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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 does the bride ask Noa to do for her?

2. What preoccupies the narrator as she trails Boaz through the streets of Tel Aviv?

3. Where does Brodman take his infant grandson without telling anyone in the end of the story?

4. How does Soraya get in touch with the businessman to arrange meetings in the beginning of their relationship?

5. Who had been Noa's father's second-in-command in archaeological digs when she was a child?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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"?

2. How and to whom does Noa lose her virginity?

3. How does the narrator meet Soraya in the story "Switzerland"?

4. What event coincides with Brodman's near-death experience?

5. What is the narrator's strange dream in the beginning of the story "I Am Asleep but My Heart is Awake"?

6. How does Brodman's wife Mira treat him in general?

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

8. What understanding passes between the bride and Noa about parents during their brief meeting?

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the story "Switzerland," what connections or parallels does Krauss draw between very young women's burgeoning sexuality, power, and vulnerability? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

How would you describe the nature of the unnamed narrator's relationship with Victor in the story "End Days," and how does her discovery of her pregnancy change it? Write an essay explaining your answers.

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