The Orchid Thief

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Summary: What the....?
Review: I found this book in the "Science/Non-fiction" section of my college library...I was intriguied after knowing that the movie Adaptation was somewhat based on this book. Boy, was I wrong! This book is so packed with intricate details regarding EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about orchids. Read and enjoy only if you're somewhat interested in this subject. I wasn't at first but I still enjoyed the book.

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Summary: She Did It Her Way - And That's OK - - -
Review: "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean

True, this book grew from a successful magazine article, which Susan had done for the The New Yorker. She had picked John Laroche because he was an obsessive individual, who at the moment, was into Orchids. The topic of Orchid's to Susan is secondary, she started this project with wanting to understand how not only Laroche, but anyone could be so overly obsessive in anything one did.

Of course the book is a bit self indulgent, Susan writes of what she had to do, and what she thought as she tried to understand and really get to know Laroche and his ways. She touches on Orchids as Laroche leads her around his other Orchid obsessive friends, and around a few of South Florida's Orchid shows. One does not learn in depth about Orchids. As a novice being interested in Orchids you read enough of the history, and then feel a current of the excitement which surrounds owning, collecting, and raising Orchids.

If you love to learn little bits and pieces of facts, you will love the in-between of the just Laroche happenings. Besides the jaw dropping description of the past history of the Orchid, Susan also tells you more facts and history of the places, and the land of South Florida. Some say this was boring, but this is South Florida history being made now.

I have lived in South Florida since 1956 and have driven by the lands of the elusive Ghost Orchid. I remember passing place after place of plant sales, and not understanding why there were so many. I have recorded thousands upon thousands of Deeds of the South Florida lots, which never will be built on. I've searched for Indian artifacts on the Seminole reservation, but I didn't know then how colorful Billy Bowlegs was. But as I traveled the back roads and through the fields, I was in a vehicle caravan with many others and radios, and not walking with snakes and gators.

Susan may want to learn of Laroche's obsessivness, but what made her walk through three feet of water for hours in the middle of nowhere, to find the item of his dreams? I am thinking happiness is found in our own backyards, and the Everglades sure was not Susan's. But I now know I want to visit an Orchid show, especially down in South Florida, and I will wonder if those behind the booths are living this passionate Orchid life. Of course I would look for Laroche. A very colorful and vibrant intellectual with no front teeth.

Rating:
Summary: who knew a book about flowers would be so interesting?
Review: I absolutely loved the orchid theif, especially reading the style and point of view from Orlean. I have actually decided to get some orchids myself, and would recommend seeing "Adaptation" once you've finished reading

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Summary: A Fantastic Book About An Obsession
Review: This is one of the finest books I have read in many years. I was introduced to it through the enjoyable movie "Adaptation", but I did not realize that the book actually existed until I saw it in a local bookstore.

The author, Susan Orlean, gives a good forward to the book (a self-interview) in which she explains how the unusual movie got made from the book -- and how the movie is not to be taken seriously (her character in the movie did not really kill a screenwriter in real life).

That being said, the book is wonderful -- Susan follows the legal difficulties of John Laroche, an orchid poacher and amateur botanist, as he embarks on his quest to find, clone, and mass produce the rare "ghost" orchid. Laroche is something of an oddball, although as the book progresses, you begin to realize that Laroche is not much different from many of the more "respectable" orchid collectors in the book, and in fact is very much like the great orchid hunters of the Victorian era.

Laroche is colorful and entertaining, and Susan's adventures in exploring the Florida swamps and the strange world of orchid enthusiasts is engaging, superbly written, and meticulously researched. The book is really not just about orchids, but includes a rather interesting analysis of the state of Florida, a brief history of the Seminole Indians, a look at how hobbies become obsessions, and a good explanation of how organisms like orchids pursue evolutionary strategies to ensure their survival.

I enjoyed the book immensely. It is beautifully written, easy to read, and contains a wealth of information along with its memorable characters.

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Summary: Passionate Obsessions
Review: John Laroche's all-consuming passion for orchids has led him into Florida's Fakahatchee swamp and into other such unlikely environments to locate new varieties of this elusive flower. Laroche hoped utilize a laboratory to clone these orchids and develop hybrids that could be mass marketed and make him very wealthy. To carry out his scheme, Laroche becomes an employee of the Seminole Indian tribe, then engages a bunch of them to assist him in his efforts. Laroche believes that because the Seminoles (and he as their employee) live on a reservation they were exempt from state and federal poaching laws. Instead, Laroche and his Seminole employers became targets of various criminal investigations. Laroche earns the name "Crazy White Man" from the Seminoles; this is meant as no compliment.

When Laroche develops an avocation he becomes passionately involved in it to the exclusion of all other interests. After major disappointments and heartaches, Laroche immediately drops this interest, develops a new one and refuses ever to look back.

This non-fiction account of John Laroche's eccentricities and of others who shared his passion, is told by Susan Orlean, a writer for The New Yorker magazine, who often accompanied Laroche on his adventures through the Florida swamps. Orlean, while enjoying an extremely valuable bird's eye view, never becomes personally involved in Laroche's passions. She never becomes a collector of orchids. Orlean is merely our guide (a very competent one at that) and Laroche's eyes and ears, so to speak. Orlean is wonderfully descriptive of the swamps' many varieties of plants and creatures--some quite deadly; as she mentions in the book, the swamp lands are full of life which she endures, if not quite appreciates, every step of the way. Orleans' narrative is overflowing with wit and irony, especially regarding the contradictions in state, federal, and park laws and regulations regarding poaching of indigenous animals and plants. Orleans' research into the history of the Seminole Indians (including some of their past illustrious leaders) and into the world of botony (not exclusively orchids) is thorough, impeccable, and truly amazing. We learn something about the characteristics of the thousands of varieties of orchids. Her occasional lapses into extraneous, and sometimes tedious, historical details may be forgiven. Orlean has written a breezy and very readable book of those passionate and brilliant oddballs who reside on the edges of society.

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Summary: More than Orchids
Review: Orchids and John Laroche are both subjects worthy of exploration. Susan Orlean has done a masterful job in writing about both. The various also reviews focus on these two subjects and her treatment of them. Overlooked are Orlean's observations on Southern Florida. The book details the lives of the people in Southern Florida. The upper class orchid fanciers, the orchid growers, the Seminole Indians and the compliment of locals, drug dealer and the like are observed. Though dealing with a different milieu, I cannot but recall Joan Didion's Miami (Vintage Books Oct. 1998, ISBN 0679781803), a very close look at the city and its relation to the Latin American world.

As a Californian I find Southern Florida fascinating. Like California, it is an interesting mixture of old time pioneers, upper and middle class seasonal visitors, foreign immigrant groups and a home for a multitude of homegrown and imported nutters. The events and people documented in this book are unique to Southern Florida and are fascinating.

Similar to California, Florida is a state with a geography and history differing significantly from those found in the original 13 colonies and, indeed, the other continental states. Orlean does a fine job in describing Southern Florida's geology, geography, flora and fauna. Orchids are neatly described. The area's history is covered.

What more could you want from a book? She goes over the complete cast, the environment in which it takes place and tells a kind of story. This is done in crisp narrative and is never dryly academic or Michener travelogue. I liked it.

Rating:
Summary: scattershot, scatterbrained
Review: I had high hopes for this book and it actually has a strong central character in John Laroche. But the author meanders like an orchid vine along unrelated and tedious tributaries of her story line, and the result is dismal by the (anticlimactic) ending. The author seems to have a high opinion of her writing and of herself -- and thus gets in the way of the narrative like a dog underfoot in the kitchen. A good editor would have pressed her to focus on Laroche, who represents a great American archetypal character in how he misuses his brilliance and drive in pursuit of a quick but illicit buck. The failure of this book is the failure of postmodern American writing in general -- authors of little interest who insist on making themselves central to stories that with a little work would transcend on their own. Unless you're Orwell or London you should be peripheral or invisible so the characters can carry the day. A very disappointing botch.

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Summary: Orchid Obession
Review: The Orchid Thief is a true story of obsession and the people who dare to become immersed in the wild world of orchid collecting. The inspiration for this book came when Orlean read an article in a newspaper about John Laroche, a thirty-six year old man who was accused of criminal possession of endangered species and illegally removing plant life out of the Fakahatchee Stand, a Florida State natural reserve. In Florida, Orlean meets several other interesting orchid collectors. The book is also filled with historical accounts of orchid collecting dating back to the Victorian era. Orlean sets out to discover why there is this obsession with orchids. She accomplishes this task by interacting with those who know best-the collectors. Horticulture may not excite everyone, but Orlean makes studying plants seem like the most exciting hobby in the world.

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Summary: Avoid the Audio Book
Review: I know, I should finish this book before reviewing it - but is unlikely to happen.

It must work better as a paperback than an audio book, when you can flip and skim past the tedious analysis of the different orchid varieties, their countries of origin, the detailed lineage of rare flowers, the history of the collectors, their employees, their families, the history of real estate in Florida... Instead, I was involved and entranced by the first CD, but zoned out through most of the second, third, and most of the fourth, afraid to hit the Skip button in case I missed anything good. The narrator, Jennifer Jay Myers, attempts to inject a humorously sarcastic tone into dry, pedantic histories. Her tone is inappropriate and irritating.

The Orchid Thief is fascinating and beautiful when the author turns her attention to the plot, such as it is, but the storyline is sparse and interspersed between long, dry chapters that brought to mind the "begats" in the Bible... "And John Doe the III hired James Smith to collect orchids in Africa, and he begat John Doe IV, to whom he bequeathed his collection. John Doe IV begat Ezekiel and Zebadiah, and he divided his collection among them. Zebadiah sold half of his collection to a tenant, and the rest was destroyed in a hurricane in 1903. Ezekiel begat Sarah..." Who cares? Not me.

I had read very good things about this book, and if the rest of it were like the first CD, I could understand what inspired the accolades. As it is, I don't think I can face popping Disc Five into the CD player.

I never thought I would say this, but I probably should have gotten the abridged version.

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