Susan Orlean

Describes the life and times of John Laroche, a plant smuggler and orchid thief, and the eccentric world of Florida's obsessed collectors of rare plants

The Orchid Thief

Sarah Sammis

Over all it's a fascinating look at orchid collecting, the industry, the hobby, the culture around it and its history. The book starts as the author attempts to follow the trial of a man accused of trying to steal (and clone) the Ghost Orchid which grows in the wilds of Florida. The trial quickly gets left behind as the chapters follow their own orchid related tangents. By the last eighty pages I was ready for the book to refocus on the main "characters" as the book had begun to drag.

Jeannette Ordas

I just finished this book this morning, and even though I liked it, I totally wanted the book to end like the movie, Adaptation. Maybe it would have been more thrilling to have the characters snort coke, have sex and dodge the law, or maybe the book just seemed to lose steam near the end. I wanted more.

Susan Orlean first met John Laroche when visiting Florida to write for the New Yorker about his arrest for stealing rare ghost orchids from a nature reserve. Fascinated both by Laroche and the world she uncovered of orchid collectors and growers, she stayed on, to write this magical exploration of obsession and the strange world both of the orchid obsessives and of Florida, that haunting and weird 'debatable land' of swamps and condos, retirement communities and real-estate scams. The world of the orchid hunters, breeders and showmen, their rivalries, vendettas and crimes, smuggling, thefts and worse provide the backdrop to a fascinating exploration of one of the byways of human nature, the obsessive world of the collector, and the haunting beauty of the flowers themselves.

Brittney Wilson

Erin 

While orchids are incredibly interesting, and I certainly learned a thousand things about how coveted they are from this book, I cannot help but think the entire thing is unnecessary. I would have been just as intrigued with the original New Yorker article. I must admit that the only reason I read this was for a class assignment, so in a way I am predisposed to not like what I am forced to read. It was not awful - but it dragged on, and I often felt I *must* be somewhere near the end, only to realise I wasn't even halfway finished. If you are into flowers or find orchids interesting at all, then by all means give this book a shot. If you find them interesting but not enough to read a whole book about it, then just read the original article. I didn't finish this myself, but I don't want to discourage you if this is your thing.

The Orchid Thief

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