The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Susan Orlean
List Price:
Our Price: $1.97
You Save: $12.03 (86%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Susan OrleanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-01-04
ISBN: 044900371X
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Book Review: Not what one would expect...
Summary: 2 Stars
So the movie of Adaptation was amazing and the overall story within this book is good, the themes and ideas hidden in there are good, but the writing, not so good.
I was rather disappointed by the extreme lack of decent writing here. This book was not a pleasure to read at all. It opened up with a little mock interview that Susan gave to herself and it was really kind of bad, not creative, and sounds like it was written by a 16 creative writing student.
All I can say is that the story was a good idea, the longing in some of parts was wonderful, but the writing, I am not a fan of.
Summary of The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKA modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean's wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession.
From Florida's swamps to its courtrooms, the New Yorker writer follows one deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man's possibly criminal pursuit of an endangered flower. Determined to clone the rare ghost orchid, Polyrrhiza lindenii, John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America's strange flower-selling subculture, along with the Seminole Indians who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean-and the reader-will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion.
Praise for The Orchid Thief:
"Fascinating . . . tales of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing . . . an engrossing journey."
-Los Angeles Times
"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
"Artful . . . in Ms. Orlean's skillful handling, her orchid story turns out to be distinctly 'something more.' . . . [Her] portrait of her sometimes sad-making orchid thief allows the reader to discover acres of opportunity where intriguing things can be found."
-The New York Times
"Zestful . . . a swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great."
-The Wall Street Journal
"Deliciously weird . . . compelling."
-Detroit Free Press
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 centers 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 colorful as the tropical blossoms that inspire them, this is a lyrical, funny, addictively entertaining read. --Barrie Trinkle
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in what to read when everyone else is reading harry potter
The Rules of Attractionby Bret Easton Ellis
Vintage; Published: 1998-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
The Painted Bird (Kosinski, Jerzy)by Jerzy Kosinski
Grove Press; Published: 1995-08-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Trainspottingby Irvine Welsh
VINTAGE (RAND); Published: 2004; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.07
The Cement Gardenby Ian Mcewan
Anchor; Published: 1994-01-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.30
Price in other shops:
Encounters in Microbiology: Collected from Discover Magazine's "Vital Signs"by I. Edward Alcamo
Jones & Bartlett Publishers; Published: 2001-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.26
Price in other shops:
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader's Circle)by Susan Orlean
Ballantine Books; Published: 2000-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.24
Price in other shops:
Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage International)by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage Books; Published: 2007-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Love At Goon Park: 6Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection (Science Matters)by Deborah Blum
Berkley Trade; Published: 2004-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Perennial Classics)by Irvin D. Yalom
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2000-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops:
Valenciaby Michelle Tea
Seal Press; Published: 2008-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essaysby Joan Didion
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1990-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhereby Susan Orlean
Random House; Published: 2004-09-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.39
Price in other shops:
My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhereby Susan Orlean
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2005-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.53
Price in other shops:
Orchids for Dummiesby Steven Frowine, National Gardening Association
For Dummies; Published: 2005-02-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.07
Price in other shops:
In Cold Bloodby Truman Capote
Vintage; Published: 1994-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
Adaptation: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Script Series)by Charlie Kaufman, Robert McKee
Newmarket Press; Published: 2003-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Understanding Orchids: An Uncomplicated Guide to Growing the World's Most Exotic Plantsby William Cullina
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 2004-11-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops:
The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary Peopleby Susan Orlean
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2002-01-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.93
Price in other shops:
Adaptation (Superbit Collection)Sony; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $4.61
Price in other shops:
Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacyby Eric Hansen
Vintage; Published: 2001-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.84
Price in other shops: