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Jim Zervanos is an author, teacher, and artist, who paints big colorful pictures in a garage converted into a studio, encourages high-school students to see beauty in the ordinary, writes stories about solitary souls who find their way home, and coaches Little Leaguers to swing hard at anything close.
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If his classroom lessons were distilled into commands, they would be: observe, go deeper, be empathetic. His parenting lessons: love, pay attention, be patient, and forgive. Even as an A+ student of his own teachings, he daily negotiates situations that require a careful balancing of his values. Watching Zervanos stay steady in unsteady waters, with good humor and strength, is the central pleasure of this moving, engaging book. I loved every page.
—Debra Spark, Author of Discipline
It is hard to convey how intimate this memoir is, how revealing, and how moving. With unflinching candor and rare introspection, Zervanos takes us on a tour of life’s scariest moments, and also of its most redemptive—and we are all improved by this journey he so generously shares. This is a brilliant, important book.
—Robin Black, author of the novel Life Drawing
Every family seems to have its passions and its secrets, but the Greek-American family in this book seems to have more than its fair share of them. LOVE Park is both funny and moving, and I enjoyed it tremendously.
—CHARLES BAXTER, author of The Sun Collective and National Book Award finalist The Feast of Love