Word: grim
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...hard to sustain for 500 pages. Happily, Theroux's hero is a man of ironic intelligence and amusing self-awareness. He believes that comedy is the "highest expression of truth" and, conversely, that the funniest things are frequently the truest. This makes for considerable humor arising from grim situations. Moreover, Parent's wanderlust means a frequent change of scenery and a liberating sense that, as the playwright Tom Stoppard put it, every exit is an entrance somewhere else...
Health officials cite grim statistics as evidence that they are acting out of fiscal need, not cruel disregard for human suffering. In Alameda, roughly 75% of the county's $278 million health-care budget comes from state and federal sources. But that money is drying up. For example, state funds are currently only about one-half of what the county received in 1982. Health administrators argue that rationing is a pointed way of telling legislators they must bear the responsibility for their budgetary decisions...
Compared with Gromyko, Shevardnadze has proved flexible at the bargaining table, willing to concede what is obvious so as to concentrate on the key points of difference. If the "Grim Grom" stubbornly claimed that his country was not guilty of human rights abuses, Shevardnadze admits that such problems exist but emphasizes what the Kremlin is doing to improve the situation. To the surprise of American negotiators at the INF talks, the Foreign Minister quickly accepted the principle of verification, then negotiated hard to cut the best deal for Moscow. Says U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock: "Shevardnadze is firm...
...only one of the demands Larkin makes on his readers. He also boasts (and sometimes complains) about his exclusion from * everyday life, his marginal role as a bachelor librarian, living alone and not growing mellow with age. In fact, Larkin makes of his infirmities a caricature, given to grim, plain speech: "Man hands on misery to man./ It deepens like a coastal shelf./ Get out as early as you can,/ And don't have any kids yourself." This apparition even mocks literature. Admitting that his youthful joy in reading has paled, he advises, "Get stewed:/ Books are a load...
BOOKS: The grim, funny, memorable Philip Larkin...