Reviews for So Ole Says to Lena: Folk Humor of the Upper Midwest

The average rating for So Ole Says to Lena: Folk Humor of the Upper Midwest based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-10-09 00:00:00 Leonor Casadiego Don't miss this book to find some of the best tall tales - by nationality, no less - found in the Upper Midwest. Ethnic jokes and stories, as well as the best of Ole and Lena abound in the treasure! A warning to the weak at heart: do not read this book unless you are prepared to laugh so hard you will have tears streaming down your face or hold your sides because they hurt so much from laughter!

Review # 2 was written on 2017-03-31 00:00:00 Daniel Buckley Such fun to read! The book is well organized, and is a terrific assemblage of humorous short stories and jokes from the upper midwest US. You can dip into stories of Swedes, farmers, or just about any other ethnic or occupational category that exists in that region, which is quite diverse and pretty consistently funny. Be advised: despite its avowed content, this is a serious folkloric/ethnographic study, so there is a long and turgid introduction preceding, and extensive footnotes following, the actual jokes and fun stuff. Feel free to skip all of that, however I do recommend taking a look at the photographs and biographical info on the actual tellers, which is located just before the endnotes. The bibliographical and source material is very complete and extremely useful, for those who need it. Highly recommended to folklorists!