Rating: 
Summary: History, Quirky Characters, and Lots of Atmosphere
Review: I was actually a little disappointed with this book, having just read several rave reviews of it in the big year end "Best of"s in Time Magazine, the New York Times, and in one of the local papers here in Pittsburgh. Yet there are a lot of positive things that would make me lean toward recommending this book to someone else. It has several sections that really are fascinating and very well written, with the kind of attention to the minute details of real life that make non-fiction books like this so much fun to read. It also offers a pretty interesting glimpse into a world that most of us have never experienced or even heard about, namely that of Orchids and the men and women who live for them (sounds like a Jerry Springer Show topic, actually, and many of these people would fit right in on that show). It also includes a handful of completely off-kilter real life characters--ranging from a Seminole chief who plays rock and roll during the day and hunts endangered species at night to the main character, who begins the book as a free-lance (and semi-legal) botanist and ends the book as a purveyor of internet porn--who really jump off the page at you. And I always like those kinds of books that really draw you in to new worlds. In these aspects, the book really reminded me of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. But having made that comparison, the book really does pale next to Midnight. Ms. Orlean never gets close enough to these people to really satisfy me and she never really dips deeper into their characters than to wonder at their slightly goofy, slighty compelling veneers. She even admits several times that she resisted getting too close to these people, as if they carried some kind of "orchid fever" that she could catch, eventually giving away all the orchids they gave her as presents and refusing to buy any at the shows she covered. Maybe if she had allowed herself to get imersed in the scene, then this would have been a better book. And my personal pet peeve: she repeats things--a lot. And not just once or twice, either. Some anecdotes, facts and stories are related three or four times, sometimes within pages of one another. I imagine this is because she was trying to flesh out what began as a magazine article into a full-length book, but there is a point in there where the editor definitely should have stepped in. So, overall, I can give a slight recommendation on the subject matter and a few very compelling passages alone. But my overall impression on finishing this book is that I find it very interesting that these people are spending their lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and risking prison time to acquire and grow these beautiful plants, but I'm left thinking that the question of "Why?" should have been answered better.
Rating:
Summary: THE UNWET DIVER
Review: FOR A BOOK ABOUT OBSESSION SUSAN ORLEANS FAILS TO BECOME POSESSED BY THE MANIA OF HER CHARECTURES AND THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES. SHE GIVES CLEAR GROUND FOR THEIR DEMENTIA TO BE CLEARLY SEEN. THE SAME HOWEVER CANNOT BE SAID OF THE NITTPICKING REVIEWERS WHO FAIL TO ENJOY A GOOD STORY ABOUT THE WEIRDNESS OF REALITY. ORCHIDS ARE A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE BEAUTY OF THE OUTRE' AND THIS BOOK HITS TOO CLOSE TO HOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO ENGROSS THEMSELVES IN THIER ALLURE.
Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTIONS, BUT WHERE'S THE STORY?
Review: I read Susan Orlean's excerpt in the NEW YORKER and rushed out to buy the book as I wanted to find out more about John Larouche "the orchid thief". I soon found out that all the "meat" of the story was in the NEW YORKER article and the book was nothing more than "bun". I wanted/hoped THE ORCHID THIEF to be a "juicy" tale of intrigue and adventure, but there's only a little of that in the book. Mostly we follow Ms. Orlean around Florida looking at orchids and talking to strange orchid growers. Many of her descriptions are breathtakingly beautiful and vivid, but as a STORY it really falls short. I was disappointed. (No wonder the writer who is adapting this for the screen struggled to adapt this work. I read he finally had to make up a story that really has nothing to do with the book because there isn't one within these pages.)
Rating: 
Summary: WHERE'S THE CHARACTER?
Review: Why didn't I just read the encyclopedia for information on orchids and the Seminoles? What was so special about Laroche as a character? Was he really that boring or does Orlean really write that horribly? I hate reading books with grammatical errors, especially by a New Yorker staff writer! The Good Life chapter's final sentence ends with a preposition. This book could discourage the population from reading. I totally understand why the Harry Potter series is doing so well on the best seller list.
Rating: 
Summary: Some times you feel like a nut.........
Review: This book is about the orchid growing scene in Florida and goes on at length about smuggling of native plants from the local preserve as well as around the world, the big orchid shows held there, the feuds between the prominent growers in the area and the generally wacky demeanor of the various colorful characters involved in the activities of orchid "society" in this suspiciously hot and humid local. If you have ever belonged to a specialty horticutural society and questioned your sanity when caught up in the thrall of your favorite plant, this book will make you feel like the very picture of placid normalcy when compared to orchid growers. Humorous, and a quick read, I recommend this book to all those plant persons who are not afraid of seeing perhaps the tiniest fragment of themselves reflected in the fascinatingly consumed characters portrayed in this book.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful book!
Review: this is a really top-rate piece of non-fiction that reads like a novel. i disagree with those who have commented that it's "cold". it's funny and warm and the characters are portrayed with a lot of empathy, even the oddballs like laroche. i was completely engrossed through the whole book.
Rating: 
Summary: A New Yorker in Florida
Review: Although the premise of the work was quite interesting, Ms. Orlean fails in the execution. She is never able to comprehend a reality outside of her own, which makes for pedestrian similes (she describes the petals of a group of orchids as looking "shampooed and conditioned") and a superficial grasp of her subject. Although I wanted the book to be better, being very interested both in "Beauty" and in "Obsession", I found myself embarassed for the author as she stumbled through it, a stranger in a strange land, in rather an "Ugly American" fashion. She was never able to take the step outside of her own safe entitlement and privilege that is necessary for compassion and empathy. Her frequent reiterations of how "wierd" she found Laroche were thin and meaningless: never subjecting herself to the vulnerability of description which would allow the reader to make his own decision about Laroche's character, Ms. Orleans settles for epithets. This is a disappointing, cold and distant look at a subject that deserved a better chronicler.
Rating:
Summary: Book is all over the map
Review: I'm a writer by trade (news) and know how fickle the public can be, but I am still amazed at how successful this book has become. It's a pure and simple bore, with a choppy story that wanders all over world and at times seems to have lost any contact with the original focus.
Rating:
Summary: The controversy swirls on...still a good read
Review: Susan Orlean has really done it this time. She has written a book about, "passion itself, and the amazing lengths to which people will go to gratify it." Is it any wonder that her readers feel so passionately about this book. Many orchid experts find fault with the book's facts and criticize the lack of passion for orchids from Ms. Orlean while lovers of a good story and that crazy world known as south Florida rave about it. For my part, I enjoyed reading the Orchid Thief. It reads like a novel, so while I did notice a horticultural error or two myself, I was not reading it as a reference book, but for entertainment. I didn't find it to be quite the page turner I was expecting, but the characters are memorable, the stories are interesting and Ms. Orlean's writing is a pleasure. I am an amazon.com associate.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant! what non-fiction OUGHT to be
Review: this book is remarkable -- a meditation on place, a hilarious character study, a fascinating piece of reporting, and incredible fun to read. there's something even emotional and poignant about it that really captured me. i NEVER thought i'd be interested in reading about orchids. Little did i know that i would be sorry when the book ended...
|
