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The Book of Jon
With a seamless weave of letters, reminiscences, poems and journal entries, Sikelianos creates a loving portrait—and an unblinking indictment—of her father. Jon, a multitalented, eccentric visionary, emerges as a brilliant, charming, irresponsible, frustrating, and ultimately tragic hero. This is a saga of the rise and fall of family lines—a tale marked by bohemia, Greek poets, intellectuals, drugs and homelessness. It is the story of eccentrics and survivors, the strength of personal vision and the nature of addiction, and what it does to families. An exquisitely rendered exploration of the harrowing and motivating forces of family, history, and individual choices. Eleni Sikelianos ’ previous books include Earliest Worlds and the National Poetry Series winner The Monster Lives of Boys & Girls . She lives in Boulder, CO.
140 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
6 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Eleni Sikelianos
39 books42 followersEleni 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 11, 2018
This is not a novel. This is not a poem. This is a book and all of the above. This was my first encounter with Sikelianos prose and have discovered in this author a poignant voice, a blood and flesh voice. This is a memoir and everything fits in a memoir. This is a book about loss and love and again about loss.
July 26, 2020
Sí está chido. No logré la empatía total, pero eso es cosa mía, no es defecto del libro. Demasiado gringo para mi mexicanidad o no lo sé. Lo que sí es que me deja esto: la sensación... no, la certeza de que ser hija de un hombre a medias (hombre niño, hombre roto) es una experiencia universal. Subrayé dos o tres frases (¿versos?) que llevo conmigo para siempre.
September 26, 2008
I'm biased because she was my professor, but this teeny collection of stuff is incredible. I must say that it felt like it took a while to get going, but then it became the most moving and intensive memoir I have ever held in my hands. A portrait has never been drawn so ambiguously and perfectly ever. Or at least in the things I have read.
June 25, 2007
Eleni Sikelianos is a _______________.
For that, I am very _________.
For that, I am very _________.
May 16, 2023
cried my fucking eyes out after reading this in one sitting
December 5, 2010
I chose to read this book because I was curious about Sikelianos’ prose—if it is just as scatterbrained, leaping from thought to thought, posing unanswerable questions, as her poetry. The book provides quick snapshots of her father’s (Jon) life, going back and forth through time, and constantly mixes genres and formats—poems, anecdotes, memories, and enumerations. This disparate method of story telling is fitting for a memoir about a person who lived such a scattered life.
I like that the book does not begin with a sweet, untainted memory of Jon. The reader learns within the first few pages that Sikelianos’ father is a homeless heroine addict, and that their relationship has been complicated at best since her birth. Her prose serves to realistically and painfully recall images of her father, whereas the poetry and other formats romanticize him—bring out the beauty in a life obscured by drugs, repeated failures, and disappointment. In the poems, Sikelianos also can reflect and explore—zoom in and out of her father’s life—say things she always wanted to say or ask him, but never did. The combination of prose, poetry, and other genres helps the reader understand Sikelianos' mixed feelings towards her father and her complicated journey to understand him.
I thought Sikelianos did an excellent job of painting her father’s life through her appropriately schizophrenic style. One page contained beautiful details about him—how he loved animals, taught her to play pool, the Christmas presents he gave. But on the next page was a list of the times she wanted to kick his ass or memories of him not showing up, lying, stealing, etc. Constantly she juxtaposes images of his “gleaming muscles” with those of his rotting teeth, wrought iron battered brain, body broken by Heroin. This back and forth chronicle of her father’s life, out of order, serves to emphasize how little she knew him, what a tenuous presence, shadow of a father he was. From these pieces of his life, vividly and haphazardly recalled by Sikelianos, her mother, Jon’s girlfriends and children— the reader must try to make this man whole from these pieces, and in the process better understands his character. By the end, I feel like I know everything Sikelianos knows about her father, which seems to be the most anyone knows about him.
Throughout the book, Sikelianos asks herself why she’s writing it, what she’s trying to glean. She even tells her father while he is alive that she is writing a book about him, but by the end of the book he is dead, so I gather that it took her a long time to write the books, slowly collecting pictures, memories, dreams, piecing together a life in an attempt to understand it and to fill the gaps in their relationship.
I like that the book does not begin with a sweet, untainted memory of Jon. The reader learns within the first few pages that Sikelianos’ father is a homeless heroine addict, and that their relationship has been complicated at best since her birth. Her prose serves to realistically and painfully recall images of her father, whereas the poetry and other formats romanticize him—bring out the beauty in a life obscured by drugs, repeated failures, and disappointment. In the poems, Sikelianos also can reflect and explore—zoom in and out of her father’s life—say things she always wanted to say or ask him, but never did. The combination of prose, poetry, and other genres helps the reader understand Sikelianos' mixed feelings towards her father and her complicated journey to understand him.
I thought Sikelianos did an excellent job of painting her father’s life through her appropriately schizophrenic style. One page contained beautiful details about him—how he loved animals, taught her to play pool, the Christmas presents he gave. But on the next page was a list of the times she wanted to kick his ass or memories of him not showing up, lying, stealing, etc. Constantly she juxtaposes images of his “gleaming muscles” with those of his rotting teeth, wrought iron battered brain, body broken by Heroin. This back and forth chronicle of her father’s life, out of order, serves to emphasize how little she knew him, what a tenuous presence, shadow of a father he was. From these pieces of his life, vividly and haphazardly recalled by Sikelianos, her mother, Jon’s girlfriends and children— the reader must try to make this man whole from these pieces, and in the process better understands his character. By the end, I feel like I know everything Sikelianos knows about her father, which seems to be the most anyone knows about him.
Throughout the book, Sikelianos asks herself why she’s writing it, what she’s trying to glean. She even tells her father while he is alive that she is writing a book about him, but by the end of the book he is dead, so I gather that it took her a long time to write the books, slowly collecting pictures, memories, dreams, piecing together a life in an attempt to understand it and to fill the gaps in their relationship.
January 22, 2008
The Book of Jon is vast in its smallness. Writing a memoir about the death of one’s father – or the death of any loved one for that matter – that doesn’t turn saccharine or personal to the point of alienating the reader is a feat that few achieve. Sikelianos pulls it off by using a collage of stories, poems, photos, dreams, journal entries, and remembrances from other family members. Although the book is a mere 116 pages, this pastiche creates an effect similar to attending a rollicking wake: there is sadness, of course, but there is also laughter and half-remembered stories that float away as they are being told; photos that are passed around and reminisced over; there are family huddles about formal decisions; and there is the bittersweet awareness that old debts will never be paid, coupled with the realization that repayment was unlikely to begin with. In this case, the debts involve Sikelianos’ father’s lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol. An addiction that culminated in three years of homelessness on the streets of Albuquerque and, finally, an overdose in Room 152 of the De Anza Motor Lodge. The room cost $33.10 a night. Among his possessions were “2 packs of cigarettes (both opened, one pack Camels, one pack Marlboros),” both unfinished.
January 14, 2008
Sikelianos uses poetic form and rich images to portray her torrid relationship with a brilliant yet broken father in such a light and quick way that the reader is pulled in and moved, while never being beaten about the head with emotion. Sikelianos weaves a beautiful tale about fathers and daughters and the pain and beauty that often accompanies those relationships. This is the best memoir-esque piece I have read. There were times when I was wondering whether Sikelianos was telling her story or mine.
April 6, 2008
Just heard a reading from this and a forthcoming book--can't wait to read it. I've been reading Book of Jon and I love it. Structurally and conceptually creative, relevant and unsentimental. I think she said she considers it a novel, but fiction writers and poets don't agree, but I can see the argument for it...multiple threads of one story from beginning to end. I loved it.
January 13, 2008
A unique take on the memoir. Definitely an eye-opening read for a writer, and a fantastic look at exploring form and a different approach to telling personal stories. Aside from the book being flat out fantastic, I had the privilege of hearing the author at a reading on the campus of CSUS.
March 12, 2008
"Now the snow has melted; light splaying across sage brush, an impossible green, light leaving Mt. Bianco in darkness but draping itself over spike-needled leaves and woody stems and soft brown dirt - as if light loved the ground more than the heights."
August 21, 2007
Perhaps my favorite book of Poetry. It also falls into the category of Memoir, I think. The point is, it's big enough for Everything.
February 3, 2008
decent
August 19, 2008
A hybrid memoir at it's best.
October 17, 2019
In this genre-bending enigma that is not quite memoir, not quite biography, Eleni Sikelianos comes to terms with her tortured, genius and heroin-addicted father. While detailing Jon’s colorful (mostly blood red, icy blue and bone white) life, Sikelianos also reveals the “sort of life” lived “among the children of the birds,” the offspring of creatures who continuously escape this world by flying high (pun intended). Their life is largely shoved aside to make room for the whims and fancies, narcissism and seductive voice of addictive personalities. But rather than bitterly lamenting or blaming Jon for past transgressions, Sikelianos takes an honest look at a man she barely saw until age 13. A man who died in a hotel room from an overdose. A highly sensitive and artistic soul who loved to view the world from high above the mundane ground, where his family and friends remained and to which they prayed he would return.
Sikelianos cleverly uses a multi-genre approach to mirror as well as explore the many facets of Jon. Reflective letters, allegorical dreams, poignant memories, humorous lists, beautiful poems, strategically-placed photographs and even an experimental screenplay are the patches she lovingly stitches together to describe this complex man who was at once a poet, animal lover, tree climber, absentee father, brilliant musician and homeless drug addict. All writers will appreciate the creative way in which the work’s form reflects its content: both Jon and his book are hybrids, comprised of multiple identities and voices that combine to create something bohemian, revolutionary and strangely beautiful.
To compensate for any overwhelm caused by genre overload, Sikelianos ensures that similar chapters have consistent tones. For instance, sections that discuss Jon’s extensive experience with and knowledge of animals are predominantly positive, light and uplifting. Letters to Jon, on the other hand, are more solemn and sometimes heartbreaking. This structuring helps the reader navigate both the disparate texts and Jon’s crazy life.
Despite the fact that each section depicts Jon in a slightly different manner, they all work together to create this patchwork quilt of Jon and in fact complement each other. Juxtapositions between memories and the present, between humorous stories of her father crushing potato chips over someone’s head and him telling his grown daughter she has a “fat ass,” reveal Jon’s unpredictable moods and wild, seemingly random desires.
While Sikelianos focuses primarily on Jon (it is his book, after all), she also critically analyzes herself and her complicated relationship with him. In a particularly powerful passage, she describes a trip to Albany, New York that both she and John took, albeit thirty years apart. While he was an irresponsible teenager with “a nine month old daughter on the other side of the” country at the time, she traveled as an introspective woman contemplating her father’s lonely and restless journeys as a “bird.”
The Book of Jon ends with “Book of the Dead,” wherein Sikelianos records her family’s dreams about Jon after his death in 2001 and reflects on her grief as well as his multifaceted being. In this epilogue of sorts, SIkelianos includes a photograph of herself as a young girl holding a goat above a picture of her father as a young Boy Scout hugging a cat to his chest. He smiles shyly at the camera while her face is downcast, and they face opposite directions. Although this juxtaposition largely describes their contentious relationship, Sikelianos ends the book with a touching photograph of Jon and her hugging to remind the reader that, like Jon himself, their relationship was far from simple and conventional.
This introspective and powerful work poetically details the complex relationship between addicts and their children, genius and madness, idealistic dreams and soul-crushing reality. With great integrity and a multi-genre approach Sikelianos paints an imperfectly perfect portrait of both her estranged father and herself, one that acknowledges their similarities without condemning him for their differences. Recommended for anyone who has experienced the wild fancy, intellectual discourse and restless movement of these “blue-footed, iridescent . . . Herons with sleeking feathers” or observed their grounded offspring watch them fly away forever.
Sikelianos cleverly uses a multi-genre approach to mirror as well as explore the many facets of Jon. Reflective letters, allegorical dreams, poignant memories, humorous lists, beautiful poems, strategically-placed photographs and even an experimental screenplay are the patches she lovingly stitches together to describe this complex man who was at once a poet, animal lover, tree climber, absentee father, brilliant musician and homeless drug addict. All writers will appreciate the creative way in which the work’s form reflects its content: both Jon and his book are hybrids, comprised of multiple identities and voices that combine to create something bohemian, revolutionary and strangely beautiful.
To compensate for any overwhelm caused by genre overload, Sikelianos ensures that similar chapters have consistent tones. For instance, sections that discuss Jon’s extensive experience with and knowledge of animals are predominantly positive, light and uplifting. Letters to Jon, on the other hand, are more solemn and sometimes heartbreaking. This structuring helps the reader navigate both the disparate texts and Jon’s crazy life.
Despite the fact that each section depicts Jon in a slightly different manner, they all work together to create this patchwork quilt of Jon and in fact complement each other. Juxtapositions between memories and the present, between humorous stories of her father crushing potato chips over someone’s head and him telling his grown daughter she has a “fat ass,” reveal Jon’s unpredictable moods and wild, seemingly random desires.
While Sikelianos focuses primarily on Jon (it is his book, after all), she also critically analyzes herself and her complicated relationship with him. In a particularly powerful passage, she describes a trip to Albany, New York that both she and John took, albeit thirty years apart. While he was an irresponsible teenager with “a nine month old daughter on the other side of the” country at the time, she traveled as an introspective woman contemplating her father’s lonely and restless journeys as a “bird.”
The Book of Jon ends with “Book of the Dead,” wherein Sikelianos records her family’s dreams about Jon after his death in 2001 and reflects on her grief as well as his multifaceted being. In this epilogue of sorts, SIkelianos includes a photograph of herself as a young girl holding a goat above a picture of her father as a young Boy Scout hugging a cat to his chest. He smiles shyly at the camera while her face is downcast, and they face opposite directions. Although this juxtaposition largely describes their contentious relationship, Sikelianos ends the book with a touching photograph of Jon and her hugging to remind the reader that, like Jon himself, their relationship was far from simple and conventional.
This introspective and powerful work poetically details the complex relationship between addicts and their children, genius and madness, idealistic dreams and soul-crushing reality. With great integrity and a multi-genre approach Sikelianos paints an imperfectly perfect portrait of both her estranged father and herself, one that acknowledges their similarities without condemning him for their differences. Recommended for anyone who has experienced the wild fancy, intellectual discourse and restless movement of these “blue-footed, iridescent . . . Herons with sleeking feathers” or observed their grounded offspring watch them fly away forever.
February 15, 2024
Το μικρό αυτό βιβλιαράκι το είχα πάρει σε εξευτελιστική τιμή από το Μικρό Μοναστηράκι στη Γραβιάς πριν οχτώ και πλέον χρόνια (έκλεινε και έδινε τα βιβλία με μεγάλη έξτρα έκπτωση), από τότε το είχα ξεχάσει παντελώς, το πήρε το μάτι μου τώρα, ήθελα να διαβάσω κάτι σύντομο από γυναίκα συγγραφέα, και έτσι το έπιασα. Δεν ξετρελάθηκα. Πρόκειται για μια ιδιότυπη μορφή απομνημονευμάτων από μια ποιήτρια, οπότε η γραφή είναι ποιητική και αφαιρετική, όχι και τόσο του γούστου μου. Χανόμουν λίγο, και έχανα εύκολα το ενδιαφέρον μου. Το διάβασα μέχρι το τέλος, γιατί κάποια κομμάτια εδώ κι εκεί μου άρεσαν, αλλά και γιατί ήταν αρκετά σύντομο. Αλλά στο τέλος δεν μου έμεινε κάτι για να έχω να το θυμάμαι. Απλά, προφανώς, τέτοιου είδους βιβλία δεν είναι για μένα. Με λίγα λόγια, δεν έχασα τον χρόνο μου, αλλά δεν κέρδισα και κάτι.
November 30, 2025
I read this for my Creative Writing class. To be inspired for our Final Portfolio and create a poem, short story and essay regarding the black sheep of our family.
As I read this book, I did not expect the impact or connections I would relate to with this author. The setup was different from what I've read but you understood the sense of it, their grief, their wishful thinking, and their longing for a second chance with their father. I loved the images being displayed because it gave more vulnerability. The Book of Jon is a lovely crafted story.
As I read this book, I did not expect the impact or connections I would relate to with this author. The setup was different from what I've read but you understood the sense of it, their grief, their wishful thinking, and their longing for a second chance with their father. I loved the images being displayed because it gave more vulnerability. The Book of Jon is a lovely crafted story.
September 11, 2025
“I have never thought of you as part of any trend - just as a human out there, sometimes gone missing in the desert, sometimes out of his cracked mind, a person whose spinning thoughts could never be predicted or duplicated - but here you are, part of a long, boring trend of absent fathers and junk-high assholes.”
October 20, 2025
This is a short book (113 pages), but the author's tribute to her father covers his life in essays of varying lengths and poetry. I probably wouldn't have read this book if it wasn't assigned for a book club, but I'm glad I did. It provided me fresh ideas on how to honor a special person in writing.
October 16, 2020
Such an interesting multi-media piece. The prose, the photographs, the journal entries and the poetry work well as the format to tell this incredibly emotional story. It is an attempt at a cathartic eulogy for a tormented and tormenting man.
November 9, 2025
I think Evelyn would love. If you see this, I highly recommend
December 8, 2025
a portrait of Jon lives now in my heart through dotted lines
January 1, 2026
I actually really enjoyed much of the story. However the slurs would throw me off big time.
May 30, 2024
An incredible work of hybrid memoir showing the complicated relationship the author had with her father. She takes you on the twists and turns of Jon’s life and yet you never lose the timeline or the emotions evoked.
January 10, 2017
This book is less a traditional memoir, and more a piecing together of daily lore and history to try and define a lost father. This is not a play by play of what happened to Jon, more so a grasping at the edges of the stories of him that those who knew him best can recall. This is a book that plays with genre, that loops in and out of poetry, prose, short essay, new clippings, photos, and research. This is unlike most memoirs, and it doesn't leave you with answers, but it cannot help but change he way we see a loved one, how we tell their stories after they are gone. Reminiscent of "Shadow Man", though investigative in a different way, Sikelianos reaches into the heart of what truth is when you are outside of it, but wanting to be caught up in it.
September 20, 2023
“I can lay on the ground and feel we are a part of things— but what things? The grass, the trees, the sky? I spent most of my life not knowing people. Not knowing my father, my brother, my next brother, my sister. Spread out across great distances of time and space and communication devices. What apparatus will teach us to learn to know each other? I know this landscape in my memory: a girl, a woman, turns into a tree, a madrone in the hills above the town that breaks into blossom, as was planned, each spring.
But these are the people we know, however badly we know them.”
But these are the people we know, however badly we know them.”
March 22, 2011
B Beautiful language; about Eleni's addict father, the lack of a father figure in her life, but in poetry. Really nice.
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August 17, 2012C'est pas un roman, c'est plutôt une installation. Touchant.
June 12, 2015
Love it! This little book captures the authors relationship with her father, her experience growing up, and paints a picture of her father all in one.
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June 10, 2016https://youtu.be/lM9BMVFpk80
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About Poetry and life or reality or…
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews