Journal Entry 1 by indygo88 from Lafayette, Indiana USA on Sunday, February 22, 2009

"I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to
swim in the river. I want to feel the current.
So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.
In this groundbreaking historical novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Mamah’s profound influence on Wright.
Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world, and her unforgettable journey, marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leads inexorably to this novel’s stunning conclusion."

Acquired through PaperBackSwap. (Abridged on 5 CD's; Read by Joyce Bean)
 

Journal Entry 2 by indygo88 at Lafayette, Indiana USA on Friday, May 28, 2010

I didn't know anything about the personal life of Frank Lloyd Wright when I picked up this book. Apparently he lived a rather colorful one, or he at least had his share of relationships in & out of marriage. But regardless, this is a part fact/part fiction account of his relationship with his second love, Mamah Borthwick Cheney.
The book itself is written well enough, but don't expect to be swept away by a beautiful love story. I'm fairly certain I'm not the first person to say that it's hard to really like the characters of Frank & Mamah. Many would see them as selfish, & I'd tend to agree with that, although I also think they had their share of internal struggles trying to figure out their priorities in life. Prior to reaching the end of this book, I probably would've rated this lower. As I said, it was written well enough, but it wasn't a story that particularly grabbed the reader....until the end. If you're familiar with Wright's personal strife, you probably know how the relationship ends. However, if you were previously ignorant as I was, the ending will come somewhat as a shock to you. As is often the case with historical fiction, immediately upon finishing the book I had to run & do a little historical research of my own via the internet. Interesting stuff. And now I want to go visit some of Wright's architecture. 

Journal Entry 3 by indygo88 at Lafayette, Indiana USA on Thursday, June 24, 2010

Placing into booklady331's CD Only Bookbox. 

Journal Entry 4 by k00kaburra at San Jose, California USA on Tuesday, September 21, 2010

This book enjoyed a brief stop in San Jose, California, before continuing its travels in booklady331's CD Only Bookbox.

I listened to this audio book in March 2010, so I'm pasting my thoughts here:

So this audio book is an abridged version of the book Loving Frank, and frankly the chopping seemed haphazard and sloppy. It's really obvious when a scene was cut, because the narrative will suddenly jump forward several years or to a different location.

Frank Lloyd Wright's difficult and domineering personality personality shines through here; he's about as far from a perfect dream lover as you can get. He seems to care little for how his actions affect others, even claiming at one point that "Great men shouldn't be bound by rules" like normal men. He's arrogant, insufferably so. Sure, he's talented - no one denies it now - but it's hard to see what Mamah found so attractive about the man.

Her dissatisfaction with her husband is also puzzling. Edwin is attentive and devoted, and seems to give her a decent amount of freedom to do as she pleases. She, at least, felt regret for how her selfish actions affected her kids...FLW didn't. But all it took was a feminist tract that justified her actions and bam! Mamah feels better.

Oh! So Mamah is very smart. No one denies it. She has a master's degree in languages. Yet whenever it comes to a matter of taste she seems to defer to FLW. Why? Can't she trust her own judgement? I mean, the guy dropped out of school, whereas she excelled at academics. Have a little faith in your own process, woman!

Oh well. I didn't find either character compelling, and I doubt I could have sat through the full 12-disk version of this book.

Can I get a little SPOILERIFFIC here?
So, I know a little bit about Frank Lloyd Wright's life since we studied him in my Modern Art class, so I knew how this book would end. I wondered how the author would do it, since the main character's life ends in a tragic and gruesome murder. Hogan's choice to switch the narrative to Wright's POV didn't work very well, simply because the entire preceding story was from Mamah's POV. It's jarring. 

Journal Entry 5 by jlautner at San Luis Obispo, California USA on Monday, October 04, 2010

Chose from booklady331's CD-only bookbox. 

Journal Entry 6 by jlautner at San Luis Obispo, California USA on Friday, November 05, 2010

Although I have a personal connection to Frank Lloyd Wright I initially had no interest in reading this book. I did not see what I would gain from a fictionalized biography of his first(?) lover. When I saw this as an audio version, though, I thought I might as well give it a try. It's easier for me to "read" books that don't particularly interest me when they are on CD and I can just listen as I drive.

My father and mother both were among the first apprentices at Taliesin. My father went on to become what Wright himself called "the second greatest architect", mainly, I think, because my father took the essence of what Wright was teaching and made it his own. I read Wright's autobiography and some other works and did not particularly like the man. My parents, though, both idolized him, referring to him as "Daddy Wright". Clearly they saw aspects of his personality that did not come across, to me, in his own writing or in stories about him.

Although my mother adored him, she was resentful that she was relegated to the kitchen most of the time. It was clear to me from what she told me that Wright did not respect women as much as men. He had a different sense of their "purpose".

Ultimately, this sense I had of Wright was confirmed by this book.

I often say that fiction can tell the truth better than nonfiction, at times. I think this is NOT one of those times. I believe this story could have been better told as biography, with excerpts from letters and interviews with persons who knew Wright and Mamah. I say this because Horan writes dialogue like she is writing a romance novel. Nowhere in this book did I get a real sense of just what attracted these two intelligent, creative people to each other. Instead, I read trite conversations and comments about Wright touching Mamah's breasts.

And why do I know the two were intelligent and creative? Because Horan says so. There is nothing either of them says or does in this book that suggests their characters very well. Again, it is the stuff of romance novels, gushing girlishly with a bit of history and organic architecture thrown in.

About my thoughts: this version is abridged, and read aloud. It's possible that I would have gotten more from the full version, although I doubt I would change my mind about the writing style. I did not love the reading, either. It is sometimes hard to separate words from how they are spoken, and I may have been influenced by my dislike of this reader.  

Journal Entry 7 by jlautner at San Luis Obispo, California USA on Friday, March 09, 2012

Reserved for book box. 

Journal Entry 8 by jlautner at San Luis Obispo, California USA on Friday, March 09, 2012

Released 2 mos ago (3/9/2012 UTC) at San Luis Obispo, California USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Added to booklady331's audio book box. 

Journal Entry 9 by BigJohnLefty at Des Moines, Iowa USA on Friday, April 20, 2012

Took this out of booklady331's audiobookbox - will listen to soon....