Quiz Big Time Jen Spyra

Big Time by Jen Spyra – Full Book Quiz

How well do you know Jen Spyra's razor-sharp satirical collection Big Time? This 20-question quiz covers the entire book—from the soul-crushing fitness cult of "Bridal Body" to the Hollywood time loop of "Big Time." Mixing multiple-choice and short-answer formats, you'll test your recall of plot twists, character motives, symbolic layers, and cross-story connections. Ready? Let's dive in.

For a full overview of the book, visit our book summary page. Stuck on a question? Check the questions and answers page for deeper discussion. And for insights on the final chapter's resolution, see our ending explained guide.

Quiz Questions

Question 1 (Plot/Sequence)
In "Bridal Body," what happens to the narrator's body after she returns home from the cave compound?

  • a) It remains permanently super-fit
  • b) It immediately atrophies
  • c) It continues to grow stronger
  • d) It transforms into a monstrous form

Question 2 (Plot/Sequence)
In "The First Influencer," what kills Oola and Crooga?

  • a) Starvation during a famine
  • b) A saber-toothed tiger
  • c) A rival tribe's attack
  • d) A fall from a cliff

Question 3 (Plot/Sequence)
In "The Snowman," what does Ken do after returning to Elijah's home following the failed reconciliation with Maggie?

  • a) Melts in the morning sun
  • b) Flies away to the North Pole
  • c) Eats and then masturbates over a family photo
  • d) Gives Elijah a magical gift

Question 4 (Plot/Sequence)
In "Dinner at Eight," who kills the host at the end of the chapter?

  • a) The butler
  • b) Miss Hadley
  • c) The Captain, who reveals he is Basque
  • d) Montclair Ellison

Question 5 (Plot/Sequence)
In "Birthday Girl," what is the consequence for guests with low "Pow Points"?

  • a) They are banished from the island
  • b) They are turned into hairless eunuch servants
  • c) They must perform a humiliating dance
  • d) They are fed to the monkeys

Question 6 (Plot/Sequence)
In "My Dearest Caroline," what does Abraham first blame his scandalous letters on?

  • a) A prankster soldier named Jamison
  • b) Drug-induced ravings after smoking a pipe with "wild Indians"
  • c) Demonic possession
  • d) A mistake by his scribe

Question 7 (Plot/Sequence)
In "The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe," what ultimately ends Sarah and Holmes's relationship?

  • a) Holmes's cocaine addiction
  • b) The revelation of her father's secret family
  • c) Holmes's yellowface disguise as a waitress
  • d) Watson's interference

Question 8 (Plot/Sequence)
In "Monster Goo," what happens to Zack after Seth administers the shrink juice?

  • a) He returns to normal size permanently
  • b) He overshrinks to insect size and is nearly crushed by a falling basketball
  • c) He becomes invisible
  • d) He switches bodies with Seth

Question 9 (Character Motivation)
Why does Hornstroth rebel against Molly in "Birthday Girl"?

  • a) She discovers Molly is stealing her identity
  • b) Molly cancels the poké bowl station and enslaves Fernando
  • c) She wants to become the sole birthday girl for power
  • d) The monkey attack injures her friend

Question 10 (Character Motivation)
Why does Scheherazade volunteer to marry the sultan in "One Thousand and One Nights"?

  • a) She plans to assassinate him
  • b) She wants to become queen
  • c) She intends to survive by telling captivating stories each night
  • d) Her father forces her

Question 11 (Character Motivation)
In "First Kid, Second Kid," what is the mother's stated reason for visiting her pregnant daughter Jane?

  • a) To offer financial support
  • b) To give a belated birthday gift
  • c) To reconcile with her boyfriend
  • d) To bring her back home

Question 12 (Character Motivation)
In "The Boyfriend Identity," what is Imogen's primary goal in training the protagonist from childhood?

  • a) To create a loyal son
  • b) To develop a military-grade boyfriend for covert missions
  • c) To test memory-erasing technology
  • d) To replace her deceased husband

Question 13 (Character Motivation)
At the end of "Big Time," why does Ruby go to Bobbi's apartment in 1942?

  • a) To retrieve her beaver stole
  • b) To ask for acting advice
  • c) To apologize for past betrayals
  • d) To hide from the police

Question 14 (Theme/Symbol)
In "Monster Goo," what does the monster goo symbolize? (Select the best answer)

  • a) Only family dysfunction
  • b) Only sudden physical change
  • c) Uncontrollable change, family dysfunction, and sexual identity struggles
  • d) Purely scientific curiosity

Question 15 (Theme/Symbol)
In "The Tale of Mr. Mittlebury, Millennial Pig," what does the number 94,000 represent?

  • a) The cost of his novelty T-shirt business
  • b) His student-loan debt
  • c) The number of hours he has spent improvising
  • d) The weight in pounds of his family home

Question 16 (Theme/Symbol)
In "The Secret Meeting of the Women's Club," what does the retractable monster penis primarily symbolize?

  • a) Male dominance
  • b) Women's hidden power and capacity for violent resistance
  • c) Sexual promiscuity
  • d) A literal biological mutation

Question 17 (Theme/Symbol)
In "The Snowman," what does the snowman's eventual melting represent?

  • a) The inevitability of spring
  • b) The loss of magical childhood illusion and the corruption of innocence
  • c) A weather metaphor for global warming
  • d) The snowman's own existential despair

Question 18 (Synthesis – Short Answer)
Compare the use of body transformation in "Bridal Body" and "Monster Goo." How do both stories critique societal expectations about bodies?

Question 19 (Synthesis – Short Answer)
In both "Dinner at Eight" and "My Dearest Caroline," how does the author use unreliable narration to satirize prejudice?

Question 20 (Synthesis – Short Answer)
How do "The First Influencer" and "Big Time" both critique the commodification of personal trauma?

Answer Key

1. b) Immediately atrophies. The narrator's temporary super-fit body vanishes the moment she is rejected by her fiancé, underscoring the artificial and unsustainable nature of the transformation.

2. b) A saber-toothed tiger kills both Oola and Crooga after the tribe embraces influencer culture.

3. c) Ken eats and masturbates over a family photo of Elijah's mother, revealing his predatory nature beneath the magical facade.

4. c) The Captain, who has been presumed Spanish but is actually Basque, attacks and kills the host in a revenge twist.

5. b) Low-scoring guests are turned into hairless eunuch servants, reinforcing the story's satire of brutal social hierarchies.

6. b) Abraham first claims his letters were drug-induced ravings after smoking a pipe with "wild Indians," though he later blames a prankster.

7. c) Holmes attempts to salvage the disaster by disguising himself as a waitress, but the yellowface caricature ends the relationship.

8. b) Seth's shrink juice overshrinks Zack to insect size, and a falling basketball nearly crushes him as he sings "Space Jam."

9. b) Hornstroth rebels when she discovers Fernando has been enslaved and Molly cancels the poké bowl station—the final straw that triggers her violent uprising.

10. c) Scheherazade volunteers to survive by telling captivating stories each night, using narrative as a shield against execution.

11. b) The mother visits Jane to give a belated birthday gift, but Jane rejects it and orders her to stay away.

12. b) Imogen trained the protagonist from childhood as a military-grade boyfriend for the Plus One Project, designed to manipulate targets.

13. c) Ruby goes to Bobbi's apartment to apologize for past betrayals, marking a shift from selfish ambition to seeking redemption.

14. c) The monster goo simultaneously represents sudden gigantism, family dysfunction, and Zack's struggle with his sexual identity.

15. b) 94,000 is the exact amount of his student-loan debt, a burden that drives his shame and anxiety.

16. b) The monster penis symbolizes women's hidden physical power and their ability to wage violent resistance against patriarchal oppression.

17. b) The melting represents the end of magical childhood illusion and the corruption of innocence, as Ken's true depravity is exposed.

18. (Short answer—example response) Both "Bridal Body" and "Monster Goo" feature extreme physical transformations imposed by external forces. The bridal training program forces women to achieve an unrealistic, temporary ideal, while the monster goo accident inflicts uncontrollable gigantism. Both critique how society pressures individuals (especially women and queer people) to conform to rigid body standards, often with devastating emotional and familial consequences.

19. (Short answer—example response) In "Dinner at Eight," the host hands narration to characters who reveal racist, ableist, and sexist inner monologues, then disrupts them to expose hypocrisy. In "My Dearest Caroline," Abraham's wildly contradictory confessions—blaming drugs, a prankster, and even heaven—make it impossible to trust his account, satirizing Victorian-era double standards about fidelity and propriety. Both chapters use shifting, unreliable perspectives to mock prejudice and social facades.

20. (Short answer—example response) In "The First Influencer," Oola's death is immediately commodified by an unnamed woman who uses her blood and dirt as blush, launching a beauty trend. In "Big Time," Ruby's time-travel survival story turns her into a viral "Hot Shit Girl" on The Bachelor, exploited for ratings. Both stories show how personal tragedy and trauma are packaged for public consumption, yet Ruby's final decision to apologize to Bobbi offers a counterpoint: genuine human connection resists commodification.

Check your answers above. How did you score? If you aced it, consider exploring the book's full analysis or dig into the ending explained guide for deeper insights.