Date: 27 June 2021
Location: Pat & Carol
The Bookers, fourteen strong, convened on another lovely Sunday, this time at Pat & Carol’s.
Most of us (7-8) had read The Orchid Thief, and in general I think we enjoyed it.
Apparently, a few watched the 2002 movie “Adaptation” which was essentially about a screenwriter trying to adapt The Orchid Thief for the movies.
Among the Bookers, however, the movie did NOT receive rave reviews.
It is interesting that last August we had read Orlean’s The Library Book which began with a man arrested but never convicted of starting the disastrous fire in the Los Angeles Central Library. From there she launched into extensive histories of the LA Library and of libraries in general and included wide-ranging discussions such as details of the fire itself and the methods used to recover damaged and water-logged books.
The Orchid Thief was written in 1998, many years earlier than The Library Book but Orlean’s basic methodology in the two books was clearly evident.
Here, her central character is John Laroche, who was charged along with three Seminole Indians with poaching Ghost orchids from a Florida Wildlife Preserve. Laroche is a weird but somewhat appealing ‘con man’ (and whose truck reminded Carol of Essie’s van). Laroche introduces Orlean to the bizarre world of orchid mania. From there she then proceeds to cover a wide range of related issues: the biology of orchids, most of which are epiphytes–living on other plants but not parasitic; the history of orchid hunting and hunters; the cloning, hybridization and naming of orchids; the obsession of orchid growers and collectors; the efforts of the Seminoles to recover their rights, and Florida land development scams. Orlean has a remarkable ability to take a single event, such as the poaching of protected orchids, and from that to branch off into a whole series of interesting and often strangely related subjects. She is clearly a skilled researcher and a very fine writer.
As is often the case, Linda B., our resident nature guru, provided us with all kinds of interesting information about orchids, especially those found locally and in other areas of Alabama and Tennessee.
After our discussions we delighted in a tour of Pat and Carol’s backyard with bunches of blooming daylilies, and of course they also had several orchids on their porch for an even closer tie-in to the book.
We then followed up with a really nice meal and the usual fine fellowship among long-time friends.
— Bob