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. Where does the man who worked at the jewelry store say he and his family booked flights to get away from the police?

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

3. Which mythical figure flew too close to the sun and ended up dying?

4. What does Sumaiya say she likes about Mina's appearance in Part III?

5. Who does Mina tell Asma she has lost and mourned?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Sumaiya most worried about in her family for after she dies?

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

3. What does Rasheed say Mina should wear so the women in the refugee camp will trust her more?

4. In Part III, how does Mina's mother react after the car accident in her childhood?

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

6. Why does Sammy tell the journalists they finally left Syria?

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

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

9. What particular topic does Mina remember Francine having written about in 2009?

10. What is the jewel in the dream house the writer's father built in Lebanon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

What are some major differences between Mina's observations and interactions with refugees and those of the Europeans' interactions and observations with refugees? Why do you think Alameddine draws a distinction between the two? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 687 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample