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kellykferguson 's review for:
The Orchid Thief
by Susan Orlean
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.