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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 did Lucy call the guest room in Ann's new house?

2. How did Lucy get up to her apartment after being released from the hospital?

3. What emotion consumed Lucy in Chapter 13?

4. To what state did Lucy head for rehab?

5. What promise did Lucy make to Ann?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Ann show that she was the ultimate mother figure to Lucy after her radical surgery?

2. What did Ann find especially alarming when Lucy read an essay at a Provincetown reading?

3. What kind of help did Lucy seek for her addictions, and how did she lie about what she was really doing?

4. How did Lucy's death make Ann finally realize her own naivete?

5. Why did Ann not tell Lucy she was coming to New York for a movie premiere and book party?

6. What was Lucy's pattern of happiness and depression?

7. How did Ann choose to think about Lucy after her death?

8. What happened with Lucy's job in Bennington, and what did she do when she moved to Brooklyn?

9. How well did Lucy manage her finances?

10. Why was Lucy so pleased when Ann began to date a doctor in Nashville?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Ann Patchett's writing style. How is she different from other writers of her time? What are some of her characteristic writing techniques? Identify some examples of her classic style in TRUTH & BEAUTY.

Essay Topic 2

Lucy Grealy was no stranger to hurt and pain. From what you know of Lucy's life through this book, what were her biggest sorrows and worst betrayals? How did she manage through them? How did her coping skills evidence themselves in many aspects of her life? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Ann and Lucy spend some time apart throughout the book to contemplate their lives. What do they think about? What conclusions do they arrive at? Explain why they seem to always be in a contemplative mood.

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