#81
Title: The Orchid Thief
Author: Susan Orlean
Read
by: Anna Fields
Genre: Non-Fiction
635.9344
Rating: B
Published: 1998
Dates: 11/29/16
– 12/8/16
Cds/Hrs: 5/5
Sub-titled --
A True Story of Beauty and Obsession, this particular version is abridged. However, I credit it with being “everything
you wanted to know about orchids but were afraid to ask”. Indeed, Ms. Orlean trekked through miles and
acres of various swamps in Florida, seeking out the ghost orchid and learning
much about all types of orchids from a variety of experts on the subject.
One fellow
in particular was John Laroche, an oddball guy who loved the gorgeous plant,
stole them, and sold them. He took Susan
Orlean on a hike to end all hikes through a monstrous swamp, getting lost,
looking for the ghost orchid which Susan could have cared less about than
getting out of the mosquito infested, thigh-high sludge.
Her account
turns out to be distinctly something more than orchids. Seminole history, the ecology of the
Fakahatchee Strand, the fascination of Florda to con men. You name it – the reader discovers “acres of
opportunity where intriguing things can be found.”
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