Word: specter
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...novel’s sprawling central section, a fragmented collection of testimonies in which Bolaño effortlessly ventriloquizes scores of characters whose stories ostensibly concern Belano and Lima, but really create a stunning portrait of an aging generation burdened by lost love, crushed ideals, and the specter of violence.From the beginning, it’s clear that narrative is both inescapable and necessary, that language, in the words of one character, offers “a vicarious way of preserving our identity for an uncertain length of time.” “None of that exists anymore...
...True, when he takes time to reflect, Big Lin admits he is lonely, and not quite the success he imagined he'd be. But the specter of social alienation means little for those back in Fujian, who are nourished by stories of riches made from manning a wok. Even the tragedy of the 58 Fujianese who suffocated to death while being smuggled in a truck to Dover in 2000 did not dent interest in a passage to Britain, according to Fujian locals. "If you're from Fujian, everyone expects you to go overseas," Little Lin says. "Fortune only comes from...
...should not have become: material, explicit, and heavy-handed. Phillips writes of the ghostly nature of life, the spectral view that floats and inhabits each of the characters in the novel, and can never be quite identified and verified. There is a delicacy and frustrating resilience to that specter, that force that maintains the movement and emotion and fear in the world. The force is something to be reckoned with, but the discovery that the transient narrative force was none other than Angelica herself leads only to disappointment. She is not nearly as conflicted as the story calls...
McCain and Lieberman's bill was soundly defeated that year and in 2005 suffered an even worse Senate smackdown, 60 to 38. With a new Congress in place, McCain and Lieberman will try again. This time they will face competition from Senators Jeff Bingaman and Arlen Specter, whose version would set higher caps and more gradual reductions. "The McCain-Lieberman proposal was very credible," Bingaman says. "[But] this draft has more prospect of actually being adopted." Yet another cap-and-trade bill will probably come out of Boxer's committee, and more bills still will be considered in the House...
...Prime Minister in the nation's history. He bears the onus of the living in the shadow of Ariel Sharon, of failing to snatch victory in last year's Lebanon war - a conflict that saw Hizballah Katyushas raining down on Israeli territory - of leading the nation as the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran rises to the east and of presiding over a government plagued by corruption, financial, ethical and criminal scandals. It is a time of "complete disillusionment, an implosion of faith in the country's leaders," says Michael Oren, author of Six Days of War and a senior...