Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsMade me crave an orange or two!
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2015
To write articles and books that will engage people and stand the test of time, journalists must be enthusiastic, curious, and tenacious about their subjects. Writer John McPhee displays all these qualities in the lively and entertaining Oranges. Rest assured the author saw every type of juicing machine he was allowed to while writing this book.
Apparently always on the lookout for an interesting story, McPhee relates in the preface how an ad showing four seemingly similar oranges had different names. This intrigued him greatly, and he “had to get to work.” Littered throughout this mid-1960s classic by McPhee is personalized wording that demonstrate his doggedness to talk to experts and see firsthand what they do: “I was eager to return to a place where … people all but brushed their teeth in fresh orange juice”; “nearly all the visits I eventually made to specific growers, pickers, packers and others”; “my talks with him drifted conversationally”; and “I would like to have met Snake Man, but that proved to be impossible.”
The observant McPhee takes helicopter rides and views orange groves from high above. He rides on tractors and walks within the lanes of the varied orange trees. He visits concentration plants and juice plants to smell the smells, taste the products, get up-close looks, and ask questions. He immerses himself in the unpretentious Florida citrus culture, talking in a down-to-earth way with the growers, pickers, big players, and others who play a part. In the final chapter, McPhee talks to the hard-nosed “orange baron” of Florida, Ben Hill Griffin, until three a.m. That’s dedication.
At the same time, McPhee takes us far from Florida and tackles his subject on a worldwide level, vividly describing all historical realms of the fruit. The author remembers things from ads and studies oranges by reading a lot about them in diverse publications. Yes, growing oranges is a competitive, down-and-dirty business, but there is also a huge scientific and ancient element to the fruit—McPhee tells us that people have earned their doctorates studying oranges. He visits the Citrus Experiment Station at the University of Florida, and that’s when his intended magazine articles about oranges turn into a full-fledged book.
Amid his fact-packed fixation on oranges, McPhee’s sense of humor is what gives Oranges its sweet kick. Even when he’s not trying to be humorous—the middle of the book, for instance, will expand your historical knowledge of oranges to horizons unimagined—there’s an underlying absurdity to McPhee’s manner, as if he, too, cannot fathom the depths he’s explored to relate the history of a most treasured food that breathes like you and I. Though he conveys the practical and healthful aspects of oranges, the journalist treats the fruit with a certain spice-of-life reverence and gives it an elegance it probably deserves.
Further along, the content becomes a little less playful and more oriented toward the business and geography side of things. McPhee wants us to avoid concentrated orange juice, but he’s not preachy on the matter.
This talented journalist is not a robot on autopilot writing about oranges. He brings readers into his journalistic journey via occasional first-person narration by being open about where he gets his material, funny about what he observes, and thorough in everything he reports (he saw “thirteen rocking chairs were set in a row” on Griffin’s porch). McPhee throws out a few data points and factoids by the dozens in some chapters—sometimes unrelated ones in successive sentences—but where he shines is when he lets us accompany him in the Florida sunshine to view what he is seeing and doing. The author is having fun.
Based on the titles of his other books, McPhee has a wide range of interests. Lucky for oranges and everyone involved with the production of them, the author picked a topic many years ago that put a round piece of fruit on a pedestal. In the process he entertained and educated readers for decades to come.