Book Review: 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean

✰✰✰✰ Orchids have been coveted for over a hundred years. Who can resist the beauty of something so complex and exquisite? With over 28,000 species of orchids, you can never have them all, and new ones are being discovered or bred as we speak. But how do these orchids get found? Who goes out and discovers them? Just like in the Victorian era, orchid hunters are still out there. Although orchids are protected, that doesn't stop some from poaching and selling them. Someone like John Laroche, a self-taught expert on orchids, who leads a group of Seminoles into their native land to collect specimens. But what possesses people to find these orchids, to collect them, to possess them? By delving into interviews and research, the author uncovers what it is that drives these people to keep on collecting even when the stakes are high.

The Bottom Line: What started out as an article, led to a fascinating book about an eccentric individual, orchids, history, and the author. There is a lot of technical information and botanical names that might not appeal to some, but read it in small chunks and enjoy the experience. Recommended for those interested in orchids, human nature, and social groups.

Book Club Notes: Our spring meeting was again in the hybrid format, and surprisingly we are still 50/50 (half attending in-person and half attending virtually via Zoom). While hybrid is not the optimal format for a book discussion, and we are still perfecting our set-up, we made do with the situation to accommodate everyone's comfort levels. Technology challenges aside (and there were several), we enjoyed a spirited discussion about both the book and the movie (Adaptation). In short, the book we liked; the movie we didn't. 

We were all in agreement that the book features fascinating stories about people, plants, science, and history. It delves into the evolutionary aspects of plants and insects as well as the social aspect of belonging to a group. Several in the group liked that the author touched on the human nature of orchid collecting. While some aspects of the book may have been a bit too technical for some, each of us came away from the discussion having learned something (which is actually the goal of our book club). And an interesting note: Those who listened to the audiobook seemed to enjoy the experience better than those of us who read a print copy. Overall, the book garnered an average rating of 4.1 on a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 being the highest. 

The movie, on the other hand, received an average rating of only 0.6. This is the lowest rating of a book or movie in our club ever. Except for the celebrity cast, our group sadly had nothing positive to say about the film experience. It was disappointing and not what we expected. That being said, I did have to wonder if we would have enjoyed the film more if we had watched it without reading the book.

The book is definitely recommended for book clubs interested in botany, science, history, and human nature. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend the movie at all. The paperback copy included A Reader's Guide with a conversation with the author and discussion questions. If your copy doesn't include this, check out Reading Group Guides for discussion questions.

Details: The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean. Paperback published by Ballantine Books in 2014. 320 p. ISBN: 978-0-449-00371-8