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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. Who in Tony's family was blind?

2. In Chapter 10, how long has it been since Fenno visited David's clinic?

3. In Chapter 9 when Fenno stops at an inn he and Mal visited, what does the inn keeper offer to heat up for Fenno?

4. Who did Mal's mother remind Fenno of?

5. How long does Fenno plan to stay at the inn where he stops in Chapter 9?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are David and Lil doing when Fenno goes to see them at the clinic in Chapter 10?

2. How did Jonah die and how did Fern learn of his death?

3. What does Fenno find in the attic in Chapter 12?

4. In the more than ten years that Fern has known Tony, where has he lived?

5. Who is Stavros?

6. Why did Fenno go to Paris in Chapter 12?

7. What photos does Lucinda show after dinner in Chapter 9 and what is her relationship to the people in the photos?

8. Why did Mal retire?

9. How did Felicity respond when Fenno took her to Mal's in Chapter 13?

10. Who were Mal's mother's heroines?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Fern and Fenno reach New York at the end of the novel. How does Fern think that a trip through the Midtown Tunnel makes it difficult to know where you will emerge? How does that relate to Fern’s view of life? In what way do the twists and turns of life, like the tunnel, always take people where they intended to be?

Essay Topic 2

Paul’s ashes disappear. What controversy is there about the ashes and their disposal? What does the disappearance of the ashes symbolize?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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