disreputabledog's review against another edition
4.0
I wanted a book on Kentucky folklore, and this one delivered! Mary Hamilton is a professional storyteller from Kentucky, and the stories collected here are ones that she has told many times to audiences. As a result, the stories are written in a very conversational way that can be a little off-putting to readers if you're not expecting it at first.
Each story is accompanied by commentary from Hamilton that sheds light on where she first heard the story, changes she made to the original version she draws from, and how she tells the story aloud. I found the commentary to be very interesting and learned a lot about the art of storytelling. However, if you take away the commentary and footnotes, the stories only total about 100 pages; I would have loved to read more stories than the ones provided here, even if commentary wasn't attached to each one.
Each story is accompanied by commentary from Hamilton that sheds light on where she first heard the story, changes she made to the original version she draws from, and how she tells the story aloud. I found the commentary to be very interesting and learned a lot about the art of storytelling. However, if you take away the commentary and footnotes, the stories only total about 100 pages; I would have loved to read more stories than the ones provided here, even if commentary wasn't attached to each one.
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