Intimacies: A Novel

there were great chasms beneath words, between two or sometimes more languages, that could open up without warning.

covetous

Interpretation was a matter of great subtlety, a word with many contexts, for example it is often said that an actor interprets a role, or a musician a piece of music.

garrulous

strident:

eschew

supplication.

logorrheic

perfunctory