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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. What does Rasheed bring to share with Mina and Asma in the very beginning of Part I?

2. Which U.S. president gave a speech Mina disliked in Part IV?

3. What is the main unique feature in the writer's father's dream house in Lebanon?

4. What upsets Sumaiya about the journalists' questions?

5. What do the journalists say that makes Mazen really lose his temper?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mina's and Mazen's blood pact work?

2. What destroys the writer's family home in Lebanon eventually?

3. What can Mina not help thinking about women from Deir-ez-Zor?

4. What personal story of loss does Mina share with Asma in Part IV?

5. Why does Mazen get so mad at the western journalists' questioning of Sammy and Samaiya?

6. Why does Mina want to buy a Jaguar in her midlife?

7. What does Mina really think of the man who says he worked for a jewler?

8. What happens in Cologne on New Year's Eve that impacts Europe's attitudes towards refugees?

9. What incidents does the writer compare to the myth of Icarus?

10. What is the relationship between Sammy and Sumaiya like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Alameddine explores a range of strong emotions at a fever pitch throughout the novel - fear, anger, frustration, sadness, and even joy. Write an essay analyzing Alameddine's tone at different points throughout the novel, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Why does Emma think Mina will be particularly helpful during the refugee crisis on Lesbos in the beginning of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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