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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Nora's roommate?

2. Whose friend of Maryam's and Driss's was arrested long ago in Casablanca, spooking them?

3. What does Nora use to keep her cabin cool?

4. What happens to Driss's business after 9/11?

5. Who is Fierro's wife, soon to be separated?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens that destroys Jeremy's family while he is in high school?

2. What does Maryam do in the period that Nora thinks of as the "Cold War" phase of her parents' relationship?

3. Why does Efrain hesitate to go the police as a witness to the hit-and-run?

4. How does Jeremy's father change after his mother's death?

5. What is the condition Jeremy places on bailing Fierro out of jail?

6. Why does Nora spend so much time at her father's cabin in Part II?

7. What happens at the school play that ruins it for Efrain?

8. Why does Coleman move to a Mojave Desert town?

9. Why does Salma become so bitter towards Nora in Part II?

10. When is the one time Jeremy remembers his father telling him he was proud of Jeremy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Lalami explain the true impact of Jeremy's and Bryan's experiences in the war in Iraq to the reader throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

The reader learns about Driss's dishonesty and infidelity to Maryam as the plot progresses, but when and how does Lalami reveal Maryam's own dishonesty in the relationship, and how does this affect the reader's perception of her? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

How does Lalami evoke the reader's sympathy for several different characters who are in conflict with each other throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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