Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter

by Janet Campbell Hale

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Native American, Memoir, Book Club, Indigenous, Essays, Read For School

220 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 1993

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

[Deborah Adelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important memoir, beautifully written. Found it on my sister's shelf in Brazil! I found it to be an honest look at family, in general, but also specifically the story of a Native American family, shaped by broad forces of U.S. history. I found the depiction of Hale's mother fascinating, troubling, incomplete. Perhaps it is not possible to fully understand another human being, even the one who raised you!

[Sarah left GR]

From this list of 50 memoirs by authors if color: https://bookriot.com/2018/07/03/must-...

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hale writes about her own family history in this novel. This book is soooo well-written. She interweaves her own experience with striking portraits of her relatives, both living and dead in lyrical prose. A searing novel. Made me think about how we are all connected--the children to their fathers and the fathers to their children. We without our ancestors cannot be saved, and they without us cannot be saved.

[PS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was repetitive at times but overall a sobering insight into the lives of Native American people. I loved her essay, Daughter of Winter, on her relationship with her distant and emotionally abusive mother. It was so dark, so sad yet so beautiful. I need to read more Native American authors.

“I told them [schoolchildren] how I’d often heard non-Indians say they didn’t know why Indians make such a big deal out of cultural retention. Why not be like other Americans? Like the Irish or Italian communities, for instance, who have big Saint Patrick’s Day or Columbus Day celebrations once a year and then, for the most part, forget about their ethnic identities. The most important different is this: if Irish or Italian culture dies in America it really isn’t that big a deal. They still exist in Italy and Ireland. Not so with us. There is no other place. North America is our old country.”

[Cheryl Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

These essays have many heart-wrenching moments, particularly with regard to Campbell Hale's relationship with her mother. It is both the odyssey of a daughter and the odyssey of a Native, of Campbell Hale's role and experience within her family as well as within the larger social and cultural milieu she moves through. They are two intersecting and intertwining narrative lines rather than one singular identity or set of circumstances. The emotional abuse she experienced as a daughter made the denigration of her cultural identity by society that much heavier to bear. There is some narrative repetition between the essays, and also sometimes within each essay, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book at times, but I found these essays well worth reading for their emotional power and generous if necessarily flawed demonstration of forgiveness and healing.

[Emma-Kate Schaake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really intrigued by this memoir, especially because I recognized many of the places she describes. It’s hard to rate because I enjoyed reading her life experiences growing up transient and learning what her identity means to her, but it was also a little hard to follow in the spaces where she outlines generations of her family. The very sparse writing style also wasn’t exactly for me. Worth the read, though!

[Jeneen Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hale articulately expresses her experience of the loneliness of racism and the attempted severance of her cultural roots, as well as the struggle and survival of several generations of her family. Honest, painful and triumphant in her emotions.

[Jasmine Dorsett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brings to life the reality of the Indian history, bloodline, abuse, and family. I suggest to anyone that wants to hear a more personal view of the Indian Tribal life and family.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad this was chosen by my book club. Loved it even though it is such a sad autobiography.

[Georgene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to read. It's part fiction and part autobiography. If even HALF of what is written in the book is true, the author went through nothing short of a living hell until she was about 24 or so. That she was able to get out of the cycle of abuse by family and spouses, attend college and make a life for herself and her child is nothing short of amazing.

Her descriptions of the abuse she put up with as a child makes my own growing-up years look like a wonderful dream.

[Bev Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a somewhat disjointed collection of essays about the author's experiences growing up as an Indian in the Pacific Northwest, the discrimination she experienced and the influence her family and their history had on her. It was eye-opening for me as a white person living in the same area with little or no contact and less understanding of Native Americans.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A large part of the book deals with Hale's troubled relationship with her mother without Hale sounding like she's whining. She also wove in her tribe's history and her only personal family history well.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

School book? Yup. Good? Actually, yes. This was one of those wonderful moments when you pick up a school book to read the assigned chapter and then end up reading the entire book. It was a good companion with what we were studying, but I enjoyed it in general.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

First rate memoir of a Salishan Native American. It's a tearjerker, but also an inspiring chronical of a very resilient and yes, heroic woman who has taken life's scars and emerged insightful, which is more than most of us can say. Highly rec'd.

[Christi Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays by Janet Campbell Hale, a member of the Coeur d'Alene tribe. From the book's blurb, "... a rich tapestry of history, storytelling, and remembrance." Really, those few words say so much. This is a wonderful book, heartbreaking but well worth the read (and re-read).

[Carol Lichti · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Hale writes about her family history and childhood in Idaho, Washington and Montana, which was especially interesting to me. After learning about the background of this author, I'd like to read her other work.

[Kari · Rating 1 out of 5]

The back of the paperback quotes the Sante Fe New Mexican's review, "Anguished, searing, and unflinching." To that I would add, "Full of anger and indignancy."

[Dorothy Soest · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening and very well-written memoir.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little repetitive but good-full of the challenges of an abusive and overly mobile childhood set against a Pacific northwest native background.

[Geo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[Brandon Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daughter of Winter is an incredibly intimate and touching autobiographical account of a mother daughter relationship. The whole book is full of stories that are enthralling!