Portrait of My Body

"If one is at all refined, unique, idiosyncratic, then finding a companion to match one's temperament, interests, and amatory tastes is not an easy matter, whether one is man or woman, gay or straight," writes Philip Lopate in the essay "On Leaving Bachelorhood," as he attempts to explain why he remained single for 21 years before embarking on a second marriage. The same may be true for authors trying to find readers. In the introduction to Portrait of My Body he acknowledges that "In first-person writing, there is a thin line between the charming and the insufferable." In these 13 essays, Lopate definitely treads that thin line. Although he flirts shamelessly with insufferable, in the end he just manages to fall on the side of charming.