Word: charm
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...Carkeet's skill is equal to his ambition. Once again he has turned a daffy concept for a novel into a stimulating display of wit, erudition, humanity and narrative force. He weaves his diverse strands with cunning and charm and adroitly sustains suspense in what could easily have been a one-joke story. Part of his persuasive technique is an absolutely deadpan, matter-of-fact tone. Another part is the structure of the book as mystery, in which events are explained long after they happen...
Auel can be unintentionally hilarious, especially when her prehistoric characters talk in anthropological jargon ("the Arterians make a spear point with bifacial retouch"). There is a campy charm to this, as if the author had, beyond our wildest imaginings, found a way to combine The Flintstones, Dynasty and the story of Mme. Curie...
...attempt to govern global trade by the application of commonly agreed rules? How do you see the transatlantic relationship? If I could give some advice to the White House, it would be that President Bush should be his own ambassador more. He has a combination of personality, insight and charm that is disarmingly refreshing. What about your own relationship with the Americans? You shrugged off the jibes from former U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick about your style, but it must have stung. I couldn't understand it. Why should critical policy issues be turned into character references...
...There are still complaints. One Bank staff member says that Wolfowitz has been largely inaccessible to some top managers inside the Bank, relying more on his "loyalists" who moved with him from the Administration. But, for now at least, the charm offensive seems to be working. "People are saying, 'I met him. He didn't seem to have horns or a tail or anything,'" says another Washington staffer. In addition to winning over his new colleagues, Wolfowitz confronts an equally daunting challenge if he hopes to change the way the World Bank does business. The Bank has changed from...
...Arroyo, meanwhile, has embarked on a charm blitz to bolster support. Last week, she invited her allies in the Senate to dine at the palace, and threw a dinner for alumni of the classes of 1973-1978 of the Philippine Military Academy, which include some of the armed forces' most senior officers. Attendance was poor: according to someone who attended the dinner, Arroyo was disappointed. "Are they waiting," she asked, "for the next regime...