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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. What is NOT one way in which Simon describes his father Saul?
(a) Courageous.
(b) Timid.
(c) Decorous.
(d) A man who skirts conflict.

2. On what street in New York City do the Gold siblings seek the fortune teller?
(a) Delancey Street.
(b) Forsyth Street.
(c) Clinton Street.
(d) Hester Street.

3. What is the one thing Simon tells Daniel when he calls him for the first time since leaving home?
(a) He misses Daniel.
(b) He loves Gertie.
(c) He is sick.
(d) The date foretold to him as the date of his death.

4. What excuse does Simon use when Gertie catches him leaving the apartment on the morning of the day he moves to San Francisco?
(a) He says that he is going to meet his boyfriend.
(b) He says that he is going to buy Klara a birthday card.
(c) He says that he has to feed the parking meter.
(d) He says that he is going to get a sandwich.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Simon remembers that he had drawn which same-suit cards from the deck during his encounter with the fortune teller?

2. What do Klara and Varya find inside the lacquered box in Gertie's lingerie drawer?

3. What phenomenon had Klara found magical as a child before finding out its true nature?

4. What reason does Klara state for not calling the family to notify them of Simon's illness?

5. What type of business does Saul own?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is the significance of Klara's feelings about the phenomenon of red tide?

3. What aspects of Robert's character are depicted as those that make him "stand out" (59) to Simon?

4. 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?

5. What is the author's purpose for using the allusion to The Statue of Liberty when depicting the children's grandfather Lev?

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

7. What do the Gold children bring to the fortune teller as payment for her services and why?

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

9. What evidence does the author provide for the claim that the Gold children in 1969 "are siblings, this summer, in a way they never will be again" (4)?

10. How does the novel's setting within the prologue affect the events of the narrative?

(see the answer keys)

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