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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 is the name of the only person at the rabbi's house when Noa arrives?

2. What had Brodman's mother done for a living?

3. What does the narrator find herself thinking that no place in Tel Aviv is ever far from?

4. What does the narrator see concerning Soraya that alarms her after she has been seeing the businessman for a while?

5. Where does Noa's father's excavation work often take him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the ordeal of delivering the flowers for the wedding through the wildfire seem to symbolize for Noa?

2. What does the narrator do for a living in the story "I Am Asleep but My Heart is Awake" and how does she feel about her work?

3. What does the narrator seem to gather about Boaz's trip that she follows him on in the story "I Am Asleep but My Heart is Awake"?

4. When does the narrator of "Switzerland" start to realize Soraya might actually be in real danger?

5. What does the narrator initially think of Boaz when he shows up unexpectedly at her father's apartment?

6. Why does Brodman take his infant grandson to the roof at the end of the story?

7. What task does Noa have to perform to help her parents' divorce become finalized?

8. What conclusion does the narrator in the story "I Am Asleep but My Heart is Awake" come to about her father's feelings for New York and Tel Aviv?

9. Who, shockingly, reminds the narrator of "Switzerland" of Soraya decades after they have lived together, and how does this person remind her of Soraya?

10. Why is the narrator of "Switzerland" so transfixed by Soraya?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Krauss has chosen to leave so many of her narrators and main characters unnamed? How does this choice affect a reader's experience of the collection? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What ideas or emotions is Krauss trying to communicate with the unnamed narrator's and her friend Romi's strong feelings and experiences linked to the famous actor Ershaid, and their "encounters" with him, in the story "Seeing Ershadi"? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

What events, circumstances, or other character(s) change the relationship dynamics between Tamar and her family - and especially the character Sandor - in the story "The Husband"? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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