Book Review: When I read a novel set in a city I know well, I must see that the writer knows the city at least as we...
SharleneAugust 22, 2020
End of the stimulus confusing
I don’t understand how we are told at the end of the stimulus that Peter Lee's second novel is
in San Francisco, and just like his first, it passes the reviewer's test. I don’t see what indicates that the first and second novels both the passed?
I read it as: 1) The second novel is in San Francisco.
2) The first novel passed the Book Reviewer’s test.
I did not see the relationship between novel 1 and 2. Please clarify!
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End of this stimulus answer is beyond confusing. It says, "Since Lee passes that test, the reviewer must believe that Lee knows SF at least as well as she does, which means she doesn't believe she knows SF better than him."
How could she believe she doesn't know SF better than him? When in the stimulus it clearly states that she believe that Lee knows SF at least as well as she does. This makes no sense.
VictoriaSeptember 13, 2020
Hi @Sharlene,
Happy to help!
We learn that both novels passed the reviewer's test from the final two sentences: "Peter Lee's second novel is set in San Francisco. In this novel, as in his first, Lee passes my test with flying colours."
The two novels are related by the clause in the final sentence.
How do we know that the first novel passes the test? "...as in his first, Lee passes my test..." In other words, Lee passed the test with his first novel.
How do we know that the second novel passes the test? "In this novel [the second novel]...Lee passes my test..." By removing the clause, we can see that the final sentence is mainly referring to the second novel. The inclusion relates the second novel to the first, meaning the sentence tells us the two novels are related in that they both passed the reviewer's test.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
VictoriaSeptember 13, 2020
Hi @Amy,
Thanks for the question.
The phrase "at least as well as she does" encompasses two possibilities: (1) Lee's knowledge can be equivalent to the reviewer's; or (2) Lee's knowledge can be better than the reviewer's.
"At least as well as she does" means that the lowest level of knowledge that Lee can have about San Francisco is equivalent to the level of knowledge that the reviewer has about San Francisco. Therefore, the reviewer cannot know more about San Francisco than Lee because Lee's level of knowledge is, at minimum, equivalent to hers.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
