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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. Why did both Mina and the writer leave home at first?

2. What happens to Rania Kassem's husband?

3. What group of volunteers is one of the most effective on the island in Part I?

4. Who is Emma romantically partnered with in Part I?

5. What does Mina remember calling her mother at the height of her rage in Part II?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Mina meeting from her family in Lesbos and why is this significant?

2. Who was the only person Mina ever talked about her family with and why?

3. In "You Made Me Do It," who encourages Mina to write about her experiences and why?

4. Why is Mina estranged from her parents and siblings except for Mazen?

5. Why does Francine not like Emma?

6. In "Here Comes the Boat," why is Mina so concerned about Sumaiya?

7. In "Here Comes the Boat," why does Mina think the old woman is so mean to her adult son?

8. Who did Mina worship as a young child and try to model herself after?

9. In "Doctors in Drag," why does the family ask Mina if she is a man?

10. In "Here Comes the Boat," what is Mina surprised to hear about some of the young volunteers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Mina become so emotionally involved with Sumaiya, and what does Alameddine reveal about the particularities of a doctor-patient relationship in a refugee setting through these two characters? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

How does Alameddine describe Mina's process of gender transition? Why do you think he chooses to pace the revelations about Mina's gender transition the way he does throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

How does Mina's conversation with the unnamed writer in the last chapter - about the unnamed writer's assertion that he can never write another word about refugees, and his urging for Mina to write her own story on the subject instead - affect the reader's perspective about the entire book at its very end? 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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