A review by outcolder
Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn by Karen McCarthy Brown

5.0

Like [b:Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman|93487|Nisa The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman|Marjorie Shostak|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320064595l/93487._SY75_.jpg|90129], which I also loved, this is an ethnography that focuses on one woman informant. Well, one woman and her family. Mama Lola faces a lot of drama, in her own life and in the lives of the Brooklynites she helps by serving the spirits, so there are a lot of amazing stories in here. Brown alternates between chapters written like gonzo journalism and chapters that are more in line with anthropology, which allows for more freakiness than other academic disciplines, but still, strives for something like "truth." I don't know if Haitians or Vodou practicing people think this book is true, but I thought it was amazing. Even at the distance of a few decades and thousands of kilometers, I thought some of the spiritual insights here and theories of magic were helpful for me personally. I also kept flashing back to bits of [a:Nalo Hopkinson|27528|Nalo Hopkinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1361387199p2/27528.jpg] stories and memories of encounters with Santeria when I lived in NYC, which was nice. All in all this is an exciting, warm, and loving book.