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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. When did Joan begin writing the book, "The Year of Magical Thinking"?

2. What instrument was played at John's funeral?

3. Where was Quintana born?

4. What was Quintana's temperature the first time she went to the emergency room?

5. Who cleaned the blood on the living room floor after John died?

Short Essay Questions

1. During her reading, what did Joan learn were some means that were used to test a patient's memory and comprehension?

2. In Chapter 4, what does Joan say about where and when she and John were married?

3. How did Joan, Gerry and Tony plan to tell Quintana that her father died?

4. Why were Joan and John evicted from their house on the Palos Verdes Peninsula?

5. Where did Joan and John walk together during their morning walks?

6. What did John look like when Joan saw him in the emergency room?

7. What advice about attending funerals did Joan read that was written by Emily Post in her 1922 book of etiquette?

8. What did John do before he and Joan ate dinner the night of December 30?

9. Why did a woman that Joan worked with at "Vogue" have an abortion that was paid for by the attorney general's office?

10. What incidents indicated that Joan was not thinking clearly?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the overall mood of the book and give examples of the change in mood from the beginning of the novel to the end.

Essay Topic 2

Compare how death was regarded before and after the 1930's with when Joan was growing up.

Essay Topic 3

Joan was troubled that everything had been so ordinary the night John died. Discuss what the ordinary had to do with sudden death or disaster. Give examples from the book to support your statements.

(see the answer keys)

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