Zervanos, 40, whose book came out last May, has spent much of his free time over the last 11 months attending conferences, book festivals, and writers’ workshops across the country – all at his own expense.
If you’re looking for an excuse to ditch your responsibilities for an afternoon, diving into Jim Zervanos’ debut novel is a good place to start. Once you’ve finished the first page, you’ll want to know more about Peter Pappas, the story’s young Greek-American protagonist. Edgy, fast-paced, funny and moving, LOVE Park is a celebration of our city—and the power of forgiveness.
The 2002 romantic comedy flick “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” turned a spotlight on contemporary Greek-American culture. Now Lancaster native Jim Zervanos is refocusing the attention with his big-in-theme but not-so-fat novel.
LOVE Park hit the shelves in May, and there’s no stopping where it will go from there! So how does a kid go from playing baseball in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to becoming an author living in Philadelphia?
Overall, LOVE Park represents an excellent debut. Throughout the novel, Zervanos demonstrates that he is steeped in literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, yet that he is also in touch with the real world. A sensitive, intelligent novel, LOVE Park provides a compelling, excellent read.
LOVE Park may be for the City of Brotherly Love what cult classic Confederacy of Dunces was to the Big Easy. At first glance, LOVE Park is a timeless coming of age story in which the angst-ridden protagonist struggles to find his way.
It is overwhelmingly pleasing to welcome and applaud the new young Greek American writer Jim Zervanos with his first published novel LOVE Park. In his novel he candidly challenges provocative issues confronting the new generation of Greek Americans.
The physical and cultural landscape of Philadelphia pervades the debut novel from Jim Zervanos. Its title, LOVE Park, is taken from Robert Indiana’s famed sculpture located at JFK Plaza and 15th Street that provides an apt background for the story of 26-year kold Peter Pappas, a would-be writer whois just trying to find himself, and possibly discover what love is too.
A debut novel is the high point of an author’s career. “It’s a GO and the hardbacks are being bonded for release,” shouts Jim Zervanos’s publisher.
The book is about the parts of ourselves we keep from our family as we grow up and the tricky navigation of the divide between tradition and real life in modern-day Philly. It’s a whole new look at the daily grind.
If you’re looking for an excuse to ditch your responsibilities for an afternoon, diving into Jim Zervanos’s debut novel is a good place to start. Once you’ve finished the first page, you’ll want to know about Peter Pappas, the story’s young Greek-American protagonist. Edgy, fast-paced, funny and moving, LOVE Park is a celebration of our city—and the power of forgiveness.
I’ve lived here 20 years, and in my pea-brain, Philadelphia’s go-to-ethnicity has always been Italian. Yes, the pale WASPs still rule the Main Line, but for me, Philadelphia is all Italian, all the time. Or it was, until I fell deeply into LOVE PARK, Jim Zervanos’ well-written, heartfelt novel about a Greek Gen-X-er’s coming of age…
Reviews have compared Lancaster-born author Jim Zervanos’ debut novel, LOVE Park, to a Greek-American version of The Graduate.