A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau Book

While I did find this book interesting, it doesn't quite live up to its promise. I picked it up expecting to learn some cool and scandalous Voodoo stories about the Queen of Voodoo, and learned instead that the many salacious rumors about Marie Laveau were just that - unfounded rumors, or else complete fabrication. While it's definitely more than okay that Carolyn Morrow Long is separating fact from fiction here, what's disappointing is that not a lot is actually known about Marie Laveau's life.

The book spent a lot of time describing the city of New Orleans at this period in history, and the society that would have been familiar to Marie Laveau. Slavery is discussed, as is the religion of Voudou [sic] and certain other famous figures in Voudou's annals. Most of the information about Marie Laveau was tables and charts of her descendants, information about debts and house sales, etc. Without the inaccurate elaborate stories, there isn't much there worth learning about.

I think this book would have been better focused had it been a book centered on Voudou itself. The New Orleans history, slavery history, and rites and festivals would have fit right in. The chapter about Dr. John wouldn't have seemed so random. And there could have been a chapter or two detailing the Marie Laveau facts vs. fictions, because while she seems to be an important figure in the religion, there isn't enough interesting factual information out there for an entire book about her. When it was all said and done, that's basically what this book was - 2/3 history of a place and time, and 1/3 debunking Marie Laveau myths and explaining her genealogy. The title is somewhat misleading in that way.

This book is worth a read for those interested in New Orleans history and the roots of Voodoo, but I would sooner recommend Carolyn Morrow Long's biography of another notorious New Orleanian, Delphine LaLaurie: "Madame LaLaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House". More is known about her life, the scandalous stories are bigger and scarier, and the book is ultimately more factual and still more entertaining than this offering.