Originally posted by dannyboy121070
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Initial thoughts at the halfway point of the Valancourt edition:
The stories in the Valancourt edition are arranged in order of publication, and the first 3 or 4 stories were VERY similar; John, who is the essence of a good character, comes across a small mountain community / family and the community / family is being put upon by a bad / evil man and John, by using his silver strung guitar, helps the community / family rid itself of the bad / evil man,Â
At this point I was wondering if I would finish the collection. However, the story plots got a little more varied after that, using more Appalachian legends and general American folklore. Â In the last story I read, John comes across a giant of a man and the story referenced the Bible (not in a heavy handed way, but giants were referenced in the book of Genesis) and the American folklore of Paul Bunyan and others.
After the repetitious beginning, the stories have gotten more enjoyable. These are simple stories with simple characters that fall into one of two categories, either good or bad. Saying that, I can’t imagine I’d ever feel compelled to upgrade from the single Valancourt story collection. The stories in this edition usually run from 12 to 18 pages, the perfect length for what are essentially pretty simple stories. I think Ron said it, and I would agree, that the style of these stories and Wellman’s writing style would not lend themselves to keeping my interest in a novel length work.
So in general, I’m happy I picked up this edition of classic stories, but doubt I will feel any need to upgrade beyond the Valancourt edition in the future.
That being said, since I am at the half way point, I will probably take a break from the John stories and read something else for a few days.
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