The Book of Jon

Author: Eleni Sikelianos

Publisher: City Lights (2004)

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.