Loving Frank

by Nancy Horan

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of The House of Lincoln, an "enthralling" novel that brings "the buried truths of the ill-starred relationship of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345494997
• ISBN13: 9780345494993
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 362 Pages
• Weight: 1.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Ho-hum

Not a page-turner by any stretch of the imagination. It began interesting & got boring as time went on.

Compelling and disturbing

"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.

Tragic Liaison

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.

Interesting and surprising

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.

Best Debut novel I have read

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.

Astonishingly fresh and riveting novel

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.