The Orchid Thief
by Susan Orlean
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Read in March, 2008
Finally, here’s my take on Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession: It was fun.
Really, the book was a story of beauty and obsession. New Yorker author Orlean follows a story out of Florida about an orchid aficionado –John Laroche– who, along with a few members of the Seminole tribe, went into the Fakahatchee swamps and stole a few ghost orchids. Laroche and his rockers got caught and were charged with smuggling. Laroche’s argument was that he and the Se...more
Really, the book was a story of beauty and obsession. New Yorker author Orlean follows a story out of Florida about an orchid aficionado –John Laroche– who, along with a few members of the Seminole tribe, went into the Fakahatchee swamps and stole a few ghost orchids. Laroche and his rockers got caught and were charged with smuggling. Laroche’s argument was that he and the Se...more
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Read in May, 2008
Susan Orlean's book is not merely about John Laroche, the Orchid Thief; it is a natural history of orchids, of the state of Florida, of Florida native peoples and of many other species of plants.
John Laroche is a foul mouthed, self proclaimed genius who is obsessed with orchids. We meet him at different times throughout the book and he grated on my nerves every time. Here is what I did not like about this book:
*She described every single people of clothing that everyone she met was wearing...more
John Laroche is a foul mouthed, self proclaimed genius who is obsessed with orchids. We meet him at different times throughout the book and he grated on my nerves every time. Here is what I did not like about this book:
*She described every single people of clothing that everyone she met was wearing...more
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Read in June, 2008
Not only is the story well structured, with outstandingly fleshed-out characters (of course Orlean stepped into a milieu so full of oddballs that it would have been hard for her to have missed), but it is a strikingly important picture of an increasingly powerful segment of our society: the monomaniac.
In our normal society we are becoming increasingly governed by monomoniacs: people who live for one single cause and see any activity that is not focused on the cause as an immoral waste of ti...more
In our normal society we are becoming increasingly governed by monomoniacs: people who live for one single cause and see any activity that is not focused on the cause as an immoral waste of ti...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in September, 2007
The novel focuses on one incident-- a Florida hick’s scheme to poach orchids from Florida’s Fakahatchee swamps, clone them, and then sell them for millions of dollars. The novel’s theme is about people’s passion and obsessions. At one point in the novel the authors discovers, “It matters to care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more managable size. It makes the world seem not huge and empty but full of possibility.”
The beginning and the en...more
The beginning and the en...more
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Read in May, 2007
This was my Spring nonfiction. (Hey, the summer solstice isn't until June 21.) I did read some nonfiction earlier in the season, but I didn't think it was educational enough to count.
This book as been much lauded as "literary nonfiction." I thought it was an only semi-interesting hodge-podge of strings of random historical facts about orchid mania mixed up with stories about the collection of nuts who are into them today. I had inferred from all the great reviews and the popularity o...more
This book as been much lauded as "literary nonfiction." I thought it was an only semi-interesting hodge-podge of strings of random historical facts about orchid mania mixed up with stories about the collection of nuts who are into them today. I had inferred from all the great reviews and the popularity o...more
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I remember little about this book, so it's unfair to rate it. I believe I would have liked it more if I had read it in installments in the New Yorker.
I loved learning about Florida, about its history. She certainly garnered more respect from me for the State. I had previously associated it with only three things: a brilliant performance piece about a real Floridian kid who called himself "Gator Paws," the way its stupid climate poaches New York of its more interesting Jews, a...more
I loved learning about Florida, about its history. She certainly garnered more respect from me for the State. I had previously associated it with only three things: a brilliant performance piece about a real Floridian kid who called himself "Gator Paws," the way its stupid climate poaches New York of its more interesting Jews, a...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Adrienne by:
Kim P.recommends it for: journalists who cover culture, Florida fans, gardeners, those with Adaptation in Netflix queues
i certainly appreciate the research susan orlean put into this book. i am slightly envious of her job and the travel it permits. the historical information got a little tedious ("like reading a textbook," kelly says) for those hoping for a more plot-driven read. it never ceases to amaze me that there is a cult following and subculture surrounding just about any object or activity one can think of, and orlean does a fabulous job covering all angles of the orchid underworld.
my favori...more
my favori...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
people with no interest in flowers
I read this book as an assignment for a class. I originally had no interest what-so-ever in orchids. Susan Orlean is such a strong writer, however, that I quickly got sucked into the story.
The Orchid Thief started as a New Yorker article she wrote about a man named John Laroche who was arrested for stealing an endangered species of orchid from a national park.
The book goes into an in-depth history of tribal politics, Florida con men and their get-rich-quick schemes, and the infatuation ...more
The Orchid Thief started as a New Yorker article she wrote about a man named John Laroche who was arrested for stealing an endangered species of orchid from a national park.
The book goes into an in-depth history of tribal politics, Florida con men and their get-rich-quick schemes, and the infatuation ...more
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Read in October, 2005
In the movie Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman wants to adapt this book in such a way that the movie does justice to the importance of the orchids. Everyone tells him that he can't write a movie about flowers--flowers have no plot--but he insists that this is what he wants his movie to be about. When I saw the movie with my friend Neeraj, the movie ended and I noticed that Neeraj seemed kind of agitated. "Did you like the movie?" I asked him. "Well," he said, "in t...more
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I read this for my online book group this month. It's one of those books I wouldn't have picked up myself, but I'm kind of glad I read it. It certainly isn't one of my favorite books by any means, but I learned some things, so that makes it worthwhile.
Susan Orlean uses the story of John Laroche, a Floridian orchid grower who has been charged with stealing orchids out of a state park, as a framework for her book. The book, to me, is more about the uniqueness of Florida--the land, the people, ...more
Susan Orlean uses the story of John Laroche, a Floridian orchid grower who has been charged with stealing orchids out of a state park, as a framework for her book. The book, to me, is more about the uniqueness of Florida--the land, the people, ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Susan by:
Sequestered Nook bookgroup
I really liked Orlean's writing, and I think I'm going to have to stop saying that I don't really like non-fiction. Between my two bookgroups I've read quite a few that I really truly have enjoyed (and only 1 or two that I haven't, much.) Basically she is a writer in NY and reads about a trial in Florida of a white man, John Laroche, and 3 Seminole men who were caught stealing orchids from the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. She's interested, shows up at the trial, starts talking to Laro...more
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Read in July, 2007
Like a lot of people, my entry point for this book was the film Adaptation. I assumed that the film deviated a lot more from the book than it actually did (of course, in the book the author doesn't really -spoiler alert?- have a clandestine drug-fueled affair with John Laroche that culminates in vehicular manslaughter), but all the really profound themes about obsession and longing remain intact.
I was pleasantly surprised that the presentation, essentially a New Yorker piece fleshed out to its...more
I was pleasantly surprised that the presentation, essentially a New Yorker piece fleshed out to its...more
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This seems like the kind of thing I might really go for, but I found its style completely unreadable. Maybe if I'd had the patience to get through the first few pages I'd have changed my mind, but I didn't stick around long enough to find out. This is the first thing by Susan Orlean I've ever tried to read, and it'll probably be the last, unless someone makes even a limp a case for why I should be more open-minded and give her another shot. I think this felt like Joan Didion on ecstacy, trying t...more
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Read in August, 2007
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the informative and historical narrative exploring the world of orchids, orchid collection and obsession, and the Seminole Indians, I was slightly put off by the descriptive capabilities of the author. One sentence that stands out in my mind is Orlean's illustration of the evening before an elegant orchid party as a "luscious, moony night". Later, she describes the landscape following a hurricane as possessing "the shocked look of a newly shaved head&...more
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Read in June, 2008
At first I thought this book was about John Laroche aka The Orchid Thief. Then I thought it was about Orchid's and flower culture. But by the time you finish the book you realize it's not about flower's and it's not about Laroche; it's about obsession and the lengths people will travel to satisfy an urge or an addiction. For these people the addiction is orchids and the victims are diverse: Florida Seminoles, Park Rangers, Literature Professors, Adventurers, and members of the English House ...more
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Read in January, 2005
This is an interesting book, but it drove me nuts because Orlean uses this device where, instead of using commas to separate the items of a list, she uses the word and. "He was tall and handsome and charming and virile," instead of "he was tall, handsome, charming and virile." Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using the and list for effect once in a while, but Orlean uses it on every other page, I kid you not. I actually had a hard time paying attention to the a...more
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SPOILER: This book isn't just about orchids. Gasp, right?
I'd seen Adaptation (though a while ago now), but didn't know what to expect from Orlean's book. She astounded me throughout. It's more a history of the flora (orchids included) and fauna (strange, strange humans as well as every animal carted across the border) of Florida. I read passages aloud at the family dinner table, just because they were fascinating. (I did tell my 7-year-old she had to be a bit older to read it, though.)
Th...more
I'd seen Adaptation (though a while ago now), but didn't know what to expect from Orlean's book. She astounded me throughout. It's more a history of the flora (orchids included) and fauna (strange, strange humans as well as every animal carted across the border) of Florida. I read passages aloud at the family dinner table, just because they were fascinating. (I did tell my 7-year-old she had to be a bit older to read it, though.)
Th...more
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Read in September, 2007
this book starts out with a bang. totally addicting at first, and then...by the middle, it takes some pushing through. still, definitely worth a read. orlean is thorough. she really digs into the orchid subculture; I loved learning so many fun details about how people go crazy for these plants. there were some passages that just stuck out for me so much I had to scrawl them all over my bookmark, for example: "Everyone I was meeting connected to the orchid poaching had circled their lives a...more
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I'm not normally one for factual books...fiction is definitely my forte...but this is the extreme exception. One of my very favorite books, this is an informative and entertaining story, and the movie version (called "Adaptation" and starring Nicholas Cage) is just as good, though obviously more fanciful. It's really great to read the book first, then see the movie, so you are aware of exactly what's going on, and what is fact vs. what is fiction. It may give you (as it did me) an i...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in October, 2007
"This was the low, simmering part of the state, as quiet as a shrine except for crickets keeping time and the creak of trees bending and the crackly slam of a screen door and the clatter of a car now and then ..."
"We whipped past abandoned bungalows melting into woodpiles, and past NO TRESPASSING signs shot up like Swiss cheese, and past a rusty boat run aground on someone's driveway, and past fences leaning like old ladies, and then almost past a hand-lettered sign that inter...more
"We whipped past abandoned bungalows melting into woodpiles, and past NO TRESPASSING signs shot up like Swiss cheese, and past a rusty boat run aground on someone's driveway, and past fences leaning like old ladies, and then almost past a hand-lettered sign that inter...more
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