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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. In Chapter 8, what does Sam drink for her night out?

2. Which child of Clara Loomis's was rumored to be fathered by John Humphrey Noyes?

3. In Chapter 11, what kind of group comes to the place Sam works?

4. What does Sam's husband do for a living?

5. Who is Sam's daughter?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 6, what does Matt ask Sam to do regarding their daughter Ally?

2. How does Sam afford the house she buys in Part I?

3. What does Spiotta mean when she mentions Sam's "historic house envy" (75)?

4. Where does Sam work, and what does she do there?

5. What begins emerging as a source of tension between Ally and Sam early on in Ally's adolescence?

6. Why does MH tell Sam she does open-mic night at the Smiley Face?

7. In Chapter 14, what does Matt do for Sam that makes it harder for her to be angry with him?

8. What is Matt's first reaction when Sam tells him she is leaving him?

9. In Chapter 13, what does Sam really think of the brutal college admissions competition?

10. What is Ally's relationship with Lily like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What parallels does Spiotta draw between the upheaval in American political and cultural life and in Sam's own life? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Why does the missing tile after the break-in at Sam's new house bother her so much? What does the tile - and the house itself - symbolize to Sam? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does Sam's stroke end up affecting all of her relationships, as well as her own perception of herself and her future? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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