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max_the_lesbrarian's review
5.0
As someone with a passion for cultural histories and folklore, this book immediately grabbed me. The stories Hilliard collected were fascinating and vibrant, and I can't wait to jump back in soon. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in West Virginia, history, and folklore more broadly.
Thank you so, so much to University of Carolina Press and Netgalley for giving me a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you so, so much to University of Carolina Press and Netgalley for giving me a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
whatsbookinjenni's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This made me love West Virginia even more than I already do - definitely an academically-minded text, but with a subject matter that I think can be appreciated by a larger audience. Lots of my favorite things - explorations of foodways, place-making through literature and community building, and visioning for a more hopeful, rurally-rooted future -- maybe I should become a folklorist too (or maybe I already am!).
kleonard's review
5.0
I love this book, an account of West Virginian folklore created through collaborative means and with an eye on how folklore and regional customs are being preserved. Author Hilliard writes in an easy, everyday voice, devoid of jargon or too much academic writing. The work she's done as a scholar and partner wi people in t he state involved in various, wide-ranging traditions is outstanding. Folklore isn't just stories told around a fire by elders--although that still happens--but is the content of a video game, the way a certain kind of food is cooked, the places--some of them now destroyed--that appear in a writer's work. It's a fascinating read, and I hope other folklorists follow Hilliard's lead.
ellenodessa's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit dry at times, especially in the intro, but mostly so full of color I breezed through (when I actually had time to read). WV gets a bad rap a lot of times but I think this books pays homage to another, and often overlooked, beautiful aspect of the state: its cultural heritage. I’m a native West Virginian and found myself learning about things I wasn’t even aware existed. I will definitely be checking out the work of some of the people mentioned and plan to do a “making our future” tour of the state next time I’m back home.
elenaakers's review
informative
5.0
Picked up this book on a whim at the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center, and wow am I glad I did.
Read in two days because I just couldn’t put it down. For someone not from WV, this author did an incredible job of embedding herself in the culture and understanding the historical and contemporary factors of the region. I think this book is very readable as far as scholarly works go, and despite a few passages being denser, I do think a non-scholarly, but nonfiction-inclined audience would still enjoy. As someone interested in cultural memory studies, this was a particularly interesting book for me, and taught me a lot about the field of folklore, and frankly made me look at the culture of my home state in new ways. I never considered the history of hotdogs. I’ve never heard of Breece Pancake but I’m ordering the story collection asap. Though in recent years people have begun speaking about the diversity of West Virginia historically, the chapter on Scott’s Run really ingrained that in me in a way I never understood before.
I cried reading the chapter about the teacher’s strike and feeling the full circle of socialist labor organizing in a state so often written off as conservative. And also because West Virginia teachers got me to where I am, and they deserve so much better. It also made me emotional to consider this deep, rich, evolving culture of a place I only ever wanted to leave, but it also makes me more conscious of the values I was raised with and more willing to go back for visits and represent West Virginia to outsiders. I’m so obsessed with this idea of communities choosing what to keep and what to change about their traditions, and the acknowledgement that in order to carry culture forward, basic needs need to be met and these communities need to be protected from commodification and extraction (although this does shape culture too). I have so many thoughts to take away from this book and I am so so grateful to Emily Hilliard for doing this work.
Read in two days because I just couldn’t put it down. For someone not from WV, this author did an incredible job of embedding herself in the culture and understanding the historical and contemporary factors of the region. I think this book is very readable as far as scholarly works go, and despite a few passages being denser, I do think a non-scholarly, but nonfiction-inclined audience would still enjoy. As someone interested in cultural memory studies, this was a particularly interesting book for me, and taught me a lot about the field of folklore, and frankly made me look at the culture of my home state in new ways. I never considered the history of hotdogs. I’ve never heard of Breece Pancake but I’m ordering the story collection asap. Though in recent years people have begun speaking about the diversity of West Virginia historically, the chapter on Scott’s Run really ingrained that in me in a way I never understood before.
I cried reading the chapter about the teacher’s strike and feeling the full circle of socialist labor organizing in a state so often written off as conservative. And also because West Virginia teachers got me to where I am, and they deserve so much better. It also made me emotional to consider this deep, rich, evolving culture of a place I only ever wanted to leave, but it also makes me more conscious of the values I was raised with and more willing to go back for visits and represent West Virginia to outsiders. I’m so obsessed with this idea of communities choosing what to keep and what to change about their traditions, and the acknowledgement that in order to carry culture forward, basic needs need to be met and these communities need to be protected from commodification and extraction (although this does shape culture too). I have so many thoughts to take away from this book and I am so so grateful to Emily Hilliard for doing this work.
mmcloe's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Thinking through the intersections of queer Appalachian folklore, futurity, and hauntings for a paper I'm writing - this book was really helpful at synthesizing some of the major trends in critical folklore studies while also underscoring the role of the aesthetic and the material in the creation of folklore
airxsouls's review
5.0
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. OKAY, this one took me to places I've never visited nor read much about. The fascination I've held for Appalachia has always been there though. The few stories I've heard were nowhere near as in-depth as this book was. It was also very eloquently and smartly written, so much so that at times I had to use as much concentration as I could to really piece together the info dump chapter after chapter. Although please don't think that's a bad thing, I actually quite enjoyed it.
kairosdreaming's review
4.0
*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.
What an interesting book! While not a West Virginian myself, being in the South and near the foothills of Appalachia, some of the folk expressions carried over and it was interesting too to see how they varied by region.
This book covers more modern folk, specifically what the author terms as "folklife", hearkening not necessarily to history, but to the adaptability of traditions and other expressions of culture and self that can be found. Going through topics like hotdogs (next time I'm passing through Bexley I'll have a stop to make for sure), to a museum where the townsfolk having a Sat. chat is part of the draw, to a video game that expresses different interesting notes of WV lore and place (I now need to play this video game), it covered a wide array of topics you wouldn't necessarily put together as "similar". But in the author's way of describing how culture can be generated, it makes sense.
There is some jargon that goes along with the topic (I, with no shame, don't mind looking up terms and concepts and had to do that a few times in this one), but I would expect that from any non-fiction book in a person's specialty area. In general, the vibe and purpose of the book came through and is a great way to explore the people of West Virginia while also understanding some of their history, sociology, and paths forward.
Review by M. Reynard 2022
What an interesting book! While not a West Virginian myself, being in the South and near the foothills of Appalachia, some of the folk expressions carried over and it was interesting too to see how they varied by region.
This book covers more modern folk, specifically what the author terms as "folklife", hearkening not necessarily to history, but to the adaptability of traditions and other expressions of culture and self that can be found. Going through topics like hotdogs (next time I'm passing through Bexley I'll have a stop to make for sure), to a museum where the townsfolk having a Sat. chat is part of the draw, to a video game that expresses different interesting notes of WV lore and place (I now need to play this video game), it covered a wide array of topics you wouldn't necessarily put together as "similar". But in the author's way of describing how culture can be generated, it makes sense.
There is some jargon that goes along with the topic (I, with no shame, don't mind looking up terms and concepts and had to do that a few times in this one), but I would expect that from any non-fiction book in a person's specialty area. In general, the vibe and purpose of the book came through and is a great way to explore the people of West Virginia while also understanding some of their history, sociology, and paths forward.
Review by M. Reynard 2022