The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean

When trying to explain her book, author Susan Orlean says “It’s about orchids…but it’s not really about orchids. The book “The Orchid Thief” has received rave reviews from many critics. The New York Times claims that the book is “artful…in Ms. Orlean’s skillful handling, her orchid story turns out to be distinctly something more.” “The Orchid Thief” is about Susan Orlean, a New York journalist who becomes intrigued by a court case of an eccentric plant collector, John Laroche and three Seminole Indians who were caught smuggling rare orchid flowers out of a Florida swamp in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. Orlean decides to go to Florida and meet the infamous Laroche and follows him through the unusual world of Florida's avid orchid collectors. Orlean also learns about the history of orchid collecting and about Laroche's partners, a tribe of Seminole Indians. Essentially, Susan Orlean's book is about passion itself, and how far some people are willing to take it. The reason why I chose to read this book for the assignment was because I really enjoy the film “Adaptation”, which is based off this book. I knew the book would not be exactly like the movie but because of my love for the movie and wanting to know why the main character in the movie keeps referring to Orlean’s book as a beautiful book about flowers, interested me to read the book. I have never been too keen on flowers but this book has opened me up to a whole new subculture of obsessive orchid collectors. I had never known how long orchid collecting has been a hobby nor did I ever know how competitive people can be just to find rare orchids. Orlean explains how some ardent orchid collectors are willing to put themselves in harsh conditions of remote unknown places of places of the world and some have gone to the extremes of killing other competitors. Orlean digresses into the history of rare orchid collecting and about the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, which is believed to house some of the rarest orchids in the world. Orlean says that she knows little about the orchid world but is fascinated by the passion that these plants inspire in others. She explains her desire to see the elusive and rare ghost orchid:

The reason was not that I love orchids. I don't even especially like orchids. What I wanted was to see this thing that people were drawn to in such a singular and powerful way.

In Victorian England, the hobby of growing orchids became so popular and uncontrollable that it was also called “orchidelirium”. It seems that The Orchid Thief is really about the nature of obsession:

I wanted to want something as much as people wanted these plants, but it isn't part of my constitution. I think people my age are embarrassed by too much enthusiasm and believe that too much passion about anything is naive. I suppose I do have one un-embarrassing passion- I want to know what it feels like to care about something passionately.