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by Eleni Sikelianos

This is the tale of Melena, five times married, mother of three, burlesque dancer, and "the toughest, hardest-assed woman to ever eat wood and bite nails." Located in history and memory, her life cracks open questions of identity at the heart of an American immigrant woman's experience and becomes an argument that no existence is ever truly marginal.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Essays, Art, History

126 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2014

About the author

Eleni Sikelianos is the author of six books of poetry, most recently The Loving Detail of the Living and the Dead, as well as a hybrid memoir, The Book of Jon. Sikelianos directs the creative writing program at the University of Denver.

Reviews

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Claudia Cortese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuses poetry, historical research, family lore, and speculation to create a book that reads more like a constellation of specters and images, imaginary encounters and vague memories than a linear memoir. I love this book

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book by my second cousin, about my grand-aunt (often called great aunt): my grandmother's sister. My grandmother was adopted young and only learned she was adopted at 18. Thanks to 23andme, I learned of my grandmother's birth family (sadly, she never unraveled the mystery while she was alive). So I can now say I've met my delightful second cousin and first-cousin-once-removed, and am very grateful to be related to them both. <3

A beautiful, lyrical book that should be savored and occasionally whispered out loud. Don't expect to find full truths but nevertheless follow a family story as it unfolds. Full of photos and mysteries, this is a beautiful tribute to Helene Pappamarkou, Melena the Leopard Girl, and all her other names.

[banagiota spoltidou · Rating 4 out of 5]

My particles in living were mostly dark, I think you know that, with some bright dust shooting through. Don’t forget the dust. I was just trying to get through the living.

[...]

Now that I am dead, I’m trying to make up the particles. That is my work here. I have tried stealing the bright dust off the living, but that is not the work.

[Hannah Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wondrous chronicle of a life, a history, a desert. I'm really sick right now and can't think of anything more articulate to say other than dang, them death poetics though. Them trauma poetics though.

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting memoir/poetry collection, with pieces of research and prose interspersed with the poems. The story is wild, too, and heartbreaking, but the structure and form were just as interesting.

[Nora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lo terminé porque era tarea.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun! Exciting! Cool! Inspiring! Sometimes the bravado of "wow experimentalism" eclipsed a little of there being there there for me, but I'm happy this book exists and definitely enjoyed it.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

B Another memoir by Sikelianos tracing her family roots. Really beautiful (though I'll admit, at times I got confused and lost track…then again, I read it entirely on the subway, much of it to & fro a half marathon, not necessarily the best place to read!). A mixture of forms and styles. Good stuff. Reads like a novel/poetry, not a boring nonfiction narrative.

[Erin Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard not to be pulled in and entranced by the poetry of this tale. This is not a linear telling, but a mix of memories, research, poetry and maybes. Not your average grandmother, but a woman who slips between the human world and the one of the Jaguar. She is both and neither, and the hunt to find her before she slips away into the desert is a tale that sucks you in.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A grandma unlike any other, a life on the stage, a life with many husbands, a life on the road. Sikelianos revisits (at times if feels she just repeats) her formula in The Book of Jon to create this memoir, but hey, I guess hybrid writing would be the only suitable way to talk about Melena, The Golden Greek.

[Roger Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful blend of fairy tale, memoir, past life, genealogy, and cultural histories. Sikelianos conjures and constellates a bigger windstorm of particulars.

[Kathy]

I did not care for the book. I did not finish it.