No Filter Book Club: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
No writer inspires me more than Susan Orlean. She writes in exactly the way I want to write, and covers exactly the things I want to write about. Susan Orlean is the reason I am in love with non-fiction. She wrote an essay called Life’s Swell and whenever I feel stuck or uninspired I read the opening few paragraphs and my brain just lights up.
The Orchid Thief emerged from an article Orlean wrote for The New Yorker – about an Orchid heist in Florida. A man called John Laroche snuck into the Fakahatchee Swamp on the Seminole Reservation and stole thousands of dollars worth of rare Ghost Orchids. Orlean went to the trial and quickly became fascinated with Laroche and the Orchid World.
“Generally speaking, orchids seem to drive people crazy,” Orlean writes. “The people who love orchids love them madly, but the passion for orchids is not necessarily a passion for beauty. Something about the form of an orchid makes it seem almost more like a creature than a flower.”
This book is an account of what Orchid Fever does to people – the plant shows, the rivalries, the awards, the cross-breeding and the in-fighting. To be an Orchid collector is to have a thirst that can never be quenched. It’s interesting, the Orchid stuff, but Susan writes in such a compelling way that it’s like reading a fast-paced novel. If you love plants, swamps and language read it. In the meantime, I shall work on trying to write descriptions half as good as this:
“John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale-eyed, slouch-shouldered, and sharply handsome, in spite of the fact that he is missing all his front teeth. He has the posture of al dente spaghetti and the nervous intensity of someone who plays a lot of video games.”
-Alice Austin
Have you read a banging non-fiction book lately? Send an email to editor@nofilterzine.com to write for No Filter Book Club!
