The Sorrows of Young Mike

“‘The Sorrows of Young Mike’ is a deeply human story that explores one man’s struggle to find balance between his intellect and his libido, his compassion and his selfishness.” -The Aspen Daily News Thoughtful yet spontaneous, self-aggrandizing and hopelessly philosophical, Mike would like to find out if the earth really is round. During his four-month voyage around the planet, Mike’s past loves, current romances and vision of himself are on a collision course. His mind becomes increasingly abstract as he navigates the continents and struggles with morality in a dream world of his own making, a universe where spring break happens weekly at a dart’s throw on a world map. Mike’s story is told through his journal which is interlaced with various documents — essays, instant message conversations and an email. These documents tell a story that parodies Goethe, in both his behavior as a writer and his apparent views on love, nature and the world. These views were described in Goethe's eighteenth-century novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther.