It is often said that art reflects life; for Roemer McPhee, art illuminates life, giving insight to the human experience and humanity itself. In The Boomer’s Guide to Story: a Search for Insight in Literature and Film, Roemer McPhee captures relevant human themes through essays on several hundred readers’ favorite stories from novels, films, television, plays, and music.

 In Wall Street, Bud Fox gives mega-investor, Gordon Gekko, non-public information of serious consequence and is showered with the trappings of the good life; he soon realizes that “the wine doesn’t taste as sweet when it is tainted” and that “crime doesn’t really pay.” In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? we learn that “people depend on myths and facades” and that the horror comes not from “what particulars of a person are exposed, but exposure itself.” In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey offers readers many insights into human nature and has many thematic elements intertwined, among them, the idea that “The genius and the madman could be called close; they have many traits in common.” Among the many stories from every form of media, every genre, and every decade, that McPhee explores are: American Beauty, Bonnie and Clyde, Casino, Gone with the Wind, The Hunt for Red October, The Shawshank Redemption, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

 Although art often reflects life, it is often through art that we are given the greatest insight into the various facets of the human soul and the human experience. Through Roemer McPhee’s unique and perceptive lens, readers of The Boomer’s Guide to Story will be guided through the various themes and ideas that have either been missed or forgotten over time, showing that there is far more to a great story than just plot, and that the human element is what makes a story memorable and timeless.

 Contact: Roemer McPhee - roemermcph3@gmail.com