View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Raj does not want the family to pay rent in an RV park, where do they park?

2. What is NOT a piece of advice Klara sternly gives herself as she waits in the wings for her audition at The Mirage to begin?

3. How does Klara acquire the jars of sweet potato baby food that she drops when she thinks she sees Eddie?

4. What does Daniel do for the first time after Gertie refuses to bury Klara in the family plot?

5. What reason does Raj provide when he tells Klara that she cannot call her family?

Short Essay Questions

1. Klara believes that magic is the only element that can reveal how inadequate one other element of life truly is. What is that element?

2. How is foreshadowing employed within the passage when Raj tells Klara, "I know they're your family...but if they weren't, you wouldn't like them either" (147)?

3. Just before Raj convinces Klara to pursue a residency in Las Vegas for her magic act, what is meant by the narrator's statement that "Klara has always known she's meant to be a bridge" (146)?

4. What mysterious feat does Klara perform at the audition without knowing how she has done it?

5. What is the secret of Klara's success with the men who are auditioning her for a spot opening for Sigfried and Roy?

6. How is the theme of secrecy depicted in the passage when the narrator reveals that "Klara has kept two things from her siblings" (141)?

7. What is the only method Daniel finds that will allow him to contemplate the deaths of his siblings?

8. Why does Klara initially take the elevator to the 45th floor of the Mirage after dropping Ruby off at day care on opening night?

9. What reasons does the narrator give for Daniel's decision not to tell Mira about his and his siblings' childhood encounter with the fortune teller?

10. Why does Daniel refrain from answering Ruby when she asks him why he is not at work over the Thanksgiving holiday?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss how and why the author instills three different humanist messages into the narrative of The Immortalists.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's use of humor alongside humanist messages within the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of the novel and one of the novel's main messages. How does the author make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help the author get across one main message of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,484 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample