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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 best describe Peter's demeanor while courting Irene in Part Two, Chapter 1?

2. Why is it unusual that Irene left Peter a Christmas Card on the table?

3. Whose life's background is the focus of Part Two, Chapter 1?

4. Why is Irene surprised when she attends a church in Council Bluffs?

5. Why does Stephanie want to go out to Collins in Part Three, Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. How and why does Sarah Jane justify not providing Jeremy access to the phone at the farmhouse after Ezra's accident?

2. How does Lisa explain her reasoning to Sarah Jane for taking the videos and adding the scenes into the movies?

3. In what ways is Irene's new married life in Crescent different from when she lived in Tama? How does the move emotionally affect her?

4. Why are Jeremy and Stephanie surprised to meet Lisa on her porch when they travel there in the middle of the night?

5. Using the quote, "...when she'd [Irene] gave no indication that anything unusual had happened or was about to happen or would continue happening without interruption in the days to follow" (127), what might the reader assume about Irene's disappearance?

6. What are some of the first signs that Irene is taking her new church very seriously, and that it may be beginning to take over her life?

7. How does Lisa initially respond to her mother's disappearance?

8. Why is Sarah Jane truly concerned about Ezra's car accident?

9. When Irene leaves Bible study early and tells Peter it is because the others did not like the question she is asking, what sort of questions is Irene most likely asking that are controversial?

10. Irene places the tract given to her by pastor Michael Christopher in her pocket and then in the "anything drawer" at the house. Why does Irene's placement of the tract give it more meaning?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Pages 100-101 document a religious tract given to Irene while outside the Old Market. The message relates directly to Irene's situation, as well as how her life possibly evolves in the future. What associations can be made from the tract and Irene's own life? How does the tract signify what is to come later in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Summarize Jeremy's life in Part One, Chapters 1-2. Examine his daily activities are and how he feels about his life's trajectory. Why does the author choose to start the novel off by focusing the humdrum nature of Jeremy's existence? How does this opening to the novel contrast to the way Jeremy's actually unfolds? How does his life show progress or change and what still remains the same for Jeremy?

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