James Patrick Graham

Inverted Heart James Patrick Graham

Inverted Heart takes place in Smithton, Illinois, a small Midwestern town whose heyday has passed. The story follows Mike Burke, a young man who finds himself sitting in the backseat of a police cruiser on his way to the County Jail. During the trip, the police car passes scenes and locales that remind Mike of his journey to this spot. He?s reminded of the larger than life characters who acted as role models. The interactions of young children evoke images of his own childhood adventures where he meandered into roles much like the one he has taken on as an adult. Passing by his former schools he remembers how he was molded into the ambiguous shape that forced him to seek out a place for himself in his town and society as a whole. Ultimately, dissatisfied with the cards he?s been dealt, Mike tries to align the stars himself, resulting in tragedy. Inverted Heart documents the struggle that many young, and not so young, men go through in an attempt to make themselves into the heroes that they are presented with by American society. It is the story of the pursuit of heroism but settling for infamy, which for some, is better than being nobody.