Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter [Paperback]

Janet Campbell Hale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

These autobiographical essays by a member of the Coeur d'Alene tribe interweave personal experiences with striking portraits of relatives, both living and dead, to form a rich tapestry of history, storytelling, and remembrance. Hale's is a story of intense and resonant beauty. Breathtaking in its range and authority, Bloodlines is an important addition to the literature of women of color.

"In this set of eight brooding but brave essays, she confronts the painful facts not only of her life but of the tragically difficult lives of several generations of her female relatives. . . . As Hale delves into her past, she perceives the deep roots of her struggle for survival and achievement, and recognizes the unseverable bond that connects her to her culture." —Booklist

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In these seven loosely linked autobiographical essays, novelist Hale ( The Jailing of Cecilia Capture ) reflects on her family, her personal struggles and her Native American heritage. After two slight pieces, she poignantly and bitterly recalls her childhood, "my mother and myself on the run" in Idaho, Washington and Oregon, fleeing Hale's drunken father. Her mother, whose own education was cut short, was "an absolute master of verbal abuse," and Hale still grapples with the legacy of that troubled relationship. The author recalls her own difficulties with marriage and poverty, then describes how, seeking a college scholarship, she reconnected with her family's background on the Coeur d'Alene reservation. An essay on her white great-great-grandfather, John McLoughlin, and a visit to her father's grave also prompt musings on her Indian identity. But Hale's fragmentary style vitiates her message, and she does not discuss what might be the most interesting aspect of her life: her place in "an intertribal urban Indian community." Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

In this collection of bittersweet autobiographical essays, Hale reveals and examines her often conflicting experiences as the daughter of a Native American father and mixed-blood mother, a single parent, and a fiction writer. Disregarded by her siblings, who are ten to 14 years older than she, and mistreated by her mother, Hale provides a portrait of dysfunctionalism perpetuating itself. In her first nonfiction work (following her novel, The Jailing of Cecelia Capture , Univ. of New Mexico Pr., 1987), Hale attempts to identify and grasp the causes of her unease as she delves into her personal and genealogical history. A sense of the disconnectedness that plagues Hale in terms of her family pervades the text, as does a clash of causes and effects. Hale presents snippets of interesting Native American history throughout this work, which must have been both painful and therapeutic to write. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
- Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 187 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816518440
• ISBN-13: 978-0816518449
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #728,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great combo memoirs, society, storytelling, history, February 14, 2000

By 

P. N. West (Washington State & Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter (Paperback)

I had this book in my collection for sometime before getting to it. I'm glad I finally did. There are many acclaimed and favorite PNW so-called "native" son writers such as Doig, Holbrook, Morgan, Kittredge, etc that combine well storytelling and folklore with personal or others' memoirs with description of the PNW with historical events. Unfortunately, there are only a few true "native" (PNW Native Americans) son & daughter writers. Janet Campbell Hale clearly belongs in this company. The contrast of her work with Sherman Alexie's is quite stark. (She's Couer D'Alene, he's Spokane Indian). Personally, I find Alexie's work too dark and does some significant injustice to Native Americans by perpetuating stereotypes of drunken, violent, lazy, etc Indians. I believe such talent should be put to more edifying uses - a force for good and change. However, Janet Hale doesnt ignore or gloss over the conditions on the Rez, but brings you in to the story rather than disturb you like some of Alexie's stories. Her connection "bloodline" with a very important figure in PNW history, John McLoughlin, is well done as well as the short bit with Chief Joseph's flight. The story throughout the book is a fluid connection with her family's past, her childhood, and her current "role" in life - a woman, an Indian, a writer. I believe this type of work is invaluable in contributing to our society, especially as pertains to Native Americans. I havent ever read her Pulitzer nominated "Jailing of Cecelia Capture", but plan to do so quickly, as well as her other works.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A walk in another's moccasins., February 1, 2001

By 

Joanne Clarke (Hurricane Central) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter (Paperback)

Hale vividly describes her immediate family, their families and her childhood in this deeply moving book. My heart ached for her as a child and young woman trying to make sense of a hostile world. The book is a testament to human resiliency. -- I am not Native American, but I too grew up with a strong tradition of family and connection to the land. My family was also dysfunctional. Like the author, I too have turned to writing to try and make sense and order and draw meaning from my life and pain. Relating to her as I did, this was not an easy book to read. Yet it had remained on my shelf of favorite books for several years.-- Another reviewer criticized her use of Native American stereotypes of drunk, violent, lazy Indians. I don't recall any lazy Indians in the book. The drunkeness and violence had deeply affected Hale's mother, perhaps in part explaining her cruelty to her youngest daughter. The story would have been a lie had that part not been told. Instead of reinforcing a stereotype, Hale made the human pain which results from such behavior very real and personal. She tells the story passionately enough that I felt sympathy for her parents, even as she did. This book inspired me as a writer and it impressed upon me the need to understand and the will to live and thrive which seem to be part and parcel of the human condition.