File this one under: “Books I’m reading for the non-fiction writing course I’m taking.”

So in my effort to learn more about how to write nonfiction well (the end-goal being to write my grandmother’s biography), I’m reading more. I started with two Singapore memoirs (Son of Singapore) and biographies (Tall Order), and now, The Orchid Thief because it’s said to have an excellent setting.

The Orchid Thief is the story of orchids and the people who are obsessed with them. It starts with John Larouche and how he* got arrested for stealing a bunch of orchids. From there, Orlean takes us on a tour through the history of orchids (really, people have been obsessed with this flower from the start) and the swamps of Florida.

Apart from seeing how people fall in love and get obsessed by orchids, the one thing I took away from this book is: I really, really don’t ever want to have to wade through a swamp. Orlean makes several trips to the swamps, since it is where the orchid grows and where Larouche took/stole the orchids. Plus, Orlean wants to see the ghost orchid in bloom, and since the book was written in 1998, Google Images was not yet available (that would come in 2001). Point is, she went to the swamp a few times and it is described vividly enough that I now feel like I no longer want to visit.

By the way, I couldn’t really tell that this book was written in 1998! Sure, there is a lack of reference to modern day technology, but the book swept me up in the obsession about orchids and people stealing them and feuding about them and it’s not until the end, where the computer and internet make an appearance that I realised that this book was older than I thought.

One other thing I noticed was the role of Orlean in the book. She’s clearly present, talking to the people here, asking questions, and visiting Florida very frequently. But like other books that I’ve read recently, her journey isn’t important. While she does start to appreciate orchids more, she doesn’t start collecting them, and she doesn’t become one of the people that she’s interviewing. She’s more of a neutral character, someone telling you about these people and the things that she learnt, and I enjoyed that too. I don’t know how present you like your narrators, but I felt she was one step more distance from Rachel Monroe’s Savage Appetites, the other book I remember reading with an author who’s present in the story but doesn’t play a key role.

Do you like orchids? Well, even if you don’t, you’ll probably enjoy this if you like non-fiction. I enjoyed reading about Larouche, the other orchid obsessives, and the history of orchid collecting itself. The book does expand far beyond the case of “orchids being stolen”, but I thought it was a good exploration of what horticultural obsession looked like and what it can lead to.

*It was him and a group of native Americans and there’s a defence based on what the tribe can or cannot do, but I am simplifying for the sake of a shorter sentence.

Featured Image: Photo from Canva