A Vendetta – General Understanding Quiz

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Recitatif
Novelette by Toni Morrison. Two eight-year-old girls of different race meet and become friends in a children’s shelter. In addition to conflicts that arise as they become reacquainted at various stages of their lives, both remain haunted by an event that took place at the shelter.
Three Girls
Short Story by Joyce Carol Oates. Two college girls encounter a woman they believe to be a heavily disguised Marilyn Monroe browsing in a used bookstore. For the girls, coming to grips with their sexuality and mutual attraction, the shared experience triggers a first kiss.
The Snow Child
Quick Read by Angela Carter. A powerful, dominating and lustful Count humiliates his wife by wishing for a young girl and clothing her in the vain Countess’s furs. His masculinity and dignity are then stripped away as he weeps while defiling the child’s dead body.

Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot
Short Story by Robert Olen Butler. A jealous husband who did not communicate his love or concerns enough is resurrected as a parrot and purchased as a pet by his recently widowed wife. Ironically, he now realizes how much he loves her, but doesn’t have the vocabulary to tell her.
A Shocking Accident
Short Story by Graham Greene. A boy rationalizes his widowed father’s long absences from home by convincing himself that he is a mysterious adventurer. In reality, his father is a restless author whose unlikely death in an Italian 'street accident' becomes an embarrassment the lad must carry into adulthood.
A Horse and Two Goats
Short Story by R. K. Narayan. A humorous account of the trials and tribulations of an old man’s life in a remote Indian village, and how miscommunication with a rich American who wants to buy the village’s guardian statue of a horse pays off handsomely.
A White Heron
Short Story by Sarah Orne Jewett. A young girl living alone with her grandmother in the Maine woods must choose between much needed money and protecting a rare, beautiful bird from a determined hunter. As she leads the hunter through the woods, she feels the first stirrings of physical attraction.

After Twenty Years
Quick Read by O. Henry. Two boyhood friends lose touch after one decides to “go West” to make his fortune. When he leaves, the two make a solemn promise to meet again outside their favorite New York restaurant in twenty years. Both men keep the promise, and both regret it.
You Were Perfectly Fine
Quick Read by Dorothy Parker. An entertaining “morning after” story in which an embarrassed man asks a woman what happened the night before. She either exaggerates events to teach him a lesson, or plays down his behavior because she wants to believe something he said during the cab ride home.
The Address
Short Story by Marga Minco. A young Jewish woman visits a ‘friend’ of her mother’s with whom she had entrusted family valuables for safekeeping during World War 2. She is horrified to see her precious family heirlooms tastelessly displayed on the walls and furniture of the woman’s house.