An awkward teenage ecofeminist boy, riddled with guilt about his sexual desire, becomes a male escort for older women (a M.E.O.W.) A once-suicidal bipolar man thinks he has his mental illness beat and his life finally in order, until he receives a visit—in his mind—from Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and orgies, who throws his life into chaos again. A neurotic wannabe-pickup artist meets a stunning siren musician who crushes his heart with the most celestial music and teaches him the beauty of platonic love. In The Divine Absurdity of Love: Memoir & Fiction, Michael Ellsberg weaves the factual stories of his life, within a fictional dialogue between his present self and his innocent nineteen-year-old self, confronting his central existential question: is a life of madness worth living, if it is the madness of both love and death, ecstasy and despair?
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