Oranges by John McPhee: book review

Oranges (1966, revised edition 2006) is reportage – all about oranges, from farm to plate.

Oranges is written in seven sections: 1) Oranges, 2) Orange Men, 3) Citris sinensis, 4) Orangeries, 5) India River, 6) Degrees Brix, and 7) Orange Baron.

It started as a magazine article that grew into a book. The book starts with an orange juice machine and ends with concentrated orange juice – in between is the story of real oranges and real pressed juice. From an American perspective, it goes global and discusses the difference between varieties, locations, weather, water, and temperature. It discusses citrus scientists, growers, packers, and juicers.

I like the section on orangeries and the French kings and queens who invested in them, because orange blossoms are the symbol of love. I like the section on citriculture in France and Germany. I also like the odd snippets of facts and figures scattered throughout the book, such as “Lightning kills as many orange trees as any disease.”

Alchemist Nostradamus published a book in 1556 on how to prepare various cosmetics from oranges and the blossoms. And “in the fourteenth century in Ceylon, men who dived into lakes to search the bottom for precious stones first rubbed their bodies with orange peel oil in order to repel crocodiles and poisonous snakes.”

I am not a fan of eating oranges or orange juice, but I appreciate McPhee’s fact-filled, amusing style that is interesting and easy-to-read. For me, I would rather read about the citrus scent of fine perfume, but unfortunately there is virtually no reference to the use of oranges in perfume.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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