Word: sharpness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...they'd just invented adolescent angst. Vera's dad is a drunken oaf, abusing the children who hate him yet cling to him and lie to protect him. He could be the petty dictator of a pre-Gorbachev regime, and his daughter the strident soul of rebellion. In her sharp, defiant voice, you can hear the sound of breaking glasnost...
There is a sharp ideological battle taking place in our society today. There are no indifferent people because the direction of perestroika will determine the fates of our children and grandchildren." So argues Nina Andreeva, 51, who only a year ago was an obscure teacher of chemistry at a Leningrad technical institute. Today she is famous -- notorious, some would say -- as a symbol of opposition to Mikhail Gorbachev's reform program. His opponents are unorganized, and their criticism takes different forms, but they nonetheless represent a potential threat to his leadership...
...Sharp memories of the brutal past were jogged as well by a new play, Four Interrogations, the story of an old woman unfairly charged under Stalin as an "enemy of the people." Before the curtain rises, the audience sits in darkness while voices screech Stalinist slogans over a loudspeaker. Then an imposing photo of Stalin is projected onto a black curtain. Finally, a spotlight sweeps over the audience, stopping now and then to hold first one person, then another and another in its sudden white glare...
...LUCK CLUB by Amy Tan (Putnam; $18.95). A bright, sharp-flavored first novel on growing up ethnic in the U.S. The topic sounds familiar, but the Chinese spice added to this old recipe is invigorating and refreshingly true...
...also ordered a sharp crackdown on dissidents, arming police divisions with M-16 rifles and abandoning a policy that prohibited firing on protesters. The move sparked violent demonstrations in six cities. Ironically, Roh's original decision to cancel the referendum had won widespread support, including that of opposition leaders, who feared a positive vote would damage their own chances in the elections scheduled...