Couldn't resist getting this from Amazon.com after reading a review in the Washinton Post.

Book Description:
A dazzling novel of Frank Lloyd Wright, told from the point of view of the women in his life.

Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Harvey Kellogg in The Road to Wellville and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in The Inner Circle, T.C. Boyle now turns his fictional sights on an even more colorful and outlandish character: Frank Lloyd Wright. Boyle's account of Wright's life, as told through the experiences of the four women who loved him, blazes with his trademark wit and invention. Wright's life was one long howling struggle against the bonds of convention, whether aesthetic, social, moral, or romantic. He never did what was expected and despite the overblown scandals surrounding his amours and very public divorces and the financial disarray that dogged him throughout his career, he never let anything get in the way of his larger-than-life appetites and visions. Wright's triumphs and defeats were always tied to the women he loved: the Montenegrin beauty Olgivanna Milanoff; the passionate Southern belle Maud Miriam Noel; the spirited Mamah Cheney, tragically killed; and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin. In The Women, T.C. Boyle's protean voice captures these very different women and, in doing so, creates a masterful ode to the creative life in all its complexity and grandeur.

Bookray

Starting a bookray for this book. Please PM me if interested. Bookray will remain open until last person has the book.

Participants so far:


. OneMorePage from California, USA (US only)
. tempestsans from Georgia, USA (US preferred, international if needed)
. Bibliocrates from Alabama, USA (US only on hardcover book)
. JenKazoo from Louisiana, USA (US only)<----Asked to be skipped
. valpete from California, USA (US only)
. krl112 from New Jersey, USA (US preferred, international if needed)<----Asked to be skipped
. kizmiaz from Portugal (EU preferred)
. wandering from The Netherlands (EU only)
. Shahrun from The UK (International)<----Skipped
. katrinat from The UK (EU preferred - international if needed)<----Asked to be skipped
. sintra from Germany (EU preferred - international if needed)
. GinnyRazo from California, USA (?)<----Skip - already has book
Note: Book was returned to sintra


Note: Order is subject to change based on shipping preferences and others joining the bookray.

How the bookray works:
* Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back and provide your address
* When you receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
* Put the book at the top of your TBR pile (under other rings/rays that arrived first)
* Read the book (take your time and enjoy the book, don't feel rushed to finish it but try to pass it on within a couple of months - others are waiting!)
* When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
* Finish the book, make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
* Send the book to the next person on the list (please use the cheapest shipping method available), make release notes (Controlled Release) or journal entry to let everyone know that it's in the mail
* END OF THE RAY, The last person on the ray could try and continue the ray or just give/mail the book to someone else who might like to read it, perhaps a RABCK.

Please feel free to PM me at any time with questions

Bookray now complete. Thanks everyone for participating!

Finished reading this today. As usual, Boyle's exquisite prose makes this book worthwhile. It tells the story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his 3 wives and mistress, Mamah Cheney. Previous to reading this book, I knew practically nothing about Wright other than that he was considered probably the greatest architect of the last century. I didn't realize he had so much public scandal relating to his mistresses and wives! Wright's genius kind of gets lost in the narrative - the book is divided into 3 sections and is told in reverse chronological order (which is somewhat confusing). The first section is about Olgivanna, his 3rd wife; the second section about Miriam Noel, his 2nd wife; and the third section is about Mamah Cheney, his mistress that he eloped to Europe with while still married to his first wife, Kitty. I have to admit that as much as I like Boyle's writing, I thought this book got bogged down in some places - especially when Miriam (a morphine addict) is the focus of the narrative. Also, the narrator for the story is a Japanese apprentice of Wrights who does have some nice introductions to each section but I thought was rather annoying with information provided in footnotes as asides to the story. I thought the book would have been better and less confusing if told in chronological order. Boyle may have used this device so the tragic conclusion and fate of Mamah Cheney is at the end of the novel. In any event, I think Boyle has written much better novels and stories but I would still give this one a mild recommendation. It definitely gave some insights into the life of a revered American.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Traveling to OneMorePage in Mission Viejo, CA to start this bookray. Enjoy!

USPS DC# 0308 0070 0000 7659 0144

Book is here! Perfect timing - I am just about to finish my current book, so I will be able to start this over the weekend.

Thanks for includng me in the bookring. Cheers!

This is the first I've ever read anything in depth about Frank Lloyd Wright, and even though it is fiction, I really felt like I learned a lot about him, his life, his inspirations, and his work. (God bless the internet - it is so gratifying to go online and look up one of his houses minutes after it's mentioned in the book, and be able to take a virtual tour.)

I agree with Perryfran's points - Miriam, as a character, tended to really bog the story down. And I was also not fond of the narrative asterisks provided by Tadashi.

But the structure of the story, I thought, was really compelling. I spent the entire book wondering WHY on earth any of these women would spend even a minute with this man. And then the suspense of the last section - leading up to the fire of Taliesin - was so dramatic and so tragic. I couldn't help but sympathize with Miriam, n the last words of the book - the poor man. The poor, poor man...

Thank you so much Perryfran for sharing this book. I've PM'd the next person in line and am waiting for an address.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to tempstsans. Thanks again for including me!

arrived safely and i've begun reading it already. looks like another Boyle that will hit the mark. thanks for sharing. i'll PM the next in line when i'm about 3/4 way through.

good timing for this particular read to be in our house. DS has seriously changed his thoughts regarding career and college major this year - from oceanography to architecture. while the book is, of course, fictional, it had enough real bits for me to be able to spark some in him some additional interest in visiting some FLW buildings at a college in FL next week when we are there for vacation through my online research of the real FLW.

took me a bit to understand the flow of this book - sort of backwards chronology, but thoroughly enjoyed the read. i like that Boyle uses vocabulary that is not typical of a lot of present day writers of mainstream fiction. even found myself hitting up m-w.com on a couple of new words which is always cool.

thanks for this ring!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

after a short delay for stupidity (i lost the address somewhere in the house! Duh!) this book is on it's way again to Bibliocrates.

It's here in Trinity, Alabama! I have quite a few books to read in front of this one, but, seeing as how I am STILL unemployed, I should be able to get to this one within the time alloted. Thanks for posting it to me tempestsans.

I'm about halfway through this book and so far I agree with everyone's comments. I'm enjoying the book, but it's not exactly an easy read. I watched a few documetary's about Frank Lloyd Wright on Netflix and they really helped me visualize the real settings within the novel.

I got a job shortly after my inital post and work has kept me from getting much reading done these days. I tried bringing this book to work to read on breaks, but it didn't work, as (1)it's not the sort of book you can read with distractions and (2)it's rather large to carry around. Anyway... I am contacting JenKazoo and will hopefully have it in the mail very soon.

Thanks for your patience!

JenKazoo would like to be skipped, as she's got a lot going on right now, so I'm contacting the next in line...

I got valpete's address a couple weeks ago and will finally be posting it on to her with tomorrow's outgoing mail.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is on its way to another valpete...

Thanks for sending this along. Not to worry...I have not been sitting idle waiting with baited breath for this. I do have a couple ahead of it, so it will be a while. I'm reading as fast as I can!

I loved this book! This is the second book I've read by T.C. Boyle and think he's a fabulous author. His vocabulary is extensive, far surpassing my limited understanding.

I wasn't particularly interested in Wright's life when I picked this book up, I was reading it mainly because it was Boyle. But as with any great writer, Boyle forces you to care about the characters he creates...or in Wright's and the Women's case, those he brings back to roaring life. I highly recommend getting lost in the back roads and hills of Spring Green and re-discovering Taliesin and its inhabitants for yourself!

Krl112 has asked to be skipped, so it'll be on its way to Portugal very soon.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending this to Kizmiaz on Portugal. Enjoy!

Just got it, thanks perryfran and valpete.
I'll get to it as soon as I can.

I found this book a bit slow going. Boyle writes with his usual spirit and imagery and the way he tells the story really worked for me, but the story itself drags for a while.
The characters were quite unpleasant and it amazed me that such a bright architect wasn’t very smart when it came to women, and he comes out as the philanderer egomaniac he really was. And that is another great thing with Boyle he works his magic best when weaving real characters and fiction.
I enjoyed reading it and learning so much about FL Wright, who in Europe is more know by his spiralled Guggenheim than his “straight lined” houses, but I’ve read much better books by Boyle.
I'll be passing it along when I get an address.

Received in the mail today. Thanks for sharing and sending, I'll read the book next.

Edit 8 Aug: It's a slow read, but I'll try to finish it this week and take it to the UK by hand, as I'm going there anyway. I figure it's probably cheaper to ship it from there to the next reader in the UK. :o)
Edit 11 Aug: Shahrun has turned off the possibility to send her/him a PM and katrinat wants to be skipped, so I'll contact sintra when the book is actually finished and send it by mail to Germany.

Quite a read, and by that I mostly mean that this book is a slow read. I don't know why, but the book just does not make me read on, but I also could not send it on it's way only partially read. But I finished it. I was not very fond of all the footnotes, since they either didn't add anything to the story and if they did they should have just been added to the main text. At a certain point, I lost track of who exactly was O'Flaherty-San, and I did not get any clue until the end of the book.

I don't think I could have lasted in the same room with F.L. Wright for more than 2 seconds. He does not come across as a nice person, totally absorbed in his work, arrogant, manipulative, unable to understand other people's point of view and totally irresponsible regarding someone else's money. I generally don't respect people that repeatedly show that they cannot end a relationship decently before engaging in a new one. The character I had the most sympathy for was Mamah, for her early feminist views. I didn't like Miriam at all for her possessiveness and craziness when Olga came around. I also think the part about Miriam dragged on, but that is also exemplary of her presence in Frank's life I guess.

This book wil continue its journey to Germany, since the first UK contestant has disabled the PMs and the second one asked to be skipped. I'll send the book as soon as I get an address. Thanks for sharing the book, perryfan!

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p.91: Just to get away, to get out of the hermetic box of the apartment and do something - breathe, walk, think - he found himself taking the train into Manhattan each day with Vlada and wandering the streets, sketching, or slipping into the public library to write up his impressions of the city, all the while shielding his face with his scarf and wide-brimmed hat, striving for anonymity.

p.133: And I mean no disrespect, but in studying these pictures, I have to say that he looks woefully ordinary, like a podgy shoe salesman wandering the aisles or the owner of a delicatessen who can't seem to remember what he's done with the sliced bologna.

p.219: Full of hope and love - swollen with it, yes - she came briskly up the walk, watching for patches of ice because it wouldn't do to fall and turn an ankle, though even that would have its rewards, her leg delicately elevated before the fire as he tended to her with a strip of bandage and a glass of champagne, his fingers kneading her flesh, wandering up her calf and back down again, stroking, probing, caressing...

p.233: The new cook, a fox-faced girl with a wandering eye and a West Virginia coal miner's acent, an adept at plain things, flapjacks and sidemeat, eggs over easy, grits and hot black coffee, had just served breakfast and taken herself off to hide in the kitchen, and he was commenting on a piece in the paper about the building costs associated with one of the new skyscrapers going up along Michigan Avenue, when Miriam, looking up from her own newspaper, said, "Isn't it time you took me up to Wisconsin?"

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Sent on 16 September to sintra.

The book is here now and will be read after my current bookring. Thanks a lot! :-)

Edit, 21.10.: I'm about half-way through the book and I'm really enjoying it so far.

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Though it's definitely not my favourite book by T.C. Boyle I quite enjoyed this one. I've always liked Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings and interiors but I knew nothing about his private life. It's interesting to read the previous comments: although Miriam was rather over-dramatic I sort of liked her because at least she was true to her character. Mamah on the other hand I found a little irritating at times because the clash with real life proved her intellect to be a very theoretical one in various episodes (for example her handling of the servants).

This book was recently sent back to me by the postal services for reasons unknown. Since GinnyRazo already has another copy I passed this book on to a fellow BCer who's into T.C. Boyle to keep it travelling.

Thx to Sintra, the book is now with me, let's see if i like this one from him ;-)