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A great love story. A great story about the beginnings of the Woman's Movement. A book that's hard to put down till you finish it.
I FELT SO MUCH COMPASSION FOR THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE AND THE AGONY SHE SUFFERED FOR THE LOSS OF HER CHILDREN. YOU COULD FEEL THE EMOTIONS OF THE CHARACTERS AS YOU READ THIS WONDERFULLY WRITTEN BOOK.
I KNEW LITTLE OF THE MAN OR THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING BOOKS I HAVE READ IN YEARS.
BEING A HUGE FAN OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S WORK I COULDN'T WAIT TO READ THIS BOOK. HE WAS NOT A VERY NICE MAN BUT UNDOUBTABLY A GENIUS.
PARTICULARLY, AS THE AUTHOR KNEW HIM AND THE WOMAN HE LOVED, AT THE TIME OF THIS SCANDAL. THE BOOK IS SPELL BINDING EVEN THO I KNEW HOW IT ENDED HAVING READ MUCH ABOUT HIS LIFE.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. THIS BOOK IS HISTORICAL AND SHOULD BE READ BY ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN FACINATED BY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT.
Back in the early 1900's women hardly had any rights -- it surprised me that women didn't even have the rights to their own children. LOVING FRANKThis book was the pick for book club; otherwise, I would have never finished it. What I didn't know was about the man himself and how he affected so many lives - not necessarily in a good way.This is the story of his affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney. How the two left their spouses, children, lives to create a new one. While he seemed to love Cheney, she gave up everything to be with him and I found myself wondering if he ever really appreciated the fact that she gave up so much for him.I generally enjoy fictional history, finding it an appealing way to find out about the past and the lives of the people involved. He is hired to create a home for her and her husband; long story short, the two end up in love and having an affair.
While full of history and the facts of lives about Wright and Cheney, I found myself plodding through this book, not caring much about any of the characters. I am glad I did finish it though and found out everything that happened in this tragic love affair.I have seen TV shows and heard about Frank Lloyd Wright and the beautiful homes he created with his gift for architecture. Cheney's husband kept their two children when she went off with Wright. Cheney leaves her husband, along with her children, to be with Wright. Wright is also married with children.The book is good in the fact that it tells the story of the Wright/Cheney affair in detail. Frank Lloyd Wright was portrayed -- and quite rightly so -- as a very selfish man, seeming to care only about his work and himself.
However, this book was a bit too tedious with cardboard characters that I found I didn't really enjoy knowing.Thank you.Pam
If you have an image in your head of what Frank Lloyd Wright was like you may want to set that aside, as this book does bring to light many of the flaws present within Frank Lloyd Wright's character. This book held a huge surprise for me at the end (don't worry I won't ruin it for you). This is not a book about Frank Lloyd Wright however, it is about an affair with a women who traveled the world with him and resided in his home. I read this book hoping to gain a greater insight into the life of Frank Lloyd Wright what I didn't expect was the subsequent focus on the feminist movement in the early 1900's. I did enjoy the book and did enjoy the very humanist nature surrounding the characters. I greatly appreciated the use of actual news clippings and articles throughout the book. They allowed a very real picture to be drawn as to what these individuals were experiencing.
Rather she emerges as dominant in her personality, an adventuress and clinging woman, and a cold, remote personality in relation to all but Frank. Moreover, as in the case of Nancy Horan's book, we see language and a narrative thrust that are less than compelling. Wright emerges as a narcissist, which he may well have been, but Mamah fares no better. Instead I saw her as single minded, silly and unrepentant woman, when in fact, she should have been sorry for the devastation she caused to her husband and family, however justified she allowed it to be in her own mind. It is not unlike the unpredictable destinies of serial murder victims or those in the wrong place at the wrong time when a bomb goes off.
"Show us." I wanted to say throughout this book.One of the most talented men of his generation and by Horan's account a devoted lover, Wright emerges as partially developed, perhaps a womanizer, a driven narcissist. Of course, the charismatic Wright would sweep a vain, unhappy woman off her feet. Mamah, a self-described ardent feminist and intellectual, presents as someone trying to justify her sexual attraction and subsequent abandonment of her husband and family. It is if Horan understood the relationship was a result of Mamah's boredom and a casualty of her basic rejection of the conventional roles of mother and wife as much as her sexual attraction and romantic notions. However, most feminists and intellectuals I know would not see in Mamah's voice a convincing feminist or a woman of much depth and complexity. These are elements that make her an unsympathetic character; that is fine, but we need to be convinced of her complexity if the book is to impart any insight.Mostly I wish Horan's language, structure and dialogue were more developed. So what else is new. While it is not essential that the reader like the main characters, in my mind it is necessary that we see in them some complexity and depth, if indeed the writer seems to imply that depth.
There are those who yearn for facts or information about historical figures more than the wisdom implicit in well crafted, intelligent fiction. All this is old fodder and Horan does not impart enough insight into the attraction on either Wright's or Mamah's parts. Perhaps it is too easy for today's historical writers to serve up subjects of historical interest to book clubs with some members members starving for the sensation that what they're reading contains more than the psychological insight of say, literary fiction. We all know that men can do that, owning as they did then all the power, but men can also be so easily duped by an adoring woman, such as Mamah.
Today most of us are tolerant of adultery and accepting of the mess it causes in the lives of those involved. She impresses one as a woman who watched herself step onto the stage of world events, preparing to take her place alongside those deserving of the honor of fame and fortune, but instead she finds herself justifiably scorned for what she was: an interloper and a fake.This is not to say that Mamah wasn't accomplished for a woman of her time. She was educated and informed, but one can't help but wonder how feminism really affected her life since it seems more a rationalization for her irresponsible behavior than a truthful explanation for her actions. [ASIN:1440149577 Bread of Shame, a literary novel by Marjorie Meyerle] ]Loving Frank, while an interesting interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright's and Mamah Cheney's life together, is far from satisfying in its psychological exploration of them and the times. The story is predictable, not unlike any story of adultery.What hits the reader so hard is the horrible fate that awaits Mamah and her children. No foreshadowing hints at that. The horrific murders and the burning of the great architectural monument to Wright's and Mamah's love are as banal and senseless as was the relationship of the two lovers. Unfortunately, I could not grieve for Mamah; she didn't arouse my sympathy because I did not view her as strong, interesting or compassionate.
I felt the story unfolded in a clumsy manner, that there was too much discussion of her feminist idol and that ultimately Mamah was a boring, foolish woman not to have anticipated her isolation and rejection by society. While not a bad book, it is mediocre, kitchen fiction providing little insight into the complicated protagonists. I'd rather read historical fiction of the likes of "The Confessions of Nat Turner" by William Styron. She is vain and shallow in that she assumes her life after leaving her family to their own devices will open up like a rare flower and that because she is aligned with one of the most fascinating men of his time that somehow doors will open for her that were previously closed. Perhaps her dull marriage to Cheney was simply too intolerable for her to continue; perhaps she lacked the necessary inner resources to cope with her mundane life. She could have at least voiced remorse; she could have respected her ex-husband enough to communicate with him, even if she chose not to live with him. There you have psychological complexity in the characters, vivid description, fluid language, and a strong sense of place, all of which elements I did not see here.Marjorie Meyerle, Reviewer, ColoradoAuthor:Bread of Shame
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