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Quiz about The Starless Sea A Brief Overview
Quiz about The Starless Sea A Brief Overview

"The Starless Sea": A Brief Overview Quiz

I loved Erin Morgenstern's 2019 novel "The Starless Sea". Here's a simplified overview of this magical and absorbing book.

A multiple-choice quiz by Catreona. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Catreona
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
399,789
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
112
Question 1 of 10
1. "The Starless Sea" is presented in several main sections or books. How many of these sections are there? Hint


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Question 2 of 10
2. What is the name of the main protagonist of "The Starless Sea"? Hint


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Question 3 of 10
3. Besides by his/her name, how else is the main protagonist referred to? Hint


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Question 4 of 10
4. The main protagonist of "The Starless Sea" is a graduate student. What, broadly speaking, is his/her field of study? Hint


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Question 5 of 10
5. The main protagonist meets the person who becomes his/her love interest at a masquerade party at the Algonquin hotel in New York City. How does the protagonist come to know this person and by what name? Hint


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Question 6 of 10
6. A very special place is central to the novel. What is the most notable characteristic of this place? Hint


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Question 7 of 10
7. One particular species of animal lives in abundance in the special place that is central to the novel. What animals, commonly kept as pets, seem to be wherever one looks? Hint


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Question 8 of 10
8. Six symbols hold great significance for the world of "The Starless Sea". Which six are they? Hint


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Question 9 of 10
9. How does the novel begin? Hint


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Question 10 of 10
10. True or False: As the novel ends, the main protagonist and his/her lover, who have long been separated, are reunited seemingly beyond all hope.



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "The Starless Sea" is presented in several main sections or books. How many of these sections are there?

Answer: Four

 The books are "Sweet Sorrows", "Fortunes and Fables", "The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor", and "excerpts from the Secret Diary of Katrina Hawkins". There are also interpolated interludes, collectively known as "Another Place, Another Time". Altogether, these sections contain interweaving story lines as well as mysteries and puzzles for the reader to solve along the way.
2. What is the name of the main protagonist of "The Starless Sea"?

Answer: Zachary Ezra Rollins

 Parts of the story are told from the viewpoint of other characters, but Zachary's is the central story line that weaves through the entire tapestry of the tale.
3. Besides by his/her name, how else is the main protagonist referred to?

Answer: The son of the Fortuneteller

 Zachary's mother, Madame Love Rollins, performs psychometry and tasseomancy and does other types of fortunetelling. When Zachary was a boy, she ran a shop in New Orleans. Now that he is in grad school, she lives in a farmhouse in upstate New York.
4. The main protagonist of "The Starless Sea" is a graduate student. What, broadly speaking, is his/her field of study?

Answer: Video Games

 Zachary's thesis is in Emerging Media Studies, with concentration on video game design as it relates to psychology and gender issues. In practice, this seems to mean he spends a lot of time playing video games.
5. The main protagonist meets the person who becomes his/her love interest at a masquerade party at the Algonquin hotel in New York City. How does the protagonist come to know this person and by what name?

Answer: A storyteller called Dorian

 An unconventionally handsome man in his mid thirties, Dorian meets Zachary when Zachary wanders into a storytelling space at the party. There, he tells the young man a story that resonates throughout the novel. Later, Dorian asks him to meet him at the New York Public Library, where their adventures begin in earnest.
6. A very special place is central to the novel. What is the most notable characteristic of this place?

Answer: There are books, books and more books...everywhere!

 Near the beginning of the novel, Zachary considers the special place, initially referring to it as an underground library but then changing and broadening his name for it. It is, he concludes, a book-centric fantasia. As the remainder of the novel proves, this is an excellent description.

It is a place your quiz creator desperately, achingly longs to visit. Books! Books everywhere! And cozy, well-lit alcoves with comfy chairs, and all but endless time to read. And not just books. There are paintings and sculptures, mosaics and tapestries and surprising architectural elements.

The world hinted at in "Sweet Sorrows", the world Zachary eventually enters, is a story lover's paradise. And yet it is more as well - a place of mysteries and unexpected shadows.

In other words, it is a place of infinite love and profound magic.
7. One particular species of animal lives in abundance in the special place that is central to the novel. What animals, commonly kept as pets, seem to be wherever one looks?

Answer: Cats

 Cats seem to be everywhere: Cats strolling along passages, cats curled up asleep in chairs, the tips of cats' tails vanishing around corners. Eventually an orange Persian adopts Zachary, seemingly ratifying the fact that he belongs there.
8. Six symbols hold great significance for the world of "The Starless Sea". Which six are they?

Answer: Bee, Key, Sword, Heart, Crown and Feather

 In the ordinary course of things (and of course there are always exceptions), entrance to the special place as well as to some extent one's place in it, is governed by the rolling of six six-sided dice bearing these symbols.
9. How does the novel begin?

Answer: With a pirate and a girl

 The pirate is, we are told, a metaphor; but, he is no less real for all that. Nor are metaphors any less real for being people and things. Indeed, sometimes imagination can be more real than what is commonly thought of as reality. And love is the most real of all.
10. True or False: As the novel ends, the main protagonist and his/her lover, who have long been separated, are reunited seemingly beyond all hope.

Answer: True

Sometimes love really does conquer all in the end, or is it the beginning?
Source: Author Catreona

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
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Referenced Topics
Literature   Video Games   World   People   Animals   Vocabulary   Psychology   Names   In Other Words   New York   Cats   New York City   Pirates   Sculpture   Orange  

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