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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the opening of the section entitled San Francisco, 2010, the first exhibition of what kind of artist was being shown?
(a) Dance.
(b) Music.
(c) Sound.
(d) Video.

2. The unnamed narrator asserts that she and her dark-haired friend both loathed what element of life, even as they "understood its necessity" (48)?
(a) Vulnerability.
(b) Affection.
(c) Intimacy.
(d) Trust.

3. The unnamed narrator reveals that she has been married how many times in her life?
(a) 2.
(b) 3.
(c) 1.
(d) 4.

4. The unnamed narrator states that she realized only later that Artemisia had been "trapped in a" what "of her own design" (27)?
(a) Corridor.
(b) Closet.
(c) Carnival.
(d) Hedge maze.

5. How many hours of supervised visitation with her children was the artist given as a result of the custody order?
(a) 12.
(b) 4.
(c) 8.
(d) 6.

Short Answer Questions

1. For which method of transportation did the unnamed narrator advocate during her discussion with her tall, dark-haired friend?

2. At the time of the art exhibition described in San Francisco, 2012, the unnamed narrator was which of the following?

3. The unnamed narrator's boyfriend in the summer of 2000 used to be her what?

4. Which member of Camila's family rarely spoke to the unnamed narrator during the trip to Italy in 2000?

5. The unnamed narrator states that Artemisia was how old in the summer of 2000?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the unnamed narrator define "female pain" (43) and what expertise does she have in this subject?

2. How did the unnamed narrator feel about the dissolution of Laura's marriage?

3. At the end of the section entitled Los Angeles, 2011, the unnamed narrator describes an act she took with a teapot. What was it?

4. Describe the type of humor Popkey often uses within Topics of Conversation and provide an example.

5. Discuss the epigraph Miranda Popkey includes prior to the start of the novel Topics of Conversation.

6. Discuss a moment in the novel when the unnamed narrator hints or states outright that she may be an unreliable narrator.

7. For what reason was the narrator in Italy in the summer of 2000?

8. Discuss an instance when Popkey uses the second person point of view to connect with the reader.

9. How does the unnamed narrator feel about the truth and lies, according to her statements in Los Angeles, 2011?

10. Describe the four characters featured at the center of the gathering in Ann Arbor, 2002.

(see the answer keys)

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