Word: bitterness
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...signing ceremony was hardly a joyous affair. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic grumbled that "my government is taking part in this agreement without any enthusiasm but as someone taking a bitter yet useful potion or medication." He openly questioned whether the unified Bosnia foreseen in the treaty will "truly materialize or will it simply remain something on paper?" Croatian President Franjo Tudjman traced the roots of the crisis in Bosnia back more than 15 centuries to "the breakup between the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire," obviously implying that the wounds cannot be healed quickly. Bill Clinton, who presided...
That's a load of bitter wisdom for a boy to carry. So the author lets Jozska's father, a con man and survivor, speak the summation. Blaming the entire German nation, this fellow says wryly, "would be too German ... so collective responsibility is probably a myth." Here we imagine a grimace from the cafe intellectual. "Collective irresponsibility, on the other hand, certainly exists...
Mickey Sabbath is a washed-up street performer--for a brief long-ago moment the darling of the New York agitprop scene, now self-exiled in New Hampshire, financially dependent upon his equally bitter second wife. With the death of his Croatian mistress, Sabbath loses the thread of his miserable life, and sets off on a micro-odyssey with no real object...
Though the novel lacks a certain resolution, the character of Sabbath makes spectacular progress in the 48 hours around which the story--like dart-a-cars set up in the dining room--swoops in its looping trajectory. Whether Sabbath, wronged and wronging, bitter and bold and mean can go on is unclear. Roth has corralled a teeming, obscene, dwindling life, and that is enough...
Norbu looked frightened, as well he should. With the turn of a golden urn and a handshake, he became a central figure in what promises to be a long and bitter war between Tibet and a communist government determined to retain control of the troublesome province, right up to choosing its top religious leaders. For six years, China had insisted on its authority to select the Panchen Lama. But in May, following ancient Tibetan custom and practices, the Dalai Lama announced that he had chosen six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the new Panchen Lama. Officials in Beijing were...