Harvey Milk's assassination and how do they take action?

9. What does the narrator mean when describing Simon's impression of the Castro district as being like a "fallout shelter" (79)?

10. How is an allusion to the story of Icarus used within the author's depiction of Simon's progression toward the date of his foretold death?

(see the answer keys)

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