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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 ominous warning sign does Elena imagine as she drives at the start of the novel?
(a) Red flag.
(b) Dark clouds.
(c) A black cat.
(d) A dead bird.

2. What does Leda dislike about the way Nina and Elena play with the doll?
(a) The fact that the doll in makes.
(b) They are getting the doll wet and dirty.
(c) The voices they use.
(d) The way they fight over the doll.

3. What does Leda feel her daughters often blame her for?
(a) Their bad grades.
(b) Their parent's divorce.
(c) Their bad taste in men.
(d) Their own suffering.

4. What does Leda learn happened when she wakes at the start of the novel?
(a) She nearly drowned.
(b) She drove into a guardrail.
(c) She lost her job.
(d) Her daughter died.

5. What does Leda think Gianni would do if he saw Elena playing on the beach alone?
(a) He would find some kids to play with her.
(b) He would admonish her mother for ignoring her child.
(c) He would not notice her.
(d) He would play with her.

Short Answer Questions

1. What day of Leda's vacation does the beach become crowded?

2. Whose eyes does Leda realize she had been viewing the world through more than her own?

3. Who does the Neapolitan family on the beach remind Leda of when she first notices them in Chapter 4?

4. Why does Leda's youngest daughter say she cannot go to the party she has been invited to when they speak in Chapter 7?

5. Why did Gino ask Leda to ask a group of bathers to move for the Neapolitans?

Short Essay Questions

1. What contentious interaction does Leda witness between Nina and her husband at the end of Chapter 9? What changes as a result of their interaction?

2. What conversation topic do Gino and Leda settle on while having dinner in Chapter 12? What does Gino know about Nina and her family, which he shares with Leda over dinner?

3. What did Leda think of Gino when she first met him? Which of her daughters did she think would like him most?

4. What happens when Leda calls her daughters after getting hit with a pinecone? How does she feel after their conversation?

5. What happened when Leda found Bianca on the balcony with the doll she had given to her?

6. How did Leda's view of Nina change on the first Saturday of her vacation after the beach grew crowded at the end of Chapter 1?

7. How does Rosaria help Leda when she notices the wound on her back?

8. Who is Giovanni? Describe Leda's first interaction with him when she arrives at her vacation apartment.

9. Where does Leda wake up at the start of Chapter 1? Why? Who is there with her?

10. What does Leda think her daughters would do if they saw her walking with Gino? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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