The Orchid Thief is John Laroche, a renegade plant dealer and sharply handsome guy in spite of the fact that he is missing all his teeth and has the posture of al dente spaghetti. -- The Wall Street Journal. -- Boston Sunday Globe A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great. -- The Washington Post Book World Orlean\'s gifts are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description. is fast becoming one of our national treasures. . . -- Los Angeles Times Orlean\'s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . an engrossing journey full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing. . . -- The New York Times Book Review Fascinating .
The Orchid Thief shows Orlean\'s] gifts in full bloom. . .
Praise for The Orchid Thief Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy .
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In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the Orchid thief, Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay.
In the end, Orlean--and the reader--will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion.
Determined to clone an endangered flower--the rare ghost Orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii-- a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America\'s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida\'s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean\'s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession.
This national bestseller follows him into the Florida swamp to relate his mesmerizing true story of beauty and obsession.
The Orchid Thief is John Laroche, a renegade plant dealer and sharply handsome guy in spite of the fact that he is missing all his teeth and has the posture of al dente spaghetti
