Perspective

This work is written in several different voices. The bulk of it is written from the scholarly and observant voice of the author, Karen McCarthy Brown, who immersed herself into the world of Vodou in the name of her research. She explains that this voice is "distanced enough to discern patterns and relationships, but not so distant as to create the impression of overall logical coherence." (p. 20, foreword) She also writes parts of the book in the third person perspective in order to create a more intimate view into certain situations, and to achieve, as she puts it, "whole self-revelation." Every other chapter of the book are third person perspective short stories where McCarthy Brown has taken creative liberties in reproducing accounts that have been kept alive largely in the oral tradition. Another distinct and essential voice is, of course, that of Mama Lola herself, which McCarthy Brown...