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annodee 's review for:
The Orchid Thief
by Susan Orlean
3 and a half stars. Susan Orlean has several nonfiction books to her credit including Rin Tin Tin and Saturday Night, plus numerous magazine articles. She's a staff writer for the New Yorker.
The book is the story of John Laroche, an orchid expert and would-be propagator who is caught removing 200+ rare orchids and bromeliads from Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve near the Everglades in south Florida. He is accompanied by 3 Seminole men. Their plan is to clone and propagate the plants and make them commercially available at a nursery Laroche is setting up for the Seminole tribe on their reservation, thereby enriching everyone involved. Good plan, except that it's illegal to remove native plants from state property. Laroche thinks it will work out because the laws regarding the Seminoles' access to the plants are a little murky, because the land at one time belonged to the Seminoles and they use the flora and fauna in native rituals. The outcome of the trial is revealed at the end of the book.
In between, Orlean presents many fascinating aspects of orchids and the people who are obsessed with them, starting with Victorian England and the men hired to "collect" orchids from exotic locales for their rich orchid-obsessed sponsors; Florida land scams, including draining areas of swamp and selling the "waterfront" property to unsuspecting buyers sight unseen; orchid shows and the crazy antics and rivalries of the sellers; history of the Seminoles, including their legendary chiefs and their mistreatment at the hands of the federal government; flora and fauna of Florida and other places, including poaching, outrageous smuggling, and selling; orchid and plant industry, including nurseries and lots of get rich quick schemes; the Swamp - wading waist-deep among alligators, snakes, vines, and sinkholes.
It was originally an article. It bogs down in a couple of places, and reviews I've read have called it somewhat bloated. I would agree. Still, if you're interested in orchids, plants, Florida, or Seminole culture, you will find much of interest here.
The movie Adaptation is loosely based on it. It's about the struggles of Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter (a real person, he also wrote the screenplay for Being John Malkovich) to adapt the book into a screenplay, given that the book, although it contains many stories and fascinating characters, doesn't have an overarching movie-friendly plot.
The book is the story of John Laroche, an orchid expert and would-be propagator who is caught removing 200+ rare orchids and bromeliads from Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve near the Everglades in south Florida. He is accompanied by 3 Seminole men. Their plan is to clone and propagate the plants and make them commercially available at a nursery Laroche is setting up for the Seminole tribe on their reservation, thereby enriching everyone involved. Good plan, except that it's illegal to remove native plants from state property. Laroche thinks it will work out because the laws regarding the Seminoles' access to the plants are a little murky, because the land at one time belonged to the Seminoles and they use the flora and fauna in native rituals. The outcome of the trial is revealed at the end of the book.
In between, Orlean presents many fascinating aspects of orchids and the people who are obsessed with them, starting with Victorian England and the men hired to "collect" orchids from exotic locales for their rich orchid-obsessed sponsors; Florida land scams, including draining areas of swamp and selling the "waterfront" property to unsuspecting buyers sight unseen; orchid shows and the crazy antics and rivalries of the sellers; history of the Seminoles, including their legendary chiefs and their mistreatment at the hands of the federal government; flora and fauna of Florida and other places, including poaching, outrageous smuggling, and selling; orchid and plant industry, including nurseries and lots of get rich quick schemes; the Swamp - wading waist-deep among alligators, snakes, vines, and sinkholes.
It was originally an article. It bogs down in a couple of places, and reviews I've read have called it somewhat bloated. I would agree. Still, if you're interested in orchids, plants, Florida, or Seminole culture, you will find much of interest here.
The movie Adaptation is loosely based on it. It's about the struggles of Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter (a real person, he also wrote the screenplay for Being John Malkovich) to adapt the book into a screenplay, given that the book, although it contains many stories and fascinating characters, doesn't have an overarching movie-friendly plot.