Loving Frank Reviews

• Fascinating look at the internal life of Wright and his lover

  
  By A11K83SZ0W14CE on 2007-09-11
  I have studied the work and bio of Frank Lloyd Wright for many years, even traveling to his Western headquarters, Taliesen West, and touring homes he built in four cities. I was well aware of his strengths and faults, but little has been published about the women in his wife, other than his domineering, smothering mother and his strident, domineering third (and last) wife. (I'm counting Mamah Borthwick, his lover for about a half-dozen years, as a second wife, since they would have married if his first wife had granted him a divorce; he and Borthwick lived together for several years).
  
  Wright's towering ego is well known and well documented. By choosing to look at Wright and his work through the eyes of Mamah, his lover, in this fictionalized historical tale, Horan brings new insight into the demons and angels that inspired his vision. Wright's well-documented narcissism and inability to control himself personally is examined as well, but not as the fatal flaws offered by most biographers, but as components of an immensely complex and genius personality.
  
  Mamah's (first) husband was first to see Wright's vision but Mamah was the one to embrace it wholly as Wright set about building them a home in Oak Park, not far from his own house. Wright was a star on the rise at that time, accepting commissions almost faster than he could manage them, but the affair he and Mamah embarked upon, which caused her to abandon her children, led to considerable scandal and major setbacks to his business.
  
  Mamah was a recognized scholar and intellect until she was subsumed into a loveless marriage by the conventions of the time. In Wright she found the outlet for her passions and the independence she longed for, and the support and acceptance to rebuild her professional life, which became linked with that of the feminist Swedish scholar Ellen Keyes. Mamah's story, and that of the feminists of her time, is largely lost to history, and for reminding us of those seminal and important figures alone Horan deserves a deep bow.
  
  Horan's work also exumes many litle-known facts about Wright and his times: his love for rural Wisconsin, where he grew up; his fascination with Japan and business in buying and selling Japanese antiguities; and his admiration for the classic Tuscan homes of northern Italy. As this book documents the times in which Wright was shaping his own vision with the help and guidance of Mamah, we can better understand the architecture for which he became so famous.
  
  For those familiar with Wrights biography, the tragic end to his and mamah's affair is well known. For others, it will come as a shock. Horan is simply masterful in describing the events as they must have occurred.
  
  I enjoyed the book tremendously, but I have one major quibble: Horan offers little documentation for her narrative for the reader who might want to learn as much as she does. As one generally familiar with the story I find it authemtic, but an appendix elaborating on the sources Horan used would add to the book's credibility.
  
  

• Astonishingly fresh and riveting novel

  
  By A1W6ZLDLFEU599 on 2007-08-07
  No matter your allegiance to the narcissistic genius who was Frank Lloyd Wright, it is Mamah Cheney who will mesmerize you with her intelligence, sensitivity and straightforward innocence. To dare to write such a complicated true story and to succeed so masterfully is a feat few authors can achieve. Nancy Horan is a remarkably gifted writer who brings you close to the complex love affair between Mamah and Frank and grips you with her elqouent prose. I have not enjoyed a book as much in a very long time. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to dive into an extremely satisfying novel and not emerge from its spell until you turn the last page.
  
  

• Best Debut novel I have read

  
  By A19EWYR4T91RCQ on 2007-08-12
  I gave this Debut effort by Nancy Horan a try because of A life long interest in Frank Lloyd Wright (for more on Mr. Wright's life I recommend Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright). This ambitious work is a fictional accounting of the life of Mamah Cheney. After being hired by Cheney's husband to design a family home, Wright had a scandalous affair With Mrs. Cheney that wrecked both their marriages. This might seem like the plot of a romance novel, but believe me this book is not a romance novel! Cheney is portrayed as an educated woman struggling with her independence against the conventions of a time period when woman were for bearing children and keeping the home fires burning--to be seen but not heard!
  
  Frank and Mamah both leave their respective families to live together and travel the world, then eventually settle in Wisconsin. Wright's bigger than life personality is adequately displayed by the author, but the real story here is Maham who lost much in her quest for self realization and also in perusing her love for Wright. Her life is tragically cut short which makes for a difficult ending, still reading about this amazing woman, who was a head of her time makes for fascinating reading. Speaking of great 20th century historical fiction do check out "Misfits Country" for a searing look into the lives of Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Montgomery Clift.
  
  

• Ones need to fulfill intellectual and physical desires trumps matrimonial and maternal responsibilities

  
  By A2E3GFHUDNPYDH on 2007-12-17
  seems to be the mantra of Mamah Borthwick, linguist, intellectual, translator, wife, mother of two, and mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright. The author created this work of fiction by piecing together historical facts from newspaper articles, the writings of Mr. Wright (on architecture), and of Ms. Borthwick (translations of Swedish feminist Ellen Key's works) as well as the content of ten letters written by Borthwick to Key. Although there is little to complain about in the writing save a few clichés: Maymah's thoughts about Frank (p 25), "I am putty in your hands, so quickly," feelings about him (p 34), "She loved him with every cell in her body," and Frank's words to her (p 128), "You make me want to be a better man," Maymah's thoughts and actions are so self-centered and self-serving that this book reads like one long lesson on the consequences of a life selfishly-lived. In one of few moments of clarity, she wonders how she has become so accepting of her own improper behavior considering (p 32), "She had always thought herself a deeply moral person," yet agrees with a passage of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's (p 33), "It is not sufficient to be a mother; an oyster can be a mother." Her disdain for motherhood comes in spite of the fact that her children are cared for by a nanny, so much so that when her daughter becomes sick during a train trip, she thinks (p 58) "What would Louise do?" The book jacket states that she is "forced to choose between the roles of a mother, wife, lover and intellectual." She chooses the roles of lover and intellectual, and abandons her three-year-old daughter and almost seven-year-old son at a friend's house with whom they've been visiting, to be with Wright, telling the children (p 83), "I'm going on a small vacation...One just for me." The children don't see their mother again for two years. She ponders explaining her choice to her children as (p 140) "not...a cruel self-indulgence" but "an act of love for life" and believes that the kids might end up "...better off, with four happy parents." Late in the novel after a fight with Wright, she tells him (p 302), "The children are what matters now." Yeah, right. What transpires during the children's next visit to Mamah's and Frank's home, Taliesin, may never had happened had she made different choices. This story of a woman who chooses fling over family is, frankly, fluff. Better: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
  
  
  

• The compelling tale of The Other Woman

  
  By A1CZAK4VFV8OFP on 2007-10-22
  It happens every day: two individuals fall in love, though each is married to another. Secrets are discovered, lives change, families are broken apart. But when one of the two is a local celebrity, the affair also makes daily headlines. What must Life be like when you are true to your heart, but the whole world seems to be conspiring against you and your partner? Why must your every move be broadcast to the American public?
  
  This fictionalized account -- for we'll never know the complete real-life particulars -- documents the relationship of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Mamah is a dutiful wife and mother of two, a University of Michigan graduate and a socially active and intelligent woman. When she and her husband decide to build their own house in Oak Park, Illinois, they hire local architect Frank Wright to design their prairie-style home. In the process, Mamah and Frank begin to spend time together, sharing meaningful conversations that turn into something quite different. Frank is married and has six children of his own, and his wife refuses to grant him a divorce. The two lovers travel to Europe and eventually return to settle down near Wright's first home in Spring Green, Wisconsin. While Frank focuses on architecture, Mamah writes and translates Swedish feminist philosophy into American English. They see their children from time to time. Discounting some financial difficulties, they seem to have created an idyllic existence together. For a time.
  
  I toured the Taliesin grounds (but not the residence) in Wisconsin, in the late 1990s. I vaguely remember being told about what happened there in 1914, but only in general terms. It's such a beautiful place -- too restful to be associated with such a horrible tragedy. Now that I have read "Loving Frank," I'd like to go back. That trip will be more contemplative than my initial visit was.
  
  This is a powerful story, told in satisfying prose. Portions of this book will stay with me forever. Thank you, Ms. Horan, for your diligence in researching the details of this story and sharing them so astutely with us. We surely look forward to your next assignment!
  
  
• Overrated
  By AVJDSIQPP87B9 on 2007-10-02
  For several weeks this book was on the best seller list and I anticipated reading it. With little knowledge of Frank Lloyd Wright I also anticipated learning something about his life and career. To the extent that I gained basic knowledge about FLW and his relationship with Mamah Cheney, the book was successful.
  
  In some regards I found the depiction of Mamah like many historical novels that impose 21st century feelings and values on 19th century women. Since this is a true story, that statement cannot be totally true. However, I think that the author makes Mamah much more modern in her thinkings and opinions than she probably was in life.
  
  While I thought the book was well written, somewhere along the line I missed what drew Mamah Cheney to FLW and what compeled her to have such undying love and to give up so much for "the man she loved." Maybe it was just that she wanted to get out of her relationship with Edward more so than a love for Frank. Perhaps with maturity and looking back in hind sight its easy to second guess Mamah's action. But she gave much more than he did. Consistent with FLW not paying his bills and taking advantage of friends, in a sense he took advantage of Mamah. He was able to go back and forth between his children and Mamah while she essentially burned her bridges. I question to what extent he truly loved a woman to ask her to do what she did. I certainly did not come away from this novel liking FLW.
  
  I found Mamah to be a classic of a woman having an affair with a married man and not realizing that she was being screwed both figuratively and literally. Without Frank she literally had no place to go -no friends, no family. She gave up her children and took advantage of her sister who devoted her life to taking care of Mamah's children to be with Frank. Was the fox really worth the chase? When Mamah goes back to her house near the end of the novel I got the distinct feeling that she really second guessed her decision and the choices she made.
  
  While other readers found this book a page turner, I labored to finish it. Unaware of Mamah's final demise, I was surprised and saddened by the ending. Even in the end, Mamah got the short end of the stick while Frank was able to go on and have other relationships and other women. He stayed on at his Taliesin. I wonder if FLW ever really realized the extent of Mamah's devotion and what she gave up for him.
  
  
• Wonderful fictional story about an amazing love affair
  By A3JMR54BZUPP19 on 2007-09-01
  I have to first admit that aside from admiring his architecture, I know pretty much nothing about Frank Lloyd Wright. Keeping in mind that this is a fictional account of a true story, the love story between FLW and Mamah was very intriguing, and encouraged me to do a little more factual reading about the pair (with very little written about her at all!). True this story is primarily about Mamah, with FLW being a secondary and rather one-dimensional character. In fact, the story inspired me more as being about a turn-of-the-century woman at the verge of the women's movement and her confused and rather unconventional journey. The ending was rather shocking and left me reeling for a bit, furiously doing outside research on the events discussed. I had to give it four stars only because I felt that parts of it dragged a bit, especially at the beginning, and I almost stopped reading it.
  
  
• TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK...
  By AN3D3M8MJ07BQ on 2008-02-05
  Frank Lloyd Wright was, and is, considered by many to be an architectural visionary. His Prarie homes were organic in nature and designed to blend into the landscape rather than compete with it.
  
  Frank himself could hardly be considered as a man who "blended into the landscape" and his unconventional affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, a married woman with two children, resulted in tragedy both personal and professional
  
  Author Nancy Horan's historical novel takes you into the lives and minds of this unusual couple and explores their relationship and its effect the people who loved them as well as those on the periphery of their passion.
  
  We are drawn into the inner thoughts of Mameh, an accomplished woman in her own right.....college graduate, fluent in several languages.....and her attempt to "stop standing on the side of life watching it float by" and instead "swim in the river and feel it's current". In an era when women were expected to quash any desire for personal growth and "act happy", Mameh's personal conflict forced her to make choices that provided temporary satisfaction, but were ultimately disasterous.
  
  Could it be that you, like me, will become so consumed by Horan's vivid portrayal of this couple that you will find yourself searching the internet for more information about "what happened after" Horan's tale ends.
  
  
  
  
  
• Will Become One of my All Time Favorite Books
  By ATCLZNGR97CDL on 2007-08-19
  I bought this book not knowing much about FLW and knowing nothing about his affair with Mamah Cheney. I was instantly riveted to this story of love, scandal, and genius.
  I could not stop reading it and had to finish it before I could do anything else once I started it. This story will haunt you forever.
  Very well written and, though it is a novel, you can tell how well-researched and true to life it is.
  I LOVED this book.
  
  
• A work of fiction based on a real event in Frank Lloyd Wright's life and marriage
  By A1ER5AYS3FQ9O3 on 2007-09-04
  Because this is a novel, the reader can take for granted that plenty of the details are imagined, as the author could not possibly have been privy to the conversations or situations described here, not to the extent portrayed. But I urge readers NOT to be put off by the fact that this is fiction because it is clear that the author did her research. I found this book to be very interesting, very well written and it revealed a part of Wright's life I hadn't really known about.
  
  Mamah Borthwick Cheney was a married woman who had an affair with Wright, also married at the time. She is credited (if "credit" is the right word) with destroying his first marriage. Anyone expecting to pick up this book and sink into an epic love story should be forewarned - this is NOT the stuff of dreamy romance novels, but the hard, gritty reality of an affair during a time when women weren't expected to break the bonds of convention. It also isn't an easy read at times, as it has some slow passages, which is the main reason I gave it a 4 rating instead of a 5.
  
  Here is the reality behind the fiction: Cheney met Wright when she and her husband commissioned the architect to design a house for them. This is not an airy or stereotypical romance but a portrayal of an independent, educated woman at odds with the restrictions of the early 20th century. Frank and Mamah, both married and with children, met when Mamah's husband, Edwin, commissioned Frank to design a house.
  
  This is what the book focuses on, the affair between the two. But I think there is information potential readers need, information that helps to put things in deeper perspective and perhaps lend a backstory to the events.
  
  For one thing, Wright's own father, a minister, had divorced his wife, citing alienation of affection even though SHE was the one who'd asked him to leave, according to many accounts. I think family history is important, often a key component in shaping one's life, depending on how events are interpreted, the trauma that may be endured and the legacy of pain or resilience left in its wake.
  
  So I'm noting that Wright came from a family that was troubled, had a long history of marital tension before the divorce (his father struggled to make a living). Who knows what part this played in Frank Lloyd Wright's history of flirtations, long before he met Cheney? All of these factors - the divorce within his family, Wright's reputation as a flirt (some say a womanizer) and the fact that he already had 6 children which took up most of his wife's attention may have played pivotal roles in the affair itself. It is certainly important background info.
  
  The author writes very well (most of the time) about the affair itself and events that were considered scandalous, even making headlines: how Wright and Cheney left their families, lived together, traveled overseas and more.
  
  There is more I want to tell but if I do I will absolutely ruin the book for readers who don't know the whole story or haven't heard the complete tale of this affair. The book leads up to stunning event and I don't feel I should spoil the book by revealing more.
  
  I will say that if you are the sort of reader who likes nice, neat and happy endings or romances, then you may feel let down at the end. I was fascinated by the whole saga. This is a major and epic novel, kept from being absolutely superb, in my opinion, by a few pacing issues. Even so, I'd recommend it for the strengths that shine through and for revealing a major episode in the noted architect's life. I'd definitely buy another book by this author, someone I expect to get better as she continues to write. She already has so much talent!
  
  I'd also suggest readers do some research AFTER reading the book if they are interested in Wright's complete life story. If you do too much research beforehand, you'll find out what happens in this book and that may take away from the suspense.
  
  
• A real page turner.....
  By AG8DPYVTLT2C2 on 2007-08-14
  What a great read! This was one of those stories that you just hated to put down and when you weren't reading you were thinking about it. Nancy Horan has done an exceptional job of recreating the Love Story between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mammah Bothwick Cheney. The story also provides great insight on how different life was for women in the early 1900's, and how little tolerance Society had for divorce. My heart went out to Mammah as she struggled with her love for Frank and her responsiblities as a wife and Mother. She was a brilliantly intelligent women, unfortunately living in the wrong era. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good love story.
  
  
• History As Fiction
  By A30O1Z2VVUAX8L on 2007-10-09
  Willie Stark. Charles Foster Kane. Shaw and Morgan.
  
  These enduring fictional characters from three classic works of American literature and film have given people more insight into the characters of Huey Long, William Randolph Hearst, and Leopold and Loeb than any biography or history ever could.
  
  In choosing to fictionalize their stories of historical figures, Robert Penn Warren (All The King's Men), Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) and Alfred Hitchcock (Rope) were able to engage in extensive studies of motivation and character development without being mired down by the narrative limitations of a straightforward historical account. By choosing this technique, Warren, Welles and Hitchcock each created a masterpiece of aesthetic truth even if the historical facts were not quite as described in those works.
  
  Not so Nancy Horan. Her overly-hyped first novel, Loving Frank, is a flat, dry recitation of the story of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's seven-year affair with Mamah Borthwick and of their house, Taliesin, in Wisconsin. Meticulously researched - I would say over-researched - the book is little more than a chronological account of the basic facts of the relationship from its beginnings in 1904 until its tragic end in 1914.
  
  Totally absent from the book is any insight into the characters of Mamah or Frank. Horan is either unwilling or unable to let us learn about her characters other than through continuous exposition - we know that Mamah is a bored, intellectual woman, trapped in a dull marriage totally at variance with her radical ideas about love and marriage only because Horan tells us so. It is a hallmark of good writing when the author can help the reader gain such insights organically, by engaging with the writing, instead of having them spoon-fed as Horan does. Similarly, we learn about the salacious news coverage of the affair because Horan quotes the newspaper articles verbatim at great length. There is nothing at all creative about Horan's too extensive quotation of primary sources. And at 350 pages, Loving Frank's endless virtually identical descriptions of blue skies, colorful flowers and the aesthetics of architecture become tedious. After Mamah runs off with Frank in 1907, there are no major plot developments until the end, and what plot developments there are have a wearying sameness to them; nothing of significance changes and there are no character epiphanies. Even Mamah's relationship with Swedish feminist Ellen Key replicates her relationship with Frank. Key engages Mamah to translate her works for an American audience and then proves, like Wright, to be fast and loose in her interpretation of her commitments to people.
  
  Also, for a novel about a torrid love affair there is almost no eroticism to the story. It is easy enough to understand why a woman like Mamah would be charmed into a brief affair with an eccentric genius such as Wright. But seven years with a pompous, arrogant liar, long after she has seen him for what he was? Of course such relationships exist, but fiction should at least try to explain why people behave this way.
  
  The closest Horan comes to analyzing Mamah's motivation occurs towards the end. Appalled that Frank has once again indulged his obsession to recklessly spend money (in this case, to completely furnish Taliesin, including purchasing not one, not two, but three baby grand pianos), while stiffing his workers on their wages, Mamah leaves him and goes to Chicago. She swears she won't return until he changes. Within days, he appears on her doorstep and apologizes. She returns to him although there is no evidence he has reformed and in fact, he hasn't. Once again, her return is explained entirely by the historical narrative - she must return because the story is about to end.
  
  DISCLAIMER: For those who are fussy about such things, I am about to tell you the ending. Ordinarily, I would not do this in a review of a work of fiction. But Horan sticks so closely to the historical record that you can learn the end of this story just by reading the Frank Lloyd Wright entry on Wikipedia. Indeed, since the ending is a matter of historical record, it would have made more sense to have told the story in flashback. Anyway, given that the ending isn't a surprise, I feel no compunction about discussing it. On the other hand, the ending illustrates both the central weakness of Horan's chosen technique and, ironically, suggests a much better architecture - this is a book about Frank Lloyd Wright, after all - for her narrative.
  
  First, this novel utterly lacks a dramatic climax. Given Horan's approach to the material, there is no dramatic tension involving Mamah and Frank to resolve. Rather, the novel simply ends because of the homicidal intervention of a madman. A mentally unstable worker, Julian Carlton, becomes unhinged after several altercations with his fellow workers that culminate in Mamah's dismissing him while Frank is away. He murders Mamah, her two children, and five co-workers with an ax and sets fire to the residential wing of Taliesin. While historically accurate, this ending in a work that purports to be fiction is in the nature of a dues ex machina.
  
  Also, until Mamah's death, the novel is written from her perspective. Once she is dead, the perspective shifts to Frank. While a shift in perspective is a perfectly valid writing technique, it should result in - well, a change in perspective. That is after all, the whole point. But shifting the perspective to Frank in this novel is merely a necessary device to finish the book; to flesh out the details of the crime, to describe the crafting of the coffins and the funerals, to set forth - again by the verbatim recitation of an actual letter Frank wrote to the editor of the local paper - Frank's reaction to Mamah's death, and finally, to announce Frank's intention to rebuild Taliesin. We learn nothing more about Mamah, Frank or their relationship from Frank's viewpoint than we knew from Mamah's, because in reality, Horan has not told this story from either perspective. She has told it entirely from an historical timeline.
  
  Ironically, the murders suggest an architecture for this story that could truly have enabled the material to soar. Julian Carlton was a madman; Frank Lloyd Wright was a genius. The two are not that far apart; when you read the details of the murder, you realize Carlton was quite intelligent and carefully planned how to attack eight adults without being subdued. How much more interesting this story would have been if told from the perspective of a fictional Julian Carlton. Horan would probably object that the real Carlton worked only briefly for Wright and would not be familiar with the Mamah-Frank relationship. But that is the beauty of fiction. Had Horan chosen to fictionalize the story, there would have been nothing to stop her from making the "Carlton" character a long-time Wright employee.
  
  Frank Lloyd Wright rebuilt Taliesin. For over thirty years until his death in 1959, he lived there with his third wife, the dancer Olgivanna. Together, they established an eclectic artistic community. I would hope that whatever author writes a novel about Wright's relationship with Olgivanna - a relationship that seems more intrinsically interesting than his relationship with Mamah - will emulate Warren, Welles and Hitchcock in writing that story as a work of fiction, and not as a slavishily literal historical novel.
  
  
  
• Two people focused on self before all else...
  By AWBOU0HY8TZ5A on 2007-08-16
  I was a little skeptical of this novel at first ... I was worried it would be a lurid tell-all. What a relief to read a book that focused on the internal struggles of a woman in the early 1900s trying to follow not only her heart but her own interests and the price she was forced to pay to do so. How many of us, even today, could do what she did ...would we want to? These are not individuals to be held up as examples of family values....matter of fact, I didn't like them at all. Yet it was fascinating to read of the choices these two made completely out of step with the norms of their time and how others around them were affected and chose to handle the consequences of FLW and Mamah's actions. If FLW never entered Mamah's life, would she have remained with Edwin and her children never to pursue her work with Ellen Key? Was Ellen's influence a direct response to the situation she found herself with her relationship to FLW? These are questions ripe for book clubs. The research involved in this project was impressive...weaving documented fact with fiction. I feel the author did a great job capturing the internal struggles that Mamah must have been going through. As I started the book I thought the title referred to the affair between Mamah and FLW ...how and why they came to love each other. However, after finishing this book, I believe the title was a reference to the costs to those affected by `Loving Frank'...which was much more interesting.
  
  
  
• absorbing biographical novel
  By A23XBAAI6CJKV0 on 2007-08-14
  Horan's novel of the romance between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney is altogether absorbing and fascinating. It's a credit to the author that this reader could almost sympathize with the great love that tore apart two families. Wright's vision and philosophy of design is well-represented and explained so even a neophyte can understand.
  
  
• Definitely a page-turner
  By AIM9EOK7FCY62 on 2007-08-18
  I started this book last night and less than 24 hours I am done. I was mesmerized by the story of Mamah and loved the dignity with which this woman was portrayed, while showing all the tribulations she had to go through. Not knowing anything about the personal life of FLWright, I had not expectations in this book and thoroughly enjoyed it! Being a fan of Else Lasker-Schüler, her appearance in the book, whether fictional or historical, was a lovely little gem to stumble upon.
  
  
• Richly imaginative
  By A3734S7RAY2KDF on 2007-09-18
  In 1972, I attended a conference at Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house, Taliesin, and I've carried a vision of it ever since: its startlingly flat planes, the Oriental lines of its roofs, the way it snugs into the side of a Wisconsin hill. And indoors, the Zen-like simplicity of furnishings, the wide windows that open onto green landscape, and the glowing walls that seem to shimmer with their own inner light. I can understand why Mamah Borthwick Cheney fell in love with its architect and loved him with an outrageous passion until she died. I may have been a little in love with him myself when I left that remarkable house.
  
  Loving Frank is a fictional recreation of the true story of the adulterous affair with Wright that pulled Mamah Cheney away from her young children, her husband, and their prosperous, comfortable life in Oak Park, Illinois. Wright himself was married, the father of six children, and a rising young architect. The two were drawn together in 1903 when Wright designed a house for the Cheneys.
  
  Mamah Borthwick was a scholar and feminist when she married Edwin Cheney, and one of the things Nancy Horan does best in this tumultuous novel is to show how the egotistical, charismatic Wright reawakens her desire to be more than simply a mother and wife-to dream dreams impossible for those whose existences are constrained by convention. Horan also brings to life Mamah's terrible dilemma: how to create and sustain a life based on passion when that means giving up her two children, whom she also deeply loves. And Horan tellingly illuminates the conflicted relationship between Mamah and Ellen Key, a Swedish feminist and writer whose liberal ideas about sex, marriage, and child-care were far ahead of her time.
  
  Loving Frank is all the more remarkable because it is Nancy Horan's first novel. The pace and intensity may lag a bit in the middle and drop off after the tragic events of 1914. And I might have wished for a more detailed documentation of sources. Still, these are minor reservations about what is overall a fine achievement, a rich, compellingly imaginative work that allows us to see into the private emotional lives of two intriguing people: the man who significantly influenced American architecture for over fifty years, and the woman who loved him. It's a book that will be remembered.
  
  Susan Wittig Albert is the author of several historical novels, including Death on the Lizard (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 12). A longer version of this review may be read on the Story Circle Book Review website.
  
  
• Interesting and surprising
  By A11NL2A0RDEGF on 2007-09-25
  You don't have to know much about Frank Lloyd Wright or be "into" architecture to enjoy this book which is a fascinating look at the history and culture in the early 1900's as well as a complicated love story with the added bonus of a surprising ending. Although I didn't find any of the characters to be especially likeable, the story of their interactions is riveting. I'm sure FLW was brilliant and this book reflects both his brilliance as well as his very egoistical and conflicted personal side.
  
  It is Mamah's character that is the most interesting. She is embracing the emerging women's movement and feels that she is seeking freedom from the traditional role of a woman; however, her life revolves around FLW. Everything she does from leaving her children, moving to Europe, moving back to Wisconsin, living in a house with no heat doesn't seem like freedom but rather a warped dependence and need to be with someone greater than herself. At one time, Mamah finds herself outside in deep snow where she is "knee-deep and snow blind" -- pretty much sums up her life experience.
  
  This book is so well written that one can easily envision the sometimes beautiful and sometimes bleak settings and one can feel the tension between the characters come right off the page. I read this for a book club and our discussion was one of the best ever; I would highly recommend this book. It is not only a book about FLW, but also a book about society's view of women during this time period.
  
  
• Disappointing for wright fans - try "The Fellowship" instead
  By A11N5VZJN7MUPX on 2007-08-13
  Judging by all the hype and instant best seller status many readers like me picked this up because of their interest in Wright. Although fiction, I was hoping for more insight into the man but the novel is disappointing in this respect. Well written but over the top in parts, it focuses on Wright's scandalous affair that ruined his first marriage. Readers interested in getting a richer picture of Wright should try a recent account of his later exploits -- The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship by Friedlander and Zellman. Although non fiction, "The Fellowship" is in many ways more fun to read and paints a more vivid picture of the man and his followers. The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship
  
  
• sociology 101
  By AX15R62MAC865 on 2007-10-02
  I bought this book full of great expectations - Wright was a well known figure - great romance... But I suffered such a let down as to make it difficult to write this review.
  
  To me the true test of good fiction is that 1. It engages the reader, 2. it entertains, and 3. It should be readable. Loving Frank succeeded in number three. But...
  
  The danger of writing 'fiction' about such well known figures as these presents the writer with the very real fact that there are living beings out there that 'know/knew' the characters. Fear of reprisals will often lead to two dimensional characters in the story, a flaw I felt throughout the book. I felt the only connection with the characters I got was at the end through the letter to the editor regarding Mamah. THAT had passion. That sounded real (it was.) Unfortunately, although it was about Mamah, it told a great deal about Frank, and that I do not think was the author's intention.
  
  I really wish the author had rounded out Mamah's character more. I could have understood her leaving her home and children if it had been MORE for intellectual development and less boredom and physical attraction. I was left with the feeling that she got herself into something that she would have liked to get out of, but was in too deep. And given Frank's subsequent track record with women, I wonder if the topic would have had any interest at all if it had not ended as it did. I am still trying to figure out why the author wrote the book in the first place.
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• Compelling and disturbing
  By A146H6A41B26QT on 2007-11-04
  "Loving Frank" was riveting from start to finish, both for the insight into Frank Lloyd Wright and the complex dilemma presented of a turn-of-the-century woman longing for 21st century freedoms.
  
  Mamah Borthwick was educated and intelligent, but fell into the trap of marrying Edwin Cheney, a good but boring man. In Wright she felt she had found her intellectual soulmate, but the mores of the time rendered her decisions disastrous. Even from a 21st century perspective, however, I was troubled about her decisions, especially to leave her children with a friend to follow Frank to Europe. Mamah's and Frank's belief that someday their children would appreciate that their parents chose the free life struck me as dangerously naive. One of the great strengths of Horan's novel is that she presents this dilemma in all its complexity, most notably through the character of Lizzie, Mamah's sister.
  
  There was also enough about Wright's architecture in the novel to send me off to the library for photos of his early Chicago houses. They were indeed revolutionary for their time, with long and low lines, capturing space and light in ways never before contemplated. The Cheney home was one of the few smaller prarie houses, of wood and brick melting into the lush greenery that surrounds it. You'll want to see it after you finish this fascinating novel.
  
  
• Surprisingly Boring
  By A2ZHH7AK83JB5G on 2007-11-22
  I have an interest in early 20th century America and was eager to read this novel based on the love affair between influential architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his doomed mistress Mamah. The book is well researched (being a resident of Boulder, Colorado I especially appreciated the small portion of the book that takes place there and the accurate historical detail the author provides) though obviously is fiction based on fact. Mamah should be a sympathetic character but somehow she simply came out as shallow, selfish and silly to me despite her intellect and free thinking ways. The book is well written and I can't quite define why it and its characters didn't capture my imagination more.
  
  
• A life and love imagined
  By A3TN9BYWG95T4E on 2007-09-12
  Sometimes I struggle with the fact versus fiction issue. This book handles it superbly.In fact, I felt the author created such a vivid, flesh and blood character in Mamah, that the line between fact and fiction seems quite irrelevant. It really is Mamah's story and while Wright is a fascinating character, the author creates a sympathetic, yet flawed central figure who seems very true to life. Biographies, with lots of footnotes, struggle to bring to life the subject, and all biographers have to try to fill in the pieces between the facts, and the reality that even in a journal, a subject may color events and emotions to fit how they wish to be perceived.
  It appears that there is not enough material available to hear Mamah in her own words and in lieu of that, I feel that Nancy Horan is a splendid biographer. She has taken the facts and woven them together with her own sensitive understanding of the condition of educated woman at the beginning of the nineteenth century to create a compelling portrait of a woman making difficult choices. It is a book that will stay with me a long time.
  
  
• A Flawed Debut
  By A1BI8PUEHA5CHW on 2008-01-20
  I would have never picked this book up if I hadn't read somewhere someone mentioning this in passing. When I saw it at the library cart, I thought, what the heck. I'll just pick it up and read it. I need something to distract me. It was cold out and I really needed something to read while taking care of two kids with a bad case of a head cold.
  
  I know nil about Frank Lloyd Wright. I didn't really care about him nor about architecture. I am always game to reading something new though and I thought the premise for this novel was rather interesting. It started out strong especially since it's Mamah telling the story. Then I ran into a lot of dry spells where it was hard sticking with reading just this book. I wanted to finish this book for some reason and today, I managed to. The pace picked up more so after they've returned from Europe and the melodramas about losing her children ceased. However, I was not prepared for the ending. I had no idea that it was coming. That alone saved the book for me. Even then, it all fell flat at the end. It just didn't feel finished.
  
  Was this a great love story? No, it was not. It was about an extremely selfish man who thought nothing of using anyone to get ahead. It did not surprise me that he didn't pay his creditors and his workers. It did not surprise me that he bought three baby grand pianos. None of it surprised me. I think I would have been more surprised if he did change his entire attitude and life around after Mamah's tragic end. And I had no patience for Mamah. If she really loved her children, then she would have fought tooth and nail to see them more often. From what it sounds like, her ex-husband was a geniunely nice guy. And she laments over her ruined relationship with her children. What did she expect after deserting them in Boulder, Colorado for Europe? I can't imagine what the kids thought and while you can't undo what has been done, I do believe the kids were the greatest victims in this story. They did not ask for their mother to be irresponsible and run off. They did not ask to be murdered. They were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
  
  So at times, both characters can be sympathetic characters but it's hard to be sympathetic with someone when they've ill-abused their family and friends. However, this was a compelling story. I could not put down the last 150 pages. That says something to me as a reader. Since I didn't expect anything from this novel (I had not even heard of it till someone mentioned it!), I didn't have to be excited or disappointed about it.
  
  It is good reading if you like historical fiction. It's not the best I've read nor is it the worst. It's just a good story and shows a great deal about the early 1900s which I am interested in.
  
  1-20-08
  
  
  
  
• Character development lacking
  By A3J27689OXNYHH on 2007-08-19
  The author keeps the characters at arm's length, so readers fail to engage fully with them. Halfway through the book the personalities develop some heft but empathy is nevertheless lacking, even during the final scenes. It would have helped to have some physical descriptions of the people - descriptions of nature and architecture abound, but after all, this is a book about people.
  
  
• Tragic Liaison
  By A1K1JW1C5CUSUZ on 2007-09-26
  I enjoyed this book for rounding out my sense of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who was his lover and sometime soul mate for many years. It's the most pleasant way I know to bring these two powerful people to life in your mind.
  
  Most novels deal with romance, hope, and redemption. Loving Frank is quite different because it displays a tragedy based on imagining the relationship between two real people, the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the wife of one of his clients, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who left her husband and family to live with Wright. Beyond a few scraps of writing, we know little about Mamah Borthwick Cheney other than what a few friends and the excesses of journalists said about her. Even though I've read several books about Wright, I didn't get much of a sense about Mamah until reading this book. I thought that Nancy Horan did a fine job of bringing Mamah to life by imputing reasonable motives to her for the actions she is known to have taken.
  
  Frank Lloyd Wright had a reputation for romancing the wives of his clients, but only Mamah left home and hearth for him . . . despite having a comfortable marriage and two children. Mamah appears to have seen this as an opportunity to become a fulfilled person by having a professional (she was a translator of feminist literature) and a personal life (with Frank) that was continually stimulating.
  
  Why, then, is this a tragedy? Well, Mamah didn't end up doing nearly as much professionally as she hoped, and Wright was often not around . . . or not behaving as he should have. In addition, Mamah ended up being characterized by the press as a scarlet woman in a way that shamed all of her family and friends. Her leaving her family affected her children and herself in fundamental ways as well . . . the loss was substantial. Relations with her author were also strained. And her life ended in a tragic way. If you want to know more about the real events, I recommend Death in a Prairie House by William R. Drennan.
  
  You can visit Frank Lloyd Wright's home in Oak Park, Illinois as it was constituted in 1909 when he left his family to be with Mamah. Her home is also nearby. In addition, you can tour Taliesin near Spring Green, Wisconsin to help you imagine what their life was like. I have been to all three locations and felt that background helped make the book more real to me.
  
  In the end, I found myself wondering what Mamah would have to say about her life if she could be an independent observer. Was it worth it? Should she have chosen some other path?
  
  Those who are looking for lots of romance between the two will be disappointed in the book. The scenes where both appear are often more about ideas and culture than they are about the relationship.
  
  If you have Frank Lloyd Wright on a pedestal because he was a great architect, this book will help you see his feet of clay.
  
  
  
• Romantic Drivel
  By A3CST1P7V2ZGBA on 2008-06-26
  It is hard for me to imagine that I read the same book as the other reviewers. Perhaps I didn't, since even though it is against my religion to not finish a book once I have started, I just could not make myself trudge through more than half. I should get a medal for that accomplishment. The writing was barely half a notch above bodice-ripper level, and the author managed to miss all the complexity and nuance for which Wright is known. Talk about dumbed-down! She took really interesting lives and a fascinating relationship and turned them into cartoons. First I was disappointed, now I am ticked off. I'm sorry I wasted my time. Unless you are looking for formulaic, romantic fluff, mediocre writing and one-dimensional characters who don't have the slightest relationship to their real name-sakes, save yours and read something else.
  
  
• I Hated This Book!
  By A2ZWJ0CPEHD9X3 on 2008-09-27
  I hated this book for so many reasons; I'm not certain where to begin.
  
  I suppose I can start with the premise. Well educated, well read mother and wife, feels she's not living up to her potential; not living authentically; feels there's more out there; wants to discover who she is. This premise has been examined countless times and I'm confident today there are many educated, well read mothers (particularly stay at home moms) and wives that have experienced those same feelings. However most of us do not fall into an affair with a lying egoist (okay, so he's considered a genius) and proceed to abandon our children under the guise of having to find out who we really are. Mamah's story would have been more captivating had she struck out on her own as opposed to taking up with another man and a married man at that. The story would have also seemed more credible, had her husband been stifling in some way. He was depicted as being nothing but encouraging.
  
  Second, I could barely stomach Mamah's deference to FLW regarding her translation of a poem. There she is a woman with a master's degree in languages; an experienced translator and she's asking the architect, what he thinks.
  
  Mamah's surprise at how she was depicted in the press was the point at which my expectations for this book plummeted. A woman of that time would have known exactly what she was in for. There would have been no doubt she would be painted with a "scarlet letter" and become a social pariah. Her curling up in bed with her bottle of cough syrup with just stupid.
  
  Unfortunately once I begin a book I have to finish it. I pushed on just to get it read since it is our book club selection for this month. I wish I hadn't. Did Horan's publisher say "hey, you have to wrap this up" because the ending of this book came out of nowhere. All of a sudden (within a few pages) there's racial conflict between employee's, a dismissal and then the dismissed party goes crazy and kills several people. Is it just me, or was some character/scene development warranted there?
  
  Finally, historical fiction is tough and I would think the first thing an author has to do is be firmly planted in the era about which they write. That wasn't the case here. The main character seemed naive about the time in which she lived and at times seemed to "think" with the mind of a 21st century woman.
  
  Obviously I was very disappointed. I would suggest taking a pass on this one.
  
  
  
• Great Historical Fiction
  By A2TBZAC0XYHLIB on 2007-08-23
  Once I got past the first 100 pages of this book, I couldn't put it down. I didn't know much about Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney and it turns out that was a good thing when it came to reading this book. The ending couldn't have been better scripted and the fact that it was real was even more amazing.
  
  
• OK
  By AFR5XUENV3UM4 on 2007-08-28
  I ordered the book because of some positive reviews. I'm not altogether sure the book was deserving.
  
  It's slow going initially, then picks up. The middle drags, then the ending is welcome, if not a surprise.
  
  If you t=like this type of novel you may be better off checking out Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Cat's Cradle
  
  
• Couldn't put it down!
  By A10G0HIXMEORBT on 2007-09-12
  Having grown up in Western PA & toured Frank Wright's Falling Water several times, I was interested in learning more about his life. I liked that this was a "fictional biography". Well it was a fabulous book - one that I hated to have it come to an end.
  
  All I will say is that the author really draws you into the characters and you get a sense of their personalities, dreams and life back in the early twentieth century. I came away wanting to read another biography about Frank Lloyd Wright and to tour more of his homes that he built. He really was a genius if you have ever seen his work. Buy it & read it - you won't regret it. It's the kind of book you will be thinking about long after it ends.
  
  

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