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donnar's review against another edition
3.0
after the 15th story about coyote stealing the sun i kinda got the point
doriastories's review against another edition
5.0
This is a terrific and extremely informative collection of Native American narratives, drawn from a wide range of cultures and including tricksters of many kinds. A great deal of the material is Rated R, however much of it is family-friendly; this variety of tale types and styles underlies the authenticity and cultural value of the collection. However, the stories are each valuable and interesting in their own right, and have much to teach us about their cultures of origin.
In addition to the stories themselves, there is also a splendid Appendix towards the end of the book, which offers a brief history and description of cultural practices for each tribe represented. There is also a section called Sources, which gives details on the provenance of each tale included in the book, some of which were collected first-hand from their tellers by editors Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.
The tales are retold in this collection in a spare, simple style which showcases the content and characters. They range from short joke-length anecdote-like accounts to long episodic myths and legends. Some are clearly meant to amuse, while others are dark and powerful, frightening and moving. Every theme imaginable is treated, whether sexual, psycho-social, scatological, or gender-political. The book encompasses a world of mores, customs, jokes, animal and human behavior analyses, and more. It is a treasure-house which can be read cover to cover or picked through and explored at leisure. It is valuable to ethnographers, anthropologists, folklorists, storytellers, and lay readers alike, and I recommend it unreservedly.
*Due to some of the Adult material, I do not recommend the book in its entirety for young children, however a great deal of it is child-appropriate, and could be read aloud or retold to mixed audiences.
In addition to the stories themselves, there is also a splendid Appendix towards the end of the book, which offers a brief history and description of cultural practices for each tribe represented. There is also a section called Sources, which gives details on the provenance of each tale included in the book, some of which were collected first-hand from their tellers by editors Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.
The tales are retold in this collection in a spare, simple style which showcases the content and characters. They range from short joke-length anecdote-like accounts to long episodic myths and legends. Some are clearly meant to amuse, while others are dark and powerful, frightening and moving. Every theme imaginable is treated, whether sexual, psycho-social, scatological, or gender-political. The book encompasses a world of mores, customs, jokes, animal and human behavior analyses, and more. It is a treasure-house which can be read cover to cover or picked through and explored at leisure. It is valuable to ethnographers, anthropologists, folklorists, storytellers, and lay readers alike, and I recommend it unreservedly.
*Due to some of the Adult material, I do not recommend the book in its entirety for young children, however a great deal of it is child-appropriate, and could be read aloud or retold to mixed audiences.
fitzkreiner's review
4.0
Full of some lovely and hilarious stories, but I could have done without some of the repetition. There may be two slightly different versions of a particular tale, but I don't need to read both.
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