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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 type of container holds the ashes for Paul?

2. What year is it in Chapter 4?

3. How long is the boat trip in Chapter 2?

4. How old was Fenno in 1986?

5. When Paul lived in Tealing, what day of the week would he go for a walk?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Ralph and Fenno happen to find Armand dead at one of his bistro tables?

2. How long were Paul and Maureen married before they had children, and why did it take so long?

3. Who was Malachy Burns?

4. Why does Paul choose to go to Greece?

5. How many dogs were left after Maureen died, and what happened to them?

6. What is inside the envelope that Fenno finds addressed to him in his father's desk?

7. What do Veronique and her daughters wear for Paul's funeral?

8. What is the favorite piece that Marjorie buys on the trip to Greece?

9. What is Dennis's family like?

10. What other option did Fenno have instead of opening the bookstore with Ralph?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author said that love depends “upon an ecosystem, a context.” What is meant by that phrase? In what ways is the delicacy of love revealed in the novel? Is love still attainable in spite of its fragility?

Essay Topic 2

Fenno is an angry and miserable person. What choices has Fenno made that cause him to be angry and miserable? How do his feelings affect his relationship with his family? Does he have to change before his relationship with his family can change?

Essay Topic 3

Fern, Tony, Fenno, Dennis, and Richard discuss motherhood in the last section of the book. Do they have a shared definition of what motherhood is? How does the way that each person was raised affect his/her view of motherhood? How did the mothers who raised these people affect their children's lives and the people their children became?

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