Daniel Polsky, shines his introspective light as well as his empathy and belief in the power of the human spirit through the character portraits, odes to loved ones, and thoughts about life and suffering (like that of the Holocaust and 9-11.) He exposes the irony and humor of life, but also its loneliness and emptiness. The brutally honest essays in the second half of the book display the author's penetrating insight regarding love and the human condition. They are the result of, to borrow a phase from the author, "the maturing of the wine of life."