The Orchid Thief: Amazon.co.uk: Susan Orlean, Anna Fields: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Orchidelirium is the name the Victorians gave to the flower madness that is for botanical collectors the equivalent of gold fever. Wealthy orchid fanatics of that era sent explorers (heavily armed, more to protect themselves against other orchid seekers than against hostile natives or wild animals) to unmapped territories in search of new varieties of Cattleya and Paphiopedilum. As knowledge of the family Orchidaceae grew to encompass the currently more than 60,000 species and over 100,000 hybrids, orchidelirium might have been expected to go the way of Dutch tulip mania. Yet, as journalist Susan Orlean found out, there still exists a vein of orchid madness strong enough to inspire larceny among collectors.

The Orchid Thief centres on south Florida and John Laroche, a quixotic, charismatic schemer once convicted of attempting to take endangered orchids from the Fakahatchee swamp, a state preserve. Laroche, a horticultural consultant who once ran an extensive nursery for the Seminole tribe, dreams of making a fortune for the Seminoles and himself by cloning the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii. Laroche sums up the obsession that drives him and so many others:

I really have to watch myself, especially around plants. Even now, just being here, I still get that collector feeling. You know what I mean. I'll see something and then suddenly I get that feeling. It's like I can't just have something--I have to have it and learn about it and grow it and sell it and master it and have a million of it.

Even Orlean--so leery of orchid fever that she immediately gives away any plant that's pressed upon her by the growers in Laroche's circle--develops a desire to see a ghost orchid blooming and makes several ultimately unsuccessful treks into the Fakahatchee. Filled with Palm Beach socialites, Native Americans, English peers, smugglers and naturalists as improbably colourful as the tropical blossoms that inspire them, this is a lyrical, funny, addictively entertaining read. -- Barrie Trinkle, Amazon.com --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

" Like the orchid, a small thing of grandeur, a passion with a pedigree . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean's] gifts in full bloom."
--The New York Times Book Review
" A LESSON IN THE DARK, DANGEROUS, SOMETIMES HILARIOUS NATURE OF OBSESSION . . . YOU SOMETIMES DON'T WANT TO READ ON, BUT FIND YOU CAN'T HELP IT."
--USA Today
" IRRESISTIBLE . . . A brilliantly reported account of an illicit scheme to housebreak Florida's wild and endangered ghost orchid. Its central figure is John Laroche, the 'oddball ultimate' of a subculture whose members are so enthralled by orchids they 'pursue them like lovers.' "
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
" FASCINATING . . . TALES OF THEFT, HATRED, GREED, JEALOUSY, MADNESS, AND BACK-STABBING . . . AN ENGROSSING JOURNEY."
--Los Angeles Times
" ARTFUL . . . In Ms. Orlean's skillful handling, her orchid story turns out to be distinctly 'something more.' . . . Orchids, Seminole history, the ecology of the Fakahatchee Strand, the fascination of Florida to con men. . . . All that she writes here fits together because it is grounded in her personal experience. . . . [Her] portrait of her sometimes sad-making orchid thief allows the reader to discover acres of opportunity where intriguing things can be found."
--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The New York Times
" DELICIOUSLY WEIRD . . . COMPELLING."
--Detroit Free Press
" ZESTFUL . . . A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great. Here are visionary passions and fierce obsessions; heroic feats accomplished in exotic settings; outsize characters, entrepreneurs at the edge of the frontier, adventurers. . . . Orlean, an intrepid sociologist among the orchid fanatics, is also a poetic observer."
--The Wall Street Journal --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

9 reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Very funny and surprisingly readable 20 Nov 2002

By A. J. Watson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Essentially a portrait of John Larouche, orchid hunter and thief extraordinaire, as well as (surprisingly) supporting the conservation movement, this laconically humorous tale takes us into the depths of the Everglades, the forests of the Far East and the hot-houses of the rich, famous and crooked.
There are some strange asides, that illustrate the type of enigmatic person who goes in for the underworld orchid trade; tales of frog poachers, happy in their slimy occupation; capsicum and bromeliad growers who dump the whole crop in a fit of pique; collectors who also spray-paint pigeons' tails.

In all, this reads more like a novel than an investigation into the illegal orchid trade, but loses no credibility for that, rather, it lends a more accessible quality to the book than it would otherwise have.
A very funny, worthwhile read.*****.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Only read this if you can afford to buy an orchid afterwards 17 May 2002

By A Customer

If you like plants then I think you will like this book..... Why the uncertainty? ..... I am a self confessed plant-nut and thought the book was great ..... but maybe the less botanically minded might be less keen? The author, a journalist by profession, takes you straight to Florida! You are there with her ..... whether wading waist-deep in the dark and dank Everglades or, freshly showered, visiting an over-blown floral show in suburban Miami. From greenhouse to alligator wrestling, from courthouse to swamp you accompany the author as she tries to understand the book's central character - a compulsive orchid collector. I have read it twice and I know I will return to it. I hope you enjoy it too! (P.S. It makes an excellent companion read to "Orchid Fever" by Eric Hansen) And don't say I didn't warn you when you find yourself buying an orchid ..... or two ..... or three .....

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

An absolute must read!!! 24 April 2005

By D. Leivers

I decided to read this book after watching the film "Adaptation" on DVD and I am very glad I did. Orlean reports on a world of deception and obsession whilst shadowing one of Americas' most notorious Orchid collectors. Written in what is very much a reportage style this book I believe has widespread appeal and is well worth checking out.