Shades of Literature Trivia Quiz

'The Pink Hotel' is about a 17-year-old girl from London who travels to Los Angeles after her mother, Lily, dies in a motorcycle accident. She barely knew Lily, who had left when she was small, so her trip is more about curiosity than grief. At Lily's memorial, held at the hotel her mother once owned, she sneaks away with a suitcase full of Lily's clothes, photos, and letters. Instead of returning home, she decides to stay in LA and use the suitcase to track down people who knew her mother.

As the summer unfolds, she meets Lily's old friends and lovers, each offering a different picture of who Lily was. Some saw her as magnetic and full of life, while others thought she was careless and destructive. The girl experiments with wearing Lily's clothes and stepping into her world, which also puts her in risky situations. Not everyone is pleased she has the suitcase, and she learns that parts of her mother's past were dangerous and messy.

By the end, she understands that the suitcase and the people she met can't give her a neat, complete story of Lily's life. Her mother remains complicated, full of contradictions. Standing alone at the Pink Hotel, the girl accepts that while she may never really know Lily, she's discovered pieces of herself in the process. The novel closes with her still searching, but this time for her identity rather than her mother's.

'The Green Mile' is set in a prison in the 1930s, told by Paul Edgecombe, the head guard on death row. He and his team are in charge of looking after prisoners before their executions, walking them down the 'Green Mile', the lime-colored floor that leads to the electric chair. One day, a giant man named John Coffey arrives, convicted of killing two young girls. Despite his size, Coffey is quiet, gentle, and childlike, and Paul starts to doubt whether he could really be guilty.

Strange things begin to happen around Coffey. Paul suffers from a painful bladder infection, which Coffey miraculously heals just by touching him. The guards also see him cure other people and even bring a mouse back to life. These moments make Paul and the others believe Coffey has some kind of divine gift. At the same time, they have to deal with Percy, a cruel and cowardly guard who abuses his power, and another dangerous inmate, 'Wild Bill' Wharton, who causes constant trouble.

Eventually, Coffey reveals that he knows Wharton was the real killer of the two girls. But it's too late to save him. Coffey doesn't want to escape and accepts his fate. Though the guards know he's innocent, they're forced to carry out his execution. Paul never forgets the experience, and years later as an old man in a nursing home, he still carries the weight of what happened on the Green Mile, haunted by both Coffey's kindness and his death.

The story in 'The Woman in White' begins when Walter Hartright, a young drawing teacher, meets a mysterious woman dressed all in white late at night on a London road. Soon after, he takes a job teaching two half-sisters, Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe, at a country estate. Walter and Laura fall in love, but Laura is already promised to another man, Sir Percival Glyde. The strange woman in white reappears, warning Laura against marrying Glyde, and Walter realises the woman knows a dangerous secret about him.

After Laura marries Sir Percival, her life quickly turns miserable. Percival is cruel and only interested in her money. He and his sinister friend Count Fosco come up with a plot to steal Laura's fortune by switching her identity with that of the mysterious woman in white, Anne Catherick, who looks very much like her. Anne dies suddenly, and the villains bury her under Laura's name, locking the real Laura away in an asylum so they can control her wealth.

Walter and Marian fight to uncover the truth. They rescue Laura, though her health and memory are badly shaken. Walter works to prove Glyde's crimes and expose his true past, eventually restoring Laura's identity and inheritance. Count Fosco meets a grim end for his role in the scheme, while Walter and Laura marry and finally find peace. The novel closes with justice done, though the eerie figure of the woman in white, Anne, lingers as a tragic presence whose secret made everything unfold.

Alex, a troubled teenager, is the main character in 'A Clockwork Orange', who lives in a near-future society, leads a gang of 'droogs' and spends his nights committing violent crimes, beatings, robberies, and worse. Alex loves classical music, especially Beethoven, and he enjoys the freedom of doing whatever he wants, no matter who he hurts. His life is reckless, full of thrills and power, but it also brings fear and chaos to everyone around him.

Eventually, Alex's crimes catch up with him. After a violent incident, he's arrested and sent to prison. While inside, the government offers him a chance to shorten his sentence by undergoing an experimental behaviour modification treatment called the Ludovico Technique. The treatment forces him to feel intense nausea and pain whenever he thinks about violence, effectively removing his ability to choose to do wrong. Alex becomes harmless, but also unable to defend himself, and society starts to use him in cruel ways, showing how dangerous it is to take away free will.

By the end of the novel, Alex slowly begins to recover some of his old personality. In the final chapter (added in the UK edition), he starts thinking about a more normal life, imagining a future where he might grow up, fall in love, and leave violence behind voluntarily. The story closes with the idea that true morality comes from choice, not from forced conditioning.

'The Black Dahlia' is set in Los Angeles in the late 1940s and focuses on two police officers, Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard. They are assigned to investigate the gruesome murder of Elizabeth Short, nicknamed the 'Black Dahlia'. The case shocks the city because Elizabeth's body was found mutilated, and the crime is both mysterious and horrifying. Bucky and Lee become obsessed with solving the murder, even as it starts to take a personal toll on them.

As they dig deeper, the investigation leads them into the dark side of Hollywood, crime, corruption, and hidden secrets among the city's elite. They discover that Elizabeth's life was complicated, full of ambition, loneliness, and risky choices. Bucky begins to struggle with his feelings for her and becomes increasingly drawn into the dangerous world surrounding the case. The line between personal obsession and professional duty starts to blur.

In the end, the murder is never fully solved, leaving Bucky haunted by the case and his own failures. The story shows how obsession and violence can destroy lives, and how Los Angeles, with its glamorous surface, hides a dark and brutal underworld. Bucky is left to carry the weight of the mystery and the lives it touched, forever changed by the Black Dahlia case.

'The Yellow Wallpaper' is a novel which tells the story of a woman who is struggling with her mental health after having a baby. Her husband, John, who is a doctor, thinks the best treatment is to keep her resting and avoid any work or creative activity. He moves her into a room in a rented house with ugly yellow wallpaper, insisting she shouldn't write or think too much. She becomes increasingly bored, lonely, and frustrated by the restrictions.

As time goes on, she starts noticing the wallpaper's strange patterns. She becomes obsessed, believing there's a woman trapped behind the wallpaper trying to escape. She spends hours studying the patterns, drawing connections to her own feelings of being trapped by her marriage, society, and the expectations placed on women. Her obsession grows and her mental state worsens.

By the end, she fully identifies with the woman in the wallpaper and tears it down in an attempt to free her. Her mental breakdown is complete, and John finds her creeping around the room, showing just how far her mind has unravelled. The story highlights the dangers of ignoring women's voices, treating them as fragile, and denying them independence or creative expression.

'The Silver Sparrow', set in 1980s Atlanta, follows two teenage girls, Dana and Chaurisse, who share the same father, James Witherspoon. James is a bigamist, married to both Dana's mother, Gwen, and Chaurisse's mother, Laverne, though only Dana knows about the other family. The novel explores how Dana grows up in secret, aware of her father's deception, while Chaurisse lives openly with him, unaware of Dana's existence.

The story is told from both Dana's and Chaurisse's perspectives, showing their different lives and experiences. Dana is aware of her father's secret life and feels the pain of being hidden, while Chaurisse grows up believing her family is whole and perfect. Their worlds collide when they meet as teenagers and form a friendship, leading to the revelation of the truth about their father.

In the end, the truth fractures the lives of everyone involved. Dana is rejected by her father and left with the painful knowledge that her existence was always meant to be hidden. Chaurisse, stunned by the revelation, struggles to process the betrayal and loss of trust. The sisters do not reconcile, and their relationship remains unresolved. The novel closes not with healing, but with the lingering ache of secrets, showing how one man's choices ripple through generations, shaping identity, loyalty, and the meaning of family.

'The Bluest Eye' is about a young African-American girl named Pecola Breedlove who grows up in Ohio during the 1940s. Pecola is poor and feels ugly because she doesn't fit the society's idea of beauty, which prizes white features like blonde hair and blue eyes. She dreams of having blue eyes, believing that if she did, people would love her and her life would be better.

The novel shows how Pecola's family life is troubled. Her parents fight constantly, and her father is abusive while her mother struggles with her own unhappiness. One day, her father rapes her, and she becomes pregnant. The baby dies, and Pecola's mind begins to break. People in her town treat her badly, and she starts to believe she's worthless. Pecola faces bullying and rejection from the community, and she internalises the idea that she is worthless. Morrison also includes the perspectives of other characters, showing how societal racism and beauty standards affect everyone around Pecola.

By the end, Pecola's desire for blue eyes consumes her, and her mental health deteriorates. She retreats into a fantasy where she has the eyes she's always wanted, losing touch with reality. The story highlights the devastating effects of racism, colourism, and unrealistic beauty standards on children, and it leaves readers reflecting on the harm caused by society's narrow ideas of worth and beauty.

In 'The Hunt for Red October', Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst, learns that a Soviet submarine captain, Marko Ramius, plans to defect to the United States with a new, advanced submarine called the Red October. This submarine is nearly undetectable and heavily armed, making it a huge threat if used by the Soviets. Ryan has to figure out Ramius's plan while convincing both the U.S. and Soviet governments that Ramius is defecting, not starting a war.

As the Red October sails toward American waters, Ryan and the U.S. Navy track it closely, trying to prevent misunderstandings that could trigger a nuclear conflict. The story is tense, showing the cat-and-mouse game between the Americans and Soviet forces. Ryan communicates with Ramius, gaining his trust and helping him navigate through dangerous situations while staying one step ahead of Soviet ships sent to destroy him.

In the end, Ramius successfully defects with his crew and the Red October, avoiding a major crisis. Jack Ryan's clever thinking and understanding of Ramius's motives prevent a potential war, and the crew finds safety in the United States. The novel closes with a mix of relief and triumph, showing both the dangers of the Cold War and the importance of intelligence, strategy, and trust.

'The Color Purple' follows Celie, an African-American woman in the early 1900s South, who faces abuse and oppression from the men in her life, including her father and later her husband, Mr. ____ (Albert). She was raped by her stepfather and had two children taken from her. This is central to her trauma and later healing. She starts the story by writing letters to God, sharing her pain and struggles as she tries to survive and make sense of her world.

Over time, Celie develops friendships with strong women, like Shug Avery and Sofia, who help her gain confidence and a sense of independence. Through these relationships, she learns to stand up for herself, find love in unexpected places, and discover her own voice. Celie also reconnects with her long-lost sister, Nettie, and learns that she has a family she never knew about, including children.

By the end of the novel, Celie has built a life of her own, running a successful business and finding happiness and love. She reconciles with the people who once hurt her and celebrates her newfound freedom and self-respect. The story highlights themes of resilience, empowerment, sisterhood, and the journey to self-discovery.