The Orchid Thief

Rating:
Summary: Flower powered.
Review: I was inspired to read Susan Orlean's "true story of beauty and obsession" after seeing the movie "Adaptation" twice in one week. THE ORCHID THIEF is a fascinating love story: "When a man falls in love with orchids, he'll do anything to possess the one he wants. It's like chasing a green-eyed woman or taking cocaine . . . it's a sort of madness" (p. 78). And Orlean's book is as much about exotic orchids as the eccentric characters who collect them.

THE ORCHID THIEF evolved out of a article Orleans first published in "The New Yorker" magazine about John Laroche's 1994 trial for removing endangered orchids from Florida's Fakahatchee swamp. Thirty-six-year-old Laroche is a tall, skinny guy, "with the posture of al dente spaghetti," Orleans writes, "and sharply handsome, in spite of the fact that he is missing all his front teeth" (p. 4). Laroche's life has been a series of obsessions, from Ice Age fossils, turtles, and old mirrors, to orchids. In writing about Laroche's criminal lust for orchids, Orleans ultimately discovers her own "unembarrassing passion--I want to know what it feels like to care about something passionately" (p. 41). Laroche's oddball obsessions offer Orleans a meaningful lesson in "getting immersed in something, and learning about it, and having it become a part of your life" (p. 279).

With its lessons in living a passionate life, exotic flowers, quirky characters, muddy swamps filled with snapping turtles, rattlesnakes, bugs and critters--who could ask for anything more from a book?

G. Merritt

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Summary: Passion for orchids. And the writer's passion for the story
Review: I love to learn new things. That's why this 1998 book by journalist Susan Orlean appealed to me. It's about orchids. And one particular eccentric man with a scheme to grow rich from Florida's endangered Ghost Orchid. But mostly, it's about the passion surrounding the special world of the orchid lover. And, also, it's about the writer's own passion for a good story.

On a visit to Florida, Ms. Orleans just happened to see a small article in the local newspaper about John Laroche, accused of stealing orchids from the Fakahatchee Swamp. On a whim, she went to the trial, became interested in the subject and, with a sense of humor and a great way with words, she takes the reader on her own journey of discovery. I love Ms. Orleans' writing. For example, she describes John Laroche as having "the posture of al dente spaghetti" and "the bulk and shape of a coat hanger".

I identified with the writer's experience completely. I was right with her as she explored the hot mucky swamps. And I listened with her ears as she interviewed collectors, business people and law enforcement agents. I learned about the Seminole Indians and their own particular story. I learned a lot of orchid history dating back hundreds of years which included a whole cast of European plunderers, smugglers and naturalists. And I learned about Florida, with all its beauty and land grabbing and swamps and personalities. A lot of research went into this book. It's full of facts and figures as well as the writer's personal observations. It certainly taught me a lot. It even drove me to the Internet to find out when the next orchid show will be in New York. I know I'll be there.

I loved this book and give it an extremely high recommendation. It certainly opened a whole new world for me.

Rating:
Summary: Annoying Audio
Review: I cannot get through this book. The reader's voice is annoying and it turns out to be not a story of a person but a travalogue mainly of Florida.

I learned a lot more about orchids than I care to know. To me it was like a textbook and the so-called orchid thief barely appeared. I had expected a novel and instead was back in the BOTANY department where I used to work.

Maybe if I had read it with my eyes I would have liked it but the audio WAS not pleasant and I don't think I'll get past the 4th disc.

Rating:
Summary: An original, quirky and entertaining book.
Review: Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" is an intriguing look at people who are obsessed with collecting orchids. Originally, Ms. Orlean's main focus was to write a profile of John Laroche in "The New Yorker" magazine. Laroche is an offbeat character who spent a great deal of time and money amassing a huge orchid collection. When Laroche banded together with a group of Seminole Indians to steal orchids from the Fakahatchee Strand, a 63,000-acre preserve in southwest Florida, he was arrested and tried for his crime.

Orlean eventually expanded her article on Laroche into this book. She widened the scope of her research and came up with many interesting tidbits about orchids and those who collect them. For example, I learned that orchids often outlive human beings. In fact, orchids can theoretically live forever, since they have no natural enemies. Some orchid owners designate a person as an "orchid heir" in their wills, since the owners expect that their precious orchids will outlive them.

Orlean has a delicious sense of wonder, a beautiful and lyrical writing style, and an eye for fascinating details. She has the ability to place the reader in the middle of a swamp, at an orchid show, or on an expedition into the wilds of South America. Not only does Orlean provide the reader with little known facts about orchids, but she also explores some of the oddities of human nature. What causes people to become so passionate about collecting orchids that they risk their fortunes or even their lives to acquire rare species of this coveted plant? When does a passion for collecting orchids become an unhealthy obsession?

If you are tired of reading formulaic novels, you may want to join Susan Orlean on her exciting and memorable journey into the world of orchid collecting. You do not have to be a plant lover, a gardener or a botanist to enjoy "The Orchid Thief."

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Summary: ORCHIDS GET NAME & FAME, BUT MYSTERY IS THE GAME
Review: Talking about mystery! It was happenstance that I even heard of this book. But I'm not one to knock coincidence; sometimes it points you to great profundity and pleasure.

You get more than you bargained for here. A good read, yes. New Yorker magazine staffer Susan Orlean writes deceptively well, couching her easygoing style in these thick, densely detailed paragraphs, like information sandwiches from some fabulous journalistic deli. She weaves a fascinating and intricate narrative, a revelation of different worlds, people, possibilities-I picked it up on a whim, next thing I knew, I was hooked.

THE ORCHID THIEF begins with Orlean's regard of an odd, off-the-wall little item about a botched caper. Before long it's about mystery. Not the simple idea of a mystery, like in a detective novel (although that Sam Spade remark in the movie version of "The Maltese Falcon," about crooks chasing "the stuff that dreams are made of" wouldn't be off the mark). At center it's about something more elusive: the mystery of life, or maybe the mystery in life.

At the heart of this mystery lie orchids - "a jewel of a flower on a haystack of a plant" - so evolved and diversified they've become "the biggest flowering plant family on earth because each orchid species has made itself irresistible." Orchids are "ancient, intricate living things that have adapted to every environment on earth." Tens of thousands of varieties, and more being created by natural as well as man-made hybridization virtually every day. The more you learn about orchids, the more you wonder (to borrow from novelist Tom Robbins' remark about how water invented man to transport itself from one place to another), is it just possible orchids invented insect and human life to propagate themselves?

Spawning the mystery is the passion of the orchid collector. (Orlean says, "It was religion. I wanted to want something as much as people wanted these plants, but it isn't part of my constitution.") Orlean wonders to a sympathetic park ranger why orchids seduce people. "Oh, mystery, beauty, unknowability, I suppose," he tells her. "Besides, I think the real reason is that life has no meaning. I mean, no obvious meaning. I think everybody's always looking for something a little unusual that can preoccupy them and help them pass the time."

Orlean tries hard to remain dispassionate but it's all just too weird.

Take the title character, John Laroche, who's "a character" indeed. This wiry, intense, gap-toothed, self-taught and self-confident chain-smoker, busted for blatantly violating a slew of wildlife protection laws (leading a crew of Seminoles to abscond sacks of wild orchids from state wetlands), grins at his pretrial hearing while he tells the judge, "Frankly, Your Honor, I'm probably the smartest person I know." Is this guy for real? Well, yes. That's part of the charm, that Laroche and the assorted collection of "everyday people" Orlean encounters - growers, collectors, smugglers, park rangers and phobic convicts, Seminole chiefs and entrepreneurs - all could have emerged from Central Casting for an Elmore Leonard novel.

The perfect setting for all this mystery is that peninsular strangeness known as the state of Florida ("less like a state than a sponge") "the last part of the continental United States to have emerged from the ocean." This "last frontier," this surreal theme park, attracts and nurtures - sometimes to be found nowhere else - a dizzying profusion of plant and animal life, not to mention human dreamers and schemers. Orlean surmises that's its history and seems to be its reason for being.

This book was an unexpected pleasure. Thanks to Orlean's wide-eyed interest and exhaustive fact-gathering, seasoned by her considerable narrative skill, I was thoroughly enchanted. Soon as I finished it, I wanted "seconds": to read it again and make sure I hadn't missed anything; and, to see more on orchids and find out what the fever was about. [And that, by the way, is how I discovered Eric Hansen's book, ORCHID FEVER, another fine read that I've also reviewed, which complements this one very nicely.] I don't know that I'd want to become an orchid freak - frankly, like Orlean, all that passion and devotion kind of scares me, too - however, thanks to her efforts, at least I can understand it. And I have a new appreciation for "the sweet mystery of life".

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Summary: The Ghost Orchid Comes Alive!
Review: Susan Orlean joins orchid collector and obsessor John Laroche, to find the amazing and rare, ghost orchid. Overtime she herself falls also in love with orchids. The book focuses not only on orchids but mainly on the Fakahatchee reserve where the ghost orchids are.If you have only heard of orchids or own one yourself or are just interested in the marvels of Florida and the Fakahatchee, then you should also fall into the wonderful rabbit hole of the Orchid Thief!

Rating:
Summary: good book if you like history
Review: I enjoyed the book and thought all the Orchid and Florida history very interesting. I would have liked to see more of the Orchid thief himself as well as the other orchid collectors. Would have added another dimension if the author wrote about the psychological aspects of being orchid obsessed.

Rating:
Summary: Ditto 5 Star Reviews
Review: Much has already been said. I add only: This is one of my top five favorite non-fiction reads.

Rating:
Summary: Overdone, unnecessarily exxagerated, specious information
Review: "What is the point"? is the phrase that came to mind when I read this book. It is not about Orchids and should have been titled the "Potential Real Estate Investor's guide to Florida's history, flora, fauna, geography, people and any obscure information that you'd like to know but cannot find anyhwhere else."

This book talks about boring and extremely obscure poeple and things that one doesn't care about. It never stays on point, namely this interesting LaRoche character. Instead going on about the history of different countries and poeples, palm trees, elephants, zebras, icebergs, you name it , it's in there.

I lvoe books, read a lot, and don't see what these other reviewers liked about it.

Rating:
Summary: Non-fiction that reads like a great story!!
Review: I really enjoyed this book, especially the way she broke up the writing with interesting true facts, not just about orchids but history as well. I would say it was true story but it read like it was fiction, which I find much more enjoyable than just a straight information giving book.
I highly recommend it and the movie is awesome as well.