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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 3: "Farewell" through "Waiting".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After Charlie became ill, what did Lucien feel was happening to the world?
(a) It was burning down around him.
(b) It was shattering like broken glass.
(c) It was all turning into paper.
(d) It was melting away into nothing.

2. What does Lucien think New Yorkers look like as they hurry along the streets in the months after 9/11?
(a) Like people unexpectedly caught out in the rain.
(b) Like their consciences are bothering them.
(c) Like robots programmed to go to work regardless of the condition of the city.
(d) Like they are trying to pretend they are not anxious and afraid.

3. What ridiculous detail does Nathaniel give in his description of the last months of 1999?
(a) Celebrity clairvoyants making wild predictions in the tabloids.
(b) Preppers sealing their families into shelters underground.
(c) Cults announcing that aliens would come to Earth at midnight on New Year's Eve.
(d) Businesses desperately trying to teach their staffs how to do math without computerized cash registers.

4. Where did Nathaniel live before he moved to New York?
(a) The Southwest.
(b) The Midwest.
(c) Minnesota.
(d) California.

5. When Nathaniel was younger, what did he dream of designing?
(a) Churches.
(b) City parks.
(c) Commercial buildings.
(d) Houses.

Short Answer Questions

1. What incident seems to have sparked a permanent change in Madison?

2. When Lucien is in the gallery imagining that he is with Charlie, what does he promise her?

3. If he stays in the Midwest, what does Nathaniel suspect will be true about his life when he is eighty years old?

4. What does Nathaniel ask Delphine more than once not to do?

5. What later part of the narrative is Lucien tied to when, on pages 16-17, the narrator says that "It's as if he's got some part that's simply worn out and needs replacing"?

(see the answer key)

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