According to Lehrer, "The composition of each book in The Portrait Series is shaped by the composition of a life...The monologues that make up this series are informed by the structure of supper talk, messages left on phone machines, ruminations of long walks, and reiminiscences evoked by photo albums and rainy Sundays...The first four books in The Portrait Series focus on men. Taken together, these books form a group portrait as reflective of the voices stirred within me as it is of the subjec -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.