The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession [Paperback]

So I decided to read the book. The book is non-fiction and thankfully has little to do with the strange plot of the movie. Even if you don't normally read non-fiction, however, you'll like this one as the author uses that fluid, conversational, New Yorker style that pulls you in and delivers interesting anecdotes at just the right times. If you like Updike's writing, you'll enjoy that of Orlean.

The book centers, above all, on the fine line between passion and obsession. This dangerous transition is personified in real-world orchid figure Laroche of south Florida. While innocuously building a nursery business with his wife, he finds success and outlet for his passion for plants.

But as disaster besets him (fatal car crash, hurricane, divorce, financial woes, legal trouble), we start to see what really makes him tick. He is a survivor, a quick thinker, a schemer, a dreamer and, unlike most of us, a just-do-it person. Throughout his life he has a knack for focusing on something, quickly becoming an expert at it, and transforming that passion into a vocation.

Orchids, however, pull him into the land of obsession. We can see this by comparing Laroche with a spectrum of figures in the book who observe orchids with varying degrees of appreciation, lust, envy, wonder, nurture, exploitation, conservation and commercialization. Along the way we learn about the history of orchids in the Western culture, their natural habitats from the cloud forests of South America to the hot, humid jungles of southeast Asia. The author tells us how difficult it is to grow orchids from seed, but how emotionally and financially rewarding it can be to design your own orchid hybrid. Finally, we are told that orchids are immortal, with many plants alive for several human generations, being passed on with reverence, and are still going strong today.

This book contains much, well-researched information on orchids, orchid hunters, orchid growers, and orchid shows and societies but it is, most of all, an illustration of the phenomenon of human passion and obsession: the distinction being that passion is motivating and guiding whereas obsession is reckless and self-destructive. In obsession, the thing outside becomes more valuable than the self-image, and crazy actions are espoused. Hence Larouche's scheme to build an orchid lab on Native American soil, use their legal exemptions to collect wild ghost orchids from otherwise protected state preserves, and aim to be the first to clone and grow in quantity the extremely rare ghost orchid.

Laroche, missing a few front teeth and uttering phrases mixing plant names (in latin) with profanity embodies, in one man, the interesting mix of high culture and low intrigue that seem married to the international trade of orchids. Thankfully the book goes deep into the man Larouche, of his motivations and excesses, of his passions and interior wounds. This man, who is also the most compelling portion of the film adaptation of the book, is carefully plumbed in this non-fiction work.

The result of all this, for the reader, is a great appreciation for the evolutionary success of orchids, the importance of preserving them, shock at what people will do to acquire them, and perhaps a better understanding of why some people pursue things to their destruction while others can play in the same space, with wholesome enjoyment, forever.

I should warn you that, after the movie and the book, my curiousity of orchids led me to read five or six non-fiction, how-to books on orchid cultivation. I can report, based upon those other works, that the research in 'The Orchid Thief' is very good. There are little inaccuracies, mainly with regards to the claim that orchids have no natural enemies. A more correct statement is that they have not many natural enemies. However, I'm learning from my local orchid group, they still suffer from things like fungal rot, red spider mites and orchid viruses that can attack them. So while they don't seem to senesce or kill themselves through aging (they probably don't need to, since they reproduce so infrequently) they can in fact die of from these competitors, pests, and diseases.

So, yes, I'm growing an orchid plant now and have my eyes on a few others. Let's hope I keep my interest in the realm of passion, and avoid all the extremes of obsession highlighted in 'The Orchid Thief.' And wherever Larouche is now, my hat's off to you for your courage, ingenuity, resourcefulness, wit, charm, and--most of all--your passion!

Why, you ask, is this the formula? Bend close and I'll tell you: Because people don't actually read these books. People pretend to read them. Then they recommend them to others, who then pretend to read them. Critics don't read them either. You kidding me? Do know what kind of attention critics pay to anything? About as much attention as anybody pays while on the job: as little as possible, am I right? No, they just hold their finger up to the wind and try not to stand out by differing from the herd opinion. They've heard its great, don't even look at the book, write a review based on somebody else's review and it goes from there. All a bestseller must have is the LOOK of a bestseller. It must be thick, it must have an exotic yet boring title and cover - just so you know you're in for some real art. And it must be vaguely historical seeming so you feel you're getting a real education while you have the unopened book lying next to you at the beach. Some relative of yours wanders over and makes some inquisitive noises about the book and you make noises back to the effect that its real great. The relative then hears Oprah talk about it - who also has not and never will read the book - and then goes and finds it prominently displayed on the new release rack at the bookmegastore. Thus is perpetuated el hustle. If I were a consultant to a publishing house I would advise them to save money by not having any print inside the book. What's that you say? Save further money by gluing the book shut and having a hollow interior? No, the book's gotta have that heft to it or nobody will buy it. You know, its gotta be real heavy material. Kapeesh?

Susan Orlean's friend: That was a great article about that orchid guy in Florida. Why don't you write a book about it?

Susan Orlean: Thanks, but I don't know. There's probably not enough for a book. I think I'm all set.

Susan Orlean's friend: SURE there is. Just space out the stuff about the guy and fill in stuff about . . . I dunno . . . the history of orchids. Or the history of Florida. You could go in a million directions.

Susan Orlean: Maybe you're right.

And so, the "Orchid Thief" was conceived. This book offers an interesting character who's obsessed with the collection and cultivation of orchids. But if you don't think that's enough to carry the requirements of inking an entire book, you're exactly right.

So, the book wanders on and on and on and on about orchids, orchid hunters. Orchid hunters in America. Orchid hunters in Europe. The Europeans who hired those orchid hunters. What they were thinking. Florida. The different people in Florida. The Seminoles. The treaties they didn't sign. Where they come from. The Seminole culture. All interesting subjects in their own right sure, but not in this one stream-of-consciousness puffification of a New Yorker article.

If this book had gone on fifty more pages, Orlean would have covered the Florida State Seminoles. The football titles they've won. They beat Notre Dame. The Irish. U2 is Irish . . . Forever this book rambles on and is only tied together by the rapidly diminishing presence of this one man's obsession with collecting orchids in Florida. Where Disneyworld is. Busch Gardens, too.