Complex sentence: Uncle Julius's stories resemble African American folk tales and include many supernatural occurrences built around hoodoo conjuring traditions; they are also much less idealistic and romanticized than John's understanding of Southern culture.
Split into simpler sentences: Uncle Julius's stories are derived from African-American folk tales and include many supernatural occurrences built around hoodoo conjuring traditions. They are less idealistic and romanticized than John's understanding of Southern culture.