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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
I listened to this on audio after having heard great things about it and very much enjoyed The Library Book. The subject matter isn't as interesting to me personally as was The Library Book, and I'm afraid the format might have lessened my enjoyment a bit--I'm still a reluctant audiobook person. But I enjoyed Orleans's deep dive into the world of orchid obsessives and her general fascination and appreciation for people of passion, whatever the passion. She has an incredible ability to set a scene--so much so that I wondered about her note-taking systems and/or recall ability. She describes people and places better than most anyone I've ever read, certainly in narrative non-fiction.
slow-paced
Don’t read the book, just read the original New York article.
It took a while for me to digest and figure out what to say about this book. It was very interesting and I am glad that I read it but there really just wasn’t enough material for the author to fill a book with. The stuff about early orchid hunters? Fascinating, although not directly relevant beyond establishing that people have always been fascinated by and wanted to possess orchids. The discussion about Florida land sale fraud was where it really lost me. I, on several occasions, had to backtrack to be like “wait, why are we talking about this? How did we get here?” Laroche as a person was infuriating from the start, and I was really hoping he would get more than a slap on the wrist. Not a bad book, just not what I was looking for and unfortunately another in a long line of memoirs that I have read recently that failed to meet expectations.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Like a sprawling New Yorker piece. The real subject is Florida in all its weirdness.
this is another great book you don't just read once; i love the idea of rare hidden orchids in the swamp and people dying for them awesome
I always assign an Orlean profile to my students. To date, she has never let me down. Orlean knows how to combine story, research and language in ways that appeal to the Obsessive Reader (me) and the Occasional-Never Reader (my students). Orlean works every time. Students always arrive to class with something to say and I always see something I didn't before. This quarter I assigned The Orchid Thief to my junior composition class.
I hadn't read the book since it was released, before I had my MFA, before I was a narrative nonfiction writer myself. I read then as a fan not as a writer and I remember loving the book. "Back then" the idea of a "true story" for a popular market was relatively new. From the first page I was drawn in by Orchid collector/charlatan John Laroche, who reminded (reminds) me of so many former waiters I worked with at the time who ALWAYS had a scheme, a dream, an obsession, a plan. My second read (10?) years later proved just as interesting. The profile is pitch perfect, capturing the intrigue and the annoyance that comes with the type.
My primary motivation for assigning Orlean (aside from re-reading a book I want to re-read) is to show students how to combine research with storytelling for a good read. Students "in the world today," worn to a nub by boring research papers on topics couldn't care less about, learn how a writer can make information interesting. As for myself a reread of the history of orchid collecting, orchids, and orchid hunters, as well as the history of the Fakahatchee Swamp, proved worth relearning, as I had forgotten most of it.
At times I wondered if there was a bit TOO much research (the chapter on Osceola in particular weighed me down a bit) but the students didn't seem to think so. As an instructor, I can tell when they have actually finished the book versus skimmed just to show that they did, so their enthusiasm carried me.
I hadn't read the book since it was released, before I had my MFA, before I was a narrative nonfiction writer myself. I read then as a fan not as a writer and I remember loving the book. "Back then" the idea of a "true story" for a popular market was relatively new. From the first page I was drawn in by Orchid collector/charlatan John Laroche, who reminded (reminds) me of so many former waiters I worked with at the time who ALWAYS had a scheme, a dream, an obsession, a plan. My second read (10?) years later proved just as interesting. The profile is pitch perfect, capturing the intrigue and the annoyance that comes with the type.
My primary motivation for assigning Orlean (aside from re-reading a book I want to re-read) is to show students how to combine research with storytelling for a good read. Students "in the world today," worn to a nub by boring research papers on topics couldn't care less about, learn how a writer can make information interesting. As for myself a reread of the history of orchid collecting, orchids, and orchid hunters, as well as the history of the Fakahatchee Swamp, proved worth relearning, as I had forgotten most of it.
At times I wondered if there was a bit TOO much research (the chapter on Osceola in particular weighed me down a bit) but the students didn't seem to think so. As an instructor, I can tell when they have actually finished the book versus skimmed just to show that they did, so their enthusiasm carried me.
John Laroche: "Look at this rigid, blackish one, it's a Paphiopedilum. Can you imagine if you lived in Victorian England where the idea of a flower was a daisy, and you instead had this black, rubbery, hooded thing in your house? You would rule..." (p. 93)
The world is so huge that people are always getting lost in it. There are too many ideas and things and people, too many directions to go. I was starting to believe that the reason it matters to care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. (p. 109)
The world is so huge that people are always getting lost in it. There are too many ideas and things and people, too many directions to go. I was starting to believe that the reason it matters to care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. (p. 109)
3.5. Should be read in conjunction with any of Carl Hiaasen's books which include Skink.