The Jailing of Cecelia Capture

by Janet Campbell Hale

Cecelia Capture Welles, an Indian law student and mother of two, is jailed on her thirtieth birthday for drunk driving. Held on an old welfare fraud charge, she reflects back on her life on the reservation in Idaho, her days as an unwed mother in San Francisco, her marriage to a white liberal, and her decision to return to college. This mixed inheritance of ambition and despair brings her to the brink of suicide.


"The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is a beautifully written book. Janet Campbell Hale's gifts are genuine and deeply felt."--Toni Morrison"

Genres: Fiction, Native American, Indigenous, Feminism, Race, Native Americans, Literary Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Janet Campbell Hale (born January 11, 1946, Riverside, California) is a Native American writer. Her father was a full-blood Coeur d'Alene, and her mother was of Kootenay, Cree and Irish descent.

Her work often explores issues of Native American identity and discusses poverty, abuse, and the condition of women in society. She wrote Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter, which includes a discussion of the Native American experience as well as stories from her own life. She also wrote The Owl's Song, The Jailing of Cecilia Capture and Women on the Run.

Janet Campbell Hale currently lives on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in De Smet, Idaho.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

It's always odd reading a book set in so close a proximity to my own spatial life. I'm more used to settings on the East Coast and beyond the borders than I am to in text references to UC Berkley and SF and the Bay Area, perhaps because I'm used to letting my imagist muscles run rampant. Names of places that I've exhaustively traversed means I must reconcile rather than construct, which amps up self-reflexivity at the cost of escapism. Thus, the fact that I didn't enjoy this as much as other works doesn't render it any less necessary a read, as it's my sordid backyard that's on display for once. Reader, know thyself.

Working in a test prep facility means dealing with multifarious cases of testing mentality, and one topic that has come up every so often is that of affirmative action. In moments of college gossip, my students (I've only ever taught one black student, and not for very long) bring up black students having a much easier time of things when it comes to getting into the Ivy Leagues, and likely continue on that envious and antiblack train of thought while not in my classroom. Coming across repeated instances of the main character being able to get into UC Berkley scot-free brought back these conversations to my mind, but having the surrounding context of homes with no running water, white supremacist assault in grade school, and abusive homes and relatives makes such residual jealousies pointless. The fact that the students I teach have parents that can afford to shell out for the brand of option tuition I'm involved in means none of them run as great a risk as Cecelia when it comes to falling through the academic cracks. Add in the history of Cecelia's ancestors and her own bildungsroman, and you have a picture of disenfranchisement centuries older than the terms of postcolonialisms and settler state where the post- never came and the settlers never left. The book ends in the 80's, which means Cecelia's story ends before Native Americna Langauges and rights to voting are confirmed by law. I understand the value of her ultimate resolution to live, but Reagan controlled time is as bleak as place as Trump controlled time, and a sequel involving Cecelia's future would be hard to write.

It's amazing how differently stories of realistic and contemporary woe are treated when the dominant reader demographic doesn't feel like the hero of the story. Much as the facts of Hidden Figures were twisted in the movie to give the white dude some cred, this book receives poor ratings because the average reader can't relate or found the subject material depressing. It's hard to conceptualize that a happy ending would require that you give up your country, but plenty have had to give up that and more for less righteous reasons. The fact that the US has been propagandized into such an inviolable state has only made the calcification of structural genocide all the more volatile. It may seem stable now, but I'm sure some would say the same of the western Roman Empire when the rich had just begun to refuse to pay their taxes.

[Chana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and although I don't have much of anything in common with Cecilia I was feeling her, I was relating. When her husband and friend joke about Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, I cried. When her father sold his land I felt my heart sink to my feet. I'm not Native American, I have no idea where all this emotion is coming from. I am passing this book on to someone who is part Native and wants to read books by and about Native Americans.

[Joan Stanley]

This is a tricky one. I'm not quite sure how to rate this. I had to read it for the summer class I'm taking online. It was a fast read for sure and much better than most of the other works that I've been assigned in my previous semesters (other English majors know the struggle). It was definitely interesting and never boring. It's basically a very intimate look into the dysfunctional, terribly flawed life of Cecelia Capture. I guess the reason for my confusion as to what to rate the book is that I don't quite know what I think of Cecelia herself. Is she worth reading about? Her story, while sad and sometimes just disgusting to read about, is definitely interesting. Do I feel bad for her? I did sometimes. Other times she really ticked me off with her poor lifestyle choices. But in the end, I have to say I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, and was pretty satisfied with the ending, when Cecelia's resilience shone through. It's a story that I'll definitely remember, and one that I found myself truly interested in throughout (it didn't even feel like I was forcing myself to slog through a book for school). And that's a good sign.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly amazing meta-fiction done by indigenous author Janet Campbell Hale. The novel focuses on Cecelia Capture and her struggle to assimilate into dominate, white culture throughout her childhood and into her adult life.

Arrested on her 30th birthday for drunk driving in San Francisco, while in her jail cell, she looks back on her childhood and teenage memories in a drunken' haze, quickly sobering up to realize she is being held longer for welfare fraud.

Hale beautifully examines the intersections between race, religion, gender and class and bravely puts her own life on display.

[Jim Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janet Campbell Hale’s novel, published in 1985, is a classic!
I felt pain every time Cecilia’s mean mother berated her. I hurt when the father she loved chose alcohol as a mechanism to cope. And, I believed in hope as Cecilia worked to improve her life. But, I was scared whenever self-doubt creeped back into her consciousness.
This book is a masterful work of art. I’d love to have an update on Cecilia from the Author Hale.
--Jim Potter, author of Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the female Native American perspective here, and I was really into the first third of this book. Unfortunately, the prose just became too impersonal in a story that needs you to understand and relate with its central character. It was kind of a letdown for a story that started off so promising.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was moving and real in many ways. I love how Hale writes, her characters seem authentic and they struggle through their lives.

[Hollis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was as if she had slowed down her thoughts, her breathing, everything. Even the blood in her veins seemed to have slowed down in response to being jailed, to have somehow adjusted to this new condition.” (107)

Janet Campbell Hale's narrative of Capture explores this theme on three main tiers: that of class and incarceration, gender and matrimony, and indigeneity and settler law. These tiers intersect across the text, but they carry distinct registers as we follow the protagonist, Cecelia, as she recalls the life experiences that accumulated prior to her DUI arrest (which is followed by welfare charges). For its brevity, this text is loaded with thematic threads to pull at, and the relationship between racism and erotic desire is one of the more intriguing to look at. In particular, I was intrigued by the novel's play with race, and especially Cecelia's relationships with white men as juxtaposed with her relationship with Raul and Thomas Running Horse. This interest is provokes by the text, with Cecelia occasionally self-consciously probing her experiences with white men, feeling comfortable with Running Horse (and his 'Indian face') as someone who could relate to her reservation upbringing, and the juxtaposition between finding it humorous when white men mistake her for Mexican compared to her noting of Raul's "Spanish accent" when describing his rough sex (almost 'mechanical,' if I'm recalling Cecelia's exact language).

Perhaps, once I've finally gotten around to Sharon Holland's Erotic Life of Racism, I will have a more precise way to analyze these aspects. For now, I will say that Hale's text reads as an important touchstone for literary representations of urban alienation as experienced by Indigenous women. When recalling her time on welfare in San Francisco, Cecelia recalls leaving an Indian bar, feeling ashamed of those she viewed as “hopeless, displaced people. No longer Indian, yet not white either” (112). Moments like this pry at the text's complicated depictions of whiteness and Indigeneity, no doubt related to Cecelia's angst at appearing more visibly non-white than her mother, who tells her daughter stories about her Irish heritage while requiring her to stylize her hair to appear less Indigenous. Cecelia’s anxious inquiry into what her mother’s relationship to Ireland would be if she had looked more Indigenous (81) highlights the overburdening nature of racialization in the context of familial relation.

The novel's ending comes fast, and some readers may be disappointed at the writer's tendency to raise more questions than see them through for potential answers. But I like getting a shorter text here and there. I can see that the narrative comes to a somewhat disorienting stop, but that is perhaps indicative of various narrated histories of legal recognition and articulations of (gendered) Indigenous identity as managed by US law. These histories - of tribal affiliation and, more specifically, sexist treatments of outmarrying as a practice that forces some women to forgo their tribal identification - lurk in the underbelly of the text. Anyone familiar with the history of gender and tribal law in the US and Canada may be especially interested in this short narrative of academic precarity in the context of legal studies.

[Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is, above all else, a novel about the complicated web of freedom and capture in which we find ourselves in society. Cecelia's identity as an Indigenous woman adds several layers of depth to this truth, and Hale is not afraid to explore each one.

Cecelia finds herself in a jail cell for the majority of the novel, which forces her to reevaluate her life decisions and contemplate all the interconnected factors that led her to this moment. There isn't much to do in a cell than reflect, after all. In doing so the reader is taken on a whirlwind tour of Cecelia's life. Everything from her complicated upbringing by unstable parents, her relationship history, her vices, and her struggles to navigate the world in the present, all of them combine to form a compelling story of a woman in search of freedom. The story makes the reader question the meaning of true liberation, as well as what it takes to achieve it. Even if one is not imprisoned, are they free? What restrains them? What factors, personal or societal, hold them back from flying as an eagle would over the vibrant earth? Thus are the questions begged by the tale of Cecelia Capture.

The book also presses on prominent issues that continue to harm Native American communities to this day. There are mentions of selling family land on reservations in order to make ends meet, and Cecelia herself struggles with alcoholism throughout the work. What I appreciated most, however, was that this work doesn't simply say that Cecelia drinks; it provides the reasons why she started drinking and why she continues to do so. It also covers the ramifications of her vices on her life, which are both positive and negative, just as such a vice would be outside the novel. The issues in the book are muddied as a way to reflect their counterparts in reality, providing a much more enticing and realistic story than one built on stereotypes. I applaud the author's sincerity in that regard.

Hale also mentions competition many times in the book. It feels like Cecelia's life is a constant uphill battle for which she never gains proper recognition, which she also recognizes while imprisoned, and thus the reader questions their own life as a competition, too. This book made me think back on so much of my own life that I called some of my own beliefs into question. I can't answer whether I am truly free or not - or if any of us are free - but I can say that this book is more than worth reading for fans of Indigenous literature or realistic fiction in general. Cecelia Capture teaches us that we can all be free, even if the situation seems bleak, and sometimes all it takes is a little self-reflection to start the process. Only then may we spread our wings and truly fly away.

For all readers, I recommend The Jailing of Cecelia Capture.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture, by Janet Campbell Hale (Coeur d'Alene), follows the difficult life of a Native woman grappling with her past and struggling to look to the future.
Cecelia Capture Welles is pursuing a law degree in San Francisco, living on her own hundreds of miles away from her husband and two children and managing her own life for the first time in more than a decade—but on her thirtieth birthday, she is jailed for drunk driving. As she waits to be released, Cecelia starts to reflect on her life and the things that have brought her where she is today. Told through a series of flashbacks and musings on her current circumstances, The Jailing of Cecelia Capture slowly reveals Cecelia’s troubled past, detailing her struggles as a Native woman dealing with abuse, racism, sexism, classism, and self-destructive decisions.
The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is not an easy read—and it’s really not meant to be. Cecelia struggles with PTSD and depression. Her self-reflection is not light-hearted; looking back at her life involves grappling with the effects of abuse, racism, and a slew of self-destructive activities. Even the narrative is difficult to follow at times—the story seems filtered through Cecelia’s own dissociative state, a hazy series of painful memories and muddled observations of her current circumstances. At times, Cecelia’s commentary seems detached and impersonal—and sometimes the narrative jumps to another character altogether for a few paragraphs.
Confusing as it was, this disjointed narrative was, in my opinion, the strongest part of the book, and it really demonstrated Hale’s capabilities as an author. As someone who has struggled with mental illness, including depression, I found this dissociation uncomfortably familiar. My life may look nothing like Cecelia’s, but the doubt and distance communicated by the narrative reminded me of the worst episodes I’ve had. This framing might be difficult to grasp if you’ve never gone through that kind of emotional apathy, but I thought it was an incredibly effective way of demonstrating the way Cecelia’s mental illness pervades her life without her realization—and it made her moment of clarity at the end of the novel that much more effective and poignant.
The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is admittedly a difficult read, but it’s an important one. Discussions on the intersection of mental illness and racism are necessary, and Hale’s novel handles the issue tactfully without pulling any punches.

[Jacob McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is an allegorical yet comprehensible portrayal of the suffrage of indigenous people on both an individual and cultural level. The novel encapsulates themes of identity and suffrage that have been long overshadowed and ignored in commonplace society. The novel has Cecelia Capture, a women with Native blood, arrested and placed in a jail cell while she recounts her life story and what ultimately led her to where she lies now.

The novel is essentially a character study of Cecilia, portraying her Irish mother’s disapproval, her fathers debilitating alcoholism, and Cecelia’s more “scrupulous habits” and the effects these have an shaping her and her actions, marking her as a product of an environment that berates her relentlessly by being born a women and native in a “neo-american” male dominated society. The novel is not a justification of an individual’s actions but is more so an explanation of underlying factors that contribute to one’s sense of self and purpose in a society in which they feel adrift with no “cultural anchor” to give them identity showcasing the nuanced implications of both internalized and externalized oppression. No punches are held, every detail of misery that Cecelia is subject to is fleshed out and given weight that builds and escalates into one of the most gut wrenchingly tense finales that I’ve ever experienced.

The novel is written in such a way that gives it a sort of universal accessibility that gives way to exploring more involved topics and themes at a level that never feels alienating or unreasonable to the reader of all sorts. Coming from the perspective of an eighteen year old Caucasian male, I never felt lost or “guilty”, there was a deliberate effort made to make the audience feel as if they’re alongside Cecelia every step of the way.

Everyone can read this book and effortlessly get something out of it that will increase their standing as a conscious and considerate ally to Native women such as the fictitious Cecelia and real world women such as Janet Hale in their bids to break free from the societal conventions that have them trapped, or should I say, captured.

[Baylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture:
I have just read one of my favorite books yet! The Jailing of Cecelia Capture by Jane Campbell Hale, published in 1985 is a great book and was also very well-written. Cecelia Capture is a lady that ends up in jail, arrested for a DUI but later finds out she is held longer in jail for a welfare fraud case. When reading this book I also thought a lot about Rhetorical Sovereignty. Rhetorical Sovereignty is the inherent right and ability of people to determine their own. I believe that the reason this book is an act of that is because of how Cecelia has to be an independent woman majority of the book and solve most of her battles by herself. Cecelia was a character that was very easy to connect to. Although I am not a Native American, nor have I ever got a DUI or have had kids at the age she did, I felt like I connected very well with Cecelia when reading this book. I loved Cecelia talks about her life, and I felt as if I was almost by her side throughout the whole book, going through life with her. Violence towards Native Women is sadly more popular than many people know, but I thought Hale did a great job at informing us that Cecelia is a Native women facing many issues in her life but is also trying to live an American life. Many themes also get brought into this book and help with thinking deeper about the book and connect with it as if you are part of it. I highly recommend this book not only to native readers, but also to non-Indians. Being a non-Indian like myself, it gave me a great look at some of the challenges that native people face everyday. Some of this book is sad and hard to read, but those sad parts are very important to include. Those were the parts that drew me so close to this book and enjoying it as much as I did. Definitely worth reading!

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is a very unique portrayal of the effects of trauma and hardship on a native woman. If you don’t know much about Native American’s history of discrimination, this is a perfect foundation for starting to learn. And even if you do, it’s an essential book to add to one’s knowledge. We start with Cecelia, being brought into jail for a potential DUI charge, only to find that it may not be the only reason she’s there. As we progress, the book reflects on her life and her experiences leading up to where she is now. We reflect on Cecelia’s past detailing poverty, abuse, alcoholism, family ties, ethnicity, toxic masculinity, suicide, and identity. It’s important to have a good balance of self-care and caring for others, and we see that Cecelia tends to put this on the backburner throughout most of her life. We base so much of our lives off of human interaction, and from a very young age we see Cecelia being shamed by her parents not only for her love life, her body, and her personality, but her own ethnicity. If our own ethnicity is challenged, then where does one’s soul lay? In literal terms, the ‘jailing’ referred to in the title is expressed through the incarceration, but it could also mean that she is a prisoner in her own body. This book is not only metaphorical, as the title suggests (the ‘capturing’ or ‘jailing’ of Cecelia) but it is also strikingly truthful. Us as readers play the waiting game, just as our main focus, Cecelia. We know just as much as she does, and it almost feels as if we are in the jail cell with her, anxiously waiting for answers. In the beginning we immediately have so many questions, and as time goes on we slowly learn more and more, which makes the book absolutely impossible to put down. The clever use of flashbacks whilst present-day spans over the course of just a few days, we get a true glimpse of the manifestation of thoughts happening whilst waiting in a jail cell, mixed with the thoughts and reflections that can push one over the edge.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cecelia Capture is the main voice of the book as a half-Native American and half white woman who has internal and external struggles throughout the entire book. In the beginning of the book, Cecelia is imprisoned on her 30th birthday for a drunk driving incident where she reflects on her life and decisions that led her to this disastrous moment in her life.
Now I don’t want to spoil the plot of this book, but this book depicts the reality of living a life of oppression and a life of normalcy. Her past of living on the reservation affects the way in which she conducts her life today. Not only is she dealing with a torn childhood, but struggles with a marriage and her children. Her problems seem endless and pile themselves on top of each other, but I always felt pity towards her problems. Her feeling of loneliness and desperation for a sense of normalcy overrides her ability to make capable decisions.
Many of the reviews stated that feeling sorry for Cecelia was impossible at times because she made poor life decisions. Though her decisions seemed poor at times, I have to state that this book depicted the way European settlers decisions to ‘kill the Indian, save the man’ was still affecting Native Americans in more modern times. Cecelia became a bi-product of the environment in which she was subjected to for so long.
In my opinion, this book is worth the read. It is heartbreaking for the most part, but it shows the struggles of everyday life intertwined with being part Native American and part white. It depicts how deep issues affect how to deal with them effectively. Cecelia paints a sad, but truthful picture of just one life.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janet Campbell Hale’s 1987 novel The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is a poignant life reflection by Cecelia Capture Wells as she sits in jail after being arrested for drunk driving on her thirtieth birthday. Her time in jail is extended as she is held on an old charge of welfare fraud leaving the Berkley law student and mother of two spending her solitary time reflecting on how she came to this point in her life. Her honesty and candidness about her life helps readers identify with her through her associative memories as her life story unfolds piece by piece. Triggered memories of her childhood of loneliness, isolation, abuse, and poverty melt into adult memories of lost love, motherhood, bad relationships, her failed marriage, and the death of her father. She is held captive not only physically for three days but realizes she has been held psychologically captured for years. Fighting against a legacy of racism, alcoholism, misogyny, and white cultural indoctrination the novel follows Cecelia’s psychological journey to push past self-recrimination and doubt to emerge ready to summon her grit and determination to fight on. On the precipice of suicide, she discovers how to embrace her Native American heritage, motherhood, and her intellectual aptitude in order to let go of the past and walk baggage free into the future. The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is an engaging must read into the thought process of a woman searching for her identity, love, and acceptance in a world that delivers abuse, pain, and loss.

[☆ lydiature ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have some mixed feelings. in the beginning, i found the premise to be interesting. the main character (cecilia) got arrested for driving under the influence & is forced to reminisce on her past while she’s waiting in jail. she showed us her upbringing, and we were quickly able to understand that she was truly a product of her environment. her father was a no-good drunk and her mom was an evil, abusive woman. not only that, cecilia didn’t really have any friends growing up. unsurprisingly, she got pregnant at 16 with her first child. except for one person, she kept attracting crappy people.

the writing was ok. honestly nothing special or riveting. towards the second half, the book just felt too stale and impersonal. the impersonal tone is fine but my main issue is that the book overall lacked magic. it was too straightforward, too distant. because of this, i felt my interest waning severely. i also didn’t feel connected to cecilia in any capacity.

while the premise and concepts are important, i can’t say that i got anything out of this really. this is one of those books where i think that more time should have been devoted to fleshing out all the characters and writing. the writing just felt stunted and bare—and not in a good way.

i promised myself that i would be honest with my reviews, so here is the truth: i thought about DNFing 10 pages away from the end. i just felt like the ending wouldn’t be worth it, or that it would be annoyingly predictable. and i was right—on both sides.

do i recommend this? eh.

[Lauren Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture, written by Janet Campbell Hale, surrounds the arrest of a 30-year-old Native American woman, Cecelia Capture. Cecelia is arrested on account of a DUI, but she is kept in holding for days because of a previous welfare fraud charge. As Cecelia awaits her release, she has the opportunity to look back on her life and reflect on the ways in which all of the hardships she endured led her to where she was. Cecelia is a very respectable character. Her immense inner strength and perseverance become evident when introduced to the continuous amount of pain and misery Cecelia suffered throughout her life. Cecelia’s introspections are moving and this story is bound to touch the hearts of all who read it. Janet Campbell Hale lures the audience into each page through her sophisticated elucidations, and keeps readers in anxious anticipation with intense dramatizations. Overall, this story provides insights into the struggles many Native people and their cultures endure. Certain parts of this story would not be considered appropriate for younger readers. However, I would recommend this story to older readers who are fans of suspense and drama. This book is also perfect for any older readers who are interested in gaining a novel viewpoint on issues surrounding Native Americans.

[Meg Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture by Janet Campbell Hale is a compelling and must-read story about a native woman trying to survive in a cold and unforgiving world. Cecelia Capture is stuck in jail and forced to reflect on her life and the experiences that brought her to where she is. The story delves into several important themes such as mental health, poverty, alcoholism, assimilation, and the continual effects of boarding schools for natives. Hale’s storytelling ability and voice are incredibly powerful and despite its heavy themes, the narrative was easy and enjoyable to read. Cecelia Capture is an exceptionally written character who feels like a living, breathing person.

This book offers a crucial perspective that everyone should take the time to read. Readers get to glance into the world and experiences of a native woman, and specifically, the direct results of her father being a survivor of the American Indian boarding schools and assimilation. Cecelia grows up without learning her native language and is forced to think and behave in a white world. She struggles with identity and her place, often unsure of herself and dealing with anxiety.

Be prepared to cry throughout this book. There were several heartbreaking moments that left me crying and reflecting for several hours afterward. I think this is a good thing, however. Hale does such a great job of creating this breathing character that you truly feel for her as she struggles and suffers. You desperately want her to succeed. There are so many little details, such as a particular law dictionary, that add so much life to Cecelia. Hale does a spectacular job at creating and adding these small, specific descriptions about all of the characters. You really get a great sense of everyone because of this. I also love how effortlessly Hale switches between past and present. I was never confused or unsure of where we were in the timeline. Everything made sense and had a purpose within the greater story.

One of my favorite scenes is the ending. It took me off guard and made the entire story so much more powerful. It showcases this story was about a woman finding strength within herself to keep pushing forward. She recognizes her struggles, mistakes, and the unfair and cruel system she has been forced to live in, but she refuses to let these faults control her. It’s inspiring and such a hopeful read for everyone. It’s one of many scenes that I still think about from time to time.

I strongly recommend everyone take the time to read this book, especially if you’re a white American. Although it’s fiction, it was written by a native woman, and understanding and consuming these narratives is so crucial to restoring rights back to Native Americans. I think it’s a great first step to understanding Indigenous struggles that are happening to this very day. On top of this, it’s an enjoyable and quick read. There are several things found throughout that everyone can relate to.

[Tiffanie Dorale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly Amazing!
This book was something that I was required to read for one of my college courses this year. I can tell you the first couple page turns of this book were not super interesting to me, but as I continued to read I started to fall IN LOVE with this book. The book is about a Native American woman named Cecelia is jailed and it feels like she is in jail FOREVER and it sounds quite boring, but the suspense almost killed me. While she is jailed she pretty much tells us her entire life story and Throughout the book Cecelia faces a lot of challenges. Among these are alcoholism, abuse, and finding a sense of self. She really shows us how tough it can be to grow up as a Native American and even at that a Native American Woman. In my eyes, this book has a strong theme of survivance. It’s all about Cecelia surviving these many struggles that I have previously mentioned. Overall, I can say that I wasn’t real enthused to have to read this book but I am really glad I did and honestly would read it again.

[Emma Whaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Jailing of Cecelia Capture by Janet Campbell Hale describes the life of the titular character as she is held in jail on a decade-old welfare fraud charge. The book tells of 30-year-old Cecelia’s childhood on a Native reservation in Idaho, her life as a young mother in San Franciso, and her journey to law school, where she studies at the time of her arrest. Readers encounter Cecelia’s alcoholic veteran father, her co-dependent mother, her white-savior husband, and her children who she loves infinitely despite all she’s given up for them. Recurrent themes throughout the book include racial relations and identity (particularly regarding Indigenous people), poverty, and generational trauma.

The biggest draw of this short novel is its genuine voice and character building. Cecelia has flaws, and Hale doesn’t let you forget them. At the same time, Cecelia’s memories are described very bluntly, making her out to be a reliable and sympathetic narrator. Her family members are described with all their faults and their values; Hale doesn’t sugar-coat loved ones just because they are loved. Hale writes Cecelia to be hopeful realist, always reaching for a better life but recognizing her chances at grabbing it are often slim. Cecelia’s outlook is raw and unfettered. She is very aware of her situation and of how others view her at all stages of her life, and she doesn’t hide her emotions from the reader.

The only real downside of The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is that the writing is just so-so. The concept is not groundbreaking or award-winning and the general storyline of a marginalized woman rising up past what society thinks of her is nowhere near fresh. It must be remembered, though that at the time this book was written, it was extremely fresh and new to write about marginalized women. It’s in no way a bad book. The characters are sympathetic, the situation feels dire, and the prose is straightforward but not blunt or clunky. It’s just not amazing.

[Delia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book and reads quickly. The content can get a little heavy at times, so despite it being only about 200 pages, this was not something that I could read in only one sitting (although I'm sure others may be able to do so). It flowed very well despite jumping between her present and her past. Hale did a wonderful showing the mixed feelings one can have with their cultural background: wanting to embrace your culture, but also wanting to transcend the barriers that are traditionally present in your culture, all while trying to juggle the daily struggles that is present in everyday life. While I probably won't reread this, I did enjoy the story very much.

[Deborah Adelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have meant to read this novel for a longtime. I recently read Campbell Hale's memoir Bloodlines, and I could see a lot of her life story in this novel, which influenced my reading. An engaging novel, solidly constructed, going between the main story line and the protagonists memories of childhood and adolescence. Because I couldn't help but think of the memoir, I would have to say that though they are not claiming to be the same story, I found myself more engaged by the memoir than by the novel. But I would recommend this as a good read!

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a Bingo challenge at my local library and one of the squares was "read a book written by an indigenous author."
I found this one and thought it interesting as it was a law student's life experiences.
It was difficult to read at times, authentically sad.
The characters that Cecelia encounters are believable and I was relieved by the way the story ended.
I am interested in the lives of her kids and how the the life of their mother and the friends, family and others she encountered shapes theirs'.

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

One thing I like to say is that its a book from my stash! One down 100s to go. I started it because it was in the guest room I needed something to read while waiting for my grandson to go to sleep.
It was very grim I almost gave it up a few times. Still I found it interesting to read about a Native American woman and her life. Alienation poverty alcohol etc.

[Erick Mertz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh, I lagged on this book. There was striking realism, a lot of characters I could relate to and an authentic look at the banality of everyday life. These were aspects I was look for in a book too, but the cycle of alcohol abuse, casual sexual encounters and sexism wore me out. There wasn’t any sparkle to the story, which is fine, but I needed something more to keep me reading at a decent clip.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written look at a hard life. The stories of Cecilia’s life and upbringing were interesting and felt very real. I rooted for her and just wanted her to come out on top, to be happy. But life isn’t that simple.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman's life is never easy, especially one that has to fight her way up from ignorance and poverty. This story takes a hard look at a Native American woman's journey to become better than her circumstances allowed, with every page you cheer for her and the last sentence leaves you with hope.

[milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

for class!

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reflection on her life by the main character was simply too grim to finish.

[Lexi Brannon-Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me cry. Addresses important modern Indigenous struggles.