View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Sarah Jane encounters Lisa Sample out in Collins at a farmhouse, what lie does she tell Lisa to gain access to seeing her shed?

2. What is the name of the other video store Stephanie says she is going to visit after speaking with Jeremy?

3. What is the name of the company Sarah Jane calls to ask about the videos' edited scenes?

4. Why does Lisa say that does not want to get rid of the wasps at her house according to Part One, Chapter 8?

5. As stated in Part One, Chapter 12, what part/room at Lisa's house does Sarah Jane decide to reside in?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jeremy think that his father, Steve, is truly fixing the gutter during the day when Jeremy returns home from work?

2. Why does Sarah Jane lie to Jeremy about her trip to Collins?

3. How does Sarah Jane respond to the videos after she views them?

4. What motives does Jeremy have to speak with Sarah Jane about possibly taking another job?

5. What are Jeremy's excuses for not contacting the police after admitting the videos have similarities and are violent?

6. When Sarah Jane drives to Video Hut from Collins, why does she want to arrive first?

7. In Steve's final paragraph in his journal, how is it both tender and full of fear?

8. What is an alternate version to how Jeremy's life unfolds if he does not pursue investigating the added scenes to the videos?

9. At the end of Part One, Chapter 2, Jeremy describes the tone of winter. What specifically does he say about it? How is his description metaphorical?

10. How do you know that Jeremy is curious about Sarah Jane and the videos? What conversation does he have with Stephanie to prove this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pages 121-122 describe a situation Irene Sample shares with her husband, Peter. She has left a bible study for asking controversial questions, but the author decides not to clarify what she has been asked by the congregation. What do you think caused Irene to leave the bible study? Knowing how the novel evolves after this incident, what topic do you think Irene disagreed with and why?

Essay Topic 2

The narrative ends with Emily Pratt developing some of her photographs from Iowa in the cellar darkroom. She muses, "Still, when she [Emily] considered her best shot from that morning...she wondered what she'd already missed, what had gone missing from Iowa before she ever got there. There is no way knowing" (214). Emily's character does not know the story of Lisa Sample, but yet her words connect to the development and interactions of all characters in a previous time. Once again, the themes of loss, loss of memory, loss of knowledge, or loss of understanding are related from a character who has not been a part of the plot. How does this quote relate to the emotions and actions of other characters? Choose two to three characters to examine through the lens of this quote.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of Part One, Chapter 9, Jeremy's father, Steve, asks Jeremy if it is okay that Steve is dating again. Jeremy responds that it is fine, because Linda, his mother, would want Steve to be happy. Then, Jeremy wrestles with his own relationship with his father and what Jeremy can do to make his father comfortable. How does Jeremy feel about living with his father? How do Jeremy's musings about this relationship reflect a greater theme in the novel that reflects the hesitant and uncertain nature of events and characters' decisions?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,387 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample