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. What is Wani's job?

2. What play are Toby and Sophie in at Worcester College Gardens?

3. What does Leo drink during his date with Nick?

4. What is Leo's ex-boyfriend Pete's job?

5. Who is Nick's hero?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the Maltby scandal?

2. What does Toby say has been Sophie's father's most famous remark?

3. What is Wani known never to have done?

4. Why does Nick feel embarrassed around Elena?

5. Describe the design of the Ogee office.

6. What bothers Nick about being called a "twit" by Leo?

7. What does Mrs. Charles pray for?

8. Why does Nick name the company Ogee?

9. What is the tradition in the Fedden household having to do with the deer?

10. How does Nick explain his frequent absences to the Feddens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Deconstruct the concept of the "line of beauty". Find examples of when this term is used and explain all of the different meanings the "line of beauty" has throughout the text.

Essay Topic 2

The novel opens with a quote from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Why has the author selected this quote? What parallels can you draw between Nick and Alice? Has Nick outgrown the world of the Feddens? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Rachel refers to a politician's affair as "vulgar and unsafe." How do you see the homosexual encounters as portrayed in the text? Are they portrayed as vulgar or as beautiful? Why do you think Hollinghurst makes his scenes so explicit?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 521 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample