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Loving Frank

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 40,531 ratings · 6,850 reviews

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 the...more

ebook, 384 pages

Published August 7th 2007 by Ballantine Books (first published January 1st 2007)

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Jun 25, 2008 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Shannon by: Jane Tesch

I was very disappointed by this book. In the past two years, Jason and I have toured two Frank Lloyd Wright homes and I took a modern architecture class in college that featured a ton of his work, so I thought I would enjoy a fictionalized glimpse of his personal life. I did enjoy reading about Taliesin and the Midway Gardens and how FLW incorporated thoughts from disparate cultures (Japanese, Italian, German) into his own creations.

What I didn't like was Mamah, who was unfortunately the main ch...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Molly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: book club

Recommended to Molly by: Mom

Shelves: worththeread

Holy smokes does this book have a shocking ending. There is not one note on the book flap or in cover blurbs to point to that. It's a historical novel, a love affair between a woman named Mamah Borthwright or -wick (or something like that) and Frank Lloyd Wright. They really did leave their families--his six children, her three--to be with one another in 1909.

As an editor, I'm surprised by the book editor's decision to not make note of the tragic twist at the end even once on the cover. The book...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Schmacko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read Nancy Horan's debut book, because in a few days I will be up in Wisconsin very near some of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous works. Loving Frank is a somewhat-fictional account of the little-known feminist Mameh Borthwick Cheney and her 9-year affair with FLW. This relationship broke up two marriages and filled papers with scandal, as the couple ran away to Europe and then came to build their famous home, Taliesin, in Wisconsin.

Some books, I can concede are perfectly well-writte...more I read Nancy Horan's debut book, because in a few days I will be up in Wisconsin very near some of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous works. Loving Frank is a somewhat-fictional account of the little-known feminist Mameh Borthwick Cheney and her 9-year affair with FLW. This relationship broke up two marriages and filled papers with scandal, as the couple ran away to Europe and then came to build their famous home, Taliesin, in Wisconsin.

Some books, I can concede are perfectly well-written books, and yet I still am not their target audience. I felt I had a good book I was not built to enjoy.

Loving Frank does deftly weave facts about FLW's and Mameh Borthwick's culture and history in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Horan formulates a clear feeling for their post-Victorian lives in Oak Park, Illinois. There is also a strong sense that many of the letters, newspaper articles, and correspondence are based in truth, if not verbatim.

Horan is also fairly deft at describing the ideas or concepts of Wright's design. Though, admittedly, Horan is better at the metaphor than she is at the practical description of his buildings. (I found myself looking up pictures online to understand what Horan meant by her poetic turns of structural phrase.) Also, Wright's full history and affect on American architecture are only scattered piecemeal throughout the book, requiring the reader to formulate a biographical timeline that doesn't exist in the book.

Perhaps the best part of the book is that Loving Frank helps the reader ponder important questions of about feminism, marriage, and self-destiny.

So, why was I frustrated reading this book?

Much of the book is framed as an angst-riddled romantic novel. Wright and Borthwick spend so many pages wallowing in their lovelorn conundrums that the emotions start to feel like a second-rate Wuthering Heights. Also, Horan has a journalism background, and yet she is not concise or to-the-point. Loving Frank is fairly indirect and long-winded. It is as if the larger picture of this famous relationship got lost in reporting on the minutiae – every telegraph and newspaper article. Many chapters blather on as some variation of the chapters before; nothing new is raised, or if it is, it ends up being inconsequential to the whole story.

Many people would love this book. They would find such tangential and thorough emotional writing a joy to explore. They would sink themselves into such a book, reveling in the details, feeling as if they really got to know everything about these two interesting historical figures. I found myself digging for new information, new insight, data outside of the drippy emotions. These things I longed for are buried somewhere deep in there, in between the long bouts of romance and long paragraphs of navel-gazing reflection and guilt-riddled self-flagellation, on a few of the pages of this 54-chapter, 356-page book. I could have just done without the bodice-ripping sections.
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Pearl Schmacko wrote: "I am assuming the "real anguish" you're referring to is how things ended, which is tragic. If the "real anguish" is Horan's descripti...more
Dec 30, 2012 03:04pm

Schmacko Ha, you're right! The one popular romance I read in the last ten years I HATED.

In fact, if Horan had been more journalistic, she would've taken a mor...more
Jan 02, 2013 01:18pm

Jun 23, 2008 Walt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone.

Recommended to Walt by: reading group

I like to read first published novels by authors, so when my reading group, comprised primarily of women, chose Loving Frank, I was looking forward to it. It didn't disappoint me. I enjoyed the narrative flow, which was smooth and calm as a river, even when it had exciting rapids. The story arced like a rainbow and climaxed like 24. It didn't seem written by a novice. I would say, "Great job, Nancy Horan."
Early in marriage, my wife and I moved from the West to the Midwest. We had lived a shelt...more I like to read first published novels by authors, so when my reading group, comprised primarily of women, chose Loving Frank, I was looking forward to it. It didn't disappoint me. I enjoyed the narrative flow, which was smooth and calm as a river, even when it had exciting rapids. The story arced like a rainbow and climaxed like 24. It didn't seem written by a novice. I would say, "Great job, Nancy Horan."
Early in marriage, my wife and I moved from the West to the Midwest. We had lived a sheltered life. We had both graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees and were beginning careers. Our employer trained us in downtown Chicago. We had an infant daughter and needed someone to care for her daytimes while we went to the Loop. Fortunately, my wife's uncle and aunt lived in a suburb, so we lodged in a motel nearby and Aunt Mary graciously took care of our daughter.
I recall becoming acquainted with Frank Lloyd Wright and Oak Park, a Chicago neighborhood, about that time. I believe we drove through Oak Park, where he built his first home. Perhaps we even saw the house. This was in the 1970s, well after the time of Mamah's story. The complexion of society had changed. Anyway, the experience with Wright made my reading of this book more compelling. I had not realized Wright's character flaws before. I only knew of his architectural genius. Of course, I knew nothing of Mamah Borthwick. She was a complete unknown. I also knew nothing of Wright's family life.
Mamah Borthwick, the protagonist, is the classical tragic character. It is odd how one as gifted as Wright was artistically and architecturally could screw up life with his family and his lover so much. If Mamah is the protagonist, and she is, Wright is far and away the antagonist, although not the only one. Selfishness hangs right in there, too.
Mamah is a dupe, and Wright is a manipulator and a narcissist. The reason I believe Mamah comes across as a fool is because of some of the stupid thing she says and does. In her married life, a nanny cares for her kids. When Mamah has them alone on a train and one becomes ill, she's clueless what to do, wondering what her nanny would do with the child. And this is feminism? Ignorant? Incompetent?
She abandons her children when they need her most so she can become a mistress to Frank Floyd Wright. "I am putty in your hands, so quickly," she says. In other words, she's infatuated, drunken with passion, but not deeply in love. Not committed. She tells her kids, "I'm going on a small vacation [that lasts two years]…just for me." Uh huh. And who was that other guy with you on vacation? Her decision is, in her estimation, not "cruel self-indulgence" but "love for life." The children will be better off with happy parents, i.e. with a selfish mother.
Besides everything else, Mamah's husband, Edwin, is simply a terrific guy. Given the choice--and perhaps a sex-change operation-- I wouldn't have minded marrying him myself. And then, given the life of leisure his profession afforded, I'd indulge my feminist whims. Mamah's feminism certainly didn't seem enhanced or facilitated by Frank.
She supposedly loved Frank with every "cell in her body." Hmmm. I wonder. She threatens to leave him if he doesn't change. Yet doesn't he mold her just the way he wants her? Frank tells her she makes him "want to be a better man," but all the while he remains deceitful and arrogant, manipulating and lording it over people that work for him, people for whom he works, and his family.
When my wife and I left the West and our family roots for Illinois, we said goodbye to a sheltered existence for one out there, more enlightened and more free. We made the trip together, with our daughter. While it was frowned upon where we came from for a mother to work and to leave a child with a babysitter in order to pursue work, my wife did so, not altogether happy about it. And I think all of us, including my daughter profited by it. Loving Frank is a book that posits infatuation and self-love over against enduring, sacrificial love. No matter the era, in my estimation, the stamina to stay wins out over caprice and whimsy. Enduring love trumps infatuation and lust.
Fling or family? "Putty in your hands" doesn't seem very feminist to me.
I enjoyed reading and thinking about this a lot.
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Carol Drufke-Zeller I usually cringe at many of these reviews, whether or not I liked the selection I'm reading about. But yours is great! You really give a great descrip...more I usually cringe at many of these reviews, whether or not I liked the selection I'm reading about. But yours is great! You really give a great description without a word for word summary. Many of these reviews are written like a book jacket description. I liked your input, and felt pretty much the same way you did! The incorporation of your life experience makes reading your review a pleasure! Our women's book club review was...interesting. I really tried to read this book from Mamah's pov, but of course Frank is someone I was mentally trying to figure out. My book club seemed to view it in reverse, which I thought somewhat odd, considering the women's progressive leaning in our club. Your review gave a clearer picture of Mamah to me. I know I could never leave my kids, having been left by my mother as a teen. But I saw that pull, that power of infatuation, of love, of something so missing in her life that made my mother do it. I could relate to the insanity of Mamah's decision. Of course we have to take into the account the time, the era, but I do believe a woman would still be frowned upon if she up and just left her children in the care of others for another man. Obviously we also had to understand why Edwin would not allow her rights to them, and why he was so controlling of her time with them...a woman scorned was not stable enough to be caring for her own children after having left them, and then to have them sharing a home and time with her lover! I believe revenge would be the source of such a decision in this day, after all, we have family court to negotiate the fairness and well being of children in such arrangements now. But Mamah was one hell of a character. I got where she was coming from in trying to fight for the rights of women, and in that time women had so few choices, extremes were bound to occur to break down walls for change. A women now has the ability to make a choice, and if that means not getting pregnant to be with someone, or not having children with more than one man, OR not leaving for the sake of the children, it is much easier. I do believe if you make the choice to have children, it is your duty and honor to be their parent at all times. That is where she lost it, she sacrificed the well being not only of her childen but also of her sister, husband and housekeeper as well, to be "free, to be who she was meant to be". Was she screwed up, is that screwed up? I lean toward yes. You can pursue who "you" are after obligations, and during if you can work it out with fairness at the time. But to just make some impulsive decision, one which then rules your thoughts each and every day, is that freeing?

Thanks for your review!(less)
updated Oct 13, 2009 07:21pm

Walt Thanks for your kind feedback and comments, which are most sensitive and insightful.
updated Oct 14, 2009 09:54am

Christine Keleny Want to read another first novel?
I'll send you one! (Check out "Rosebloom" on goodreads).
Nov 09, 2011 06:27pm

Dec 24, 2007 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Two people, selfish and completely self absorbed who flaunt convention and common sense while living their own self styled code of ethics “I want for me” A code invoked throughout their lifetimes with little consideration for the destruction, exploitation and pain caused for the adults and children left in their wake. 8 children and a niece who had already lost her own mother experienced directly the effects of this cavalier attitude toward responsibility. Fanciful thinking aside, I saw no coura...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: yomr

Quite a rollercoaster - about midway through this book, I was completely inspired to DO THINGS. To be intellectual and well spoken and creative; in short, to not be just a mom, as I am most days. I thought Mamah was incredible; her self-discovery so moving.

But as the book progressed, I started to like her less and less. And Frank Lloyd Wright I never found an endearing character. Pompous ass, yes. I didn't think either of them were justified in their actions and I certainly couldn't get behind h...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Gail rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors

So I realize I have a problem of, you, know, praising a LOT of books I read. And I'm sorry, I try to be honest, I do (and I AM. I just think I pick a lot of winners - ha ;)

But seriously, this book. WOW. WOW. WOW. I love it in a way I haven't loved a book in a while (even all the ones I've said I loved).

First off, for those unfamiliar with the plot, this is historical fiction at its finest — detailing the love affair between FLW and Mamah Cheney. It's a real affair, and the timeline (including a...more

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Mar 14, 2008 Susan Albert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lifebased-fiction

In 1972, I attended a conference at Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house, Taliesin, 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 wi...more In 1972, I attended a conference at Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house, Taliesin, 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 since this is a life-based fiction, 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. (less)

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Dec 26, 2007 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Frank Lloyd Wright worshippers, anyone who enjoys a good narrative

Shelves: fiction

Nancy Horan's fictionalized version of the true story of the affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney fills in the raw facts with well-researched context and beautifully expressed emotion.

Horan's exploration of Mamah's painful experiences as a renegade woman going against the Victorian ideals is touching and realistic. She does an excellent job of turning these real people into relatable characters and fleshes them out using letters, anecdotes with sensationalist newspaper a...more

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Dec 13, 2010 Chrissie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Chrissie by: Lee and Donna

Shelves: art, hf, bio, kirkus, text-checked, usa

NO SPOILERS!!!

If you do no know how the affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick ends up - well then you absolutely must read this book. That is assuming you are inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and design. I was in the blue. I had no idea what happened. Think if I hadn't read this book! So if you are like me and do not now how all was resolved - read this book. The writing is good. there are many lines I underlined to copy and add here as quotes, but then I got too laz...more

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Aug 30, 2008 Penelope rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERYONE! Book Clubs

WOW. I just finished this book and that's the first word that comes to mind. HOLY CRAP are the second and third. Talk about an emotional punch to the gut.

Before reading this novel, I knew of Frank Lloyd Wright and his amazing designs but nothing of his personal life. It surprised me right off the bat to learn that he left his first wife for another woman, arguably the love of his life, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. The novel chronicles their affair from beginning to end. Love, soul mates, sex and rom...more WOW. I just finished this book and that's the first word that comes to mind. HOLY CRAP are the second and third. Talk about an emotional punch to the gut.

Before reading this novel, I knew of Frank Lloyd Wright and his amazing designs but nothing of his personal life. It surprised me right off the bat to learn that he left his first wife for another woman, arguably the love of his life, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. The novel chronicles their affair from beginning to end. Love, soul mates, sex and romance is always fun to read, and I found Mamah and Frank's time together to be particularly enthralling. However, it's their special circumstances and the author's writing style that make this book a must read.

A woman of the early 1900s, Mamah chose her personal happiness and freedom instead of the socially accepted method of motherhood. Her choices and subsequent intellectual justifications comprise a large portion of the novel. It also provides for thoughtful discussion.

As a mother myself, I struggle with her choices concerning her children. For NO ONE or NO THING would I forsake my children; I was born to be their mother, and I take that honor not only seriously but joyfully. Thus, it was extremely hard not to judge Mamah by my own standards of motherhood. However, I truly believe it's even harder to accept, and perhaps, celebrate Mamah for who she was, and that's what I did in the end.

And, as I reminded myself time and time again, things have changed from 100 years ago. If I was in an unsatisfying marriage and then found true love with another man, (for the record, my husband and soul mate are one and the same. most days :0), in all likelihood, I would be able to conduct myself in such a manner that I could have it all – a divorce, a remarriage AND my kids. I’m not an expert by any means, but I don’t believe those options were readily available to women in the early 1900s. Then again, I don’t think Mamah ever truly wanted the children to be with her full time. All of her actions and choices ensured against that slight possibility.

Just as there is a difference in donating sperm to be a biological father and actually being a Dad, not every woman that bears a child is a Mother. Society, back in 1903 and still in 2008, judges women much more harshly on this point than we do men. When men leave the rearing of their children to the mothers, we shake our heads and shrug; with women, we gasp, shriek and condemn -- case closed.

Mamah was never emotionally invested in her children; she thought of them as burdens preventing her own happiness. Given that reality, I easily argue it was in the children's best interests that she was removed herself from their daily lives. The kids went through hell, no doubt, and so much of it could have been avoided if Mamah possessed even the tiniest amount of mothering sense whatsoever. However, if she had stayed with her family, to what sort of emotional devastation would the children be subjected? I can't imagine any child being better served by a physically present but emotionally absent mother than by a doting, loving father, aunt and eventual step-mother. Had Mamah ever reached this same conclusion (at the birth of her second child, after meeting Frank, ….or at any point at all), I could have respected her as a mother and as a woman with more ease.

The author's writing style is beautiful and intelligent. It flows easily, and I flew through the pages. Even being a fully invested mother of two young and very active boys, I finished this book in less than 48 hours. (yes, I'm a fast reader and yes, I was a bit tired that one morning ;)

Without spoiling anything, I cannot say any more than you MUST read this book.
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Nov 30, 2007 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Frank Lloyd Wright, architecture and the Women's Movement

Awesome book--especially as a debut novel! The last 50 pages took me by surprise and kept me glued until the very end! I didn't know anything about Mamah Borthwick and knew very little about Frank Lloyd Wright, so it was surprising to read what happens in the end. If anything, Horan's narrative technique in the last 50 pages made the book for me.

Don't be fooled by the title, though. This book is so much more than a story about an illicit love affair and the scandal it caused--and so much more th...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 10, 2008 Lucy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was brought to my attention several months ago but I didn't seriously consider reading it because I thought it was essentially a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect. I have a serious handicap when it comes to reading non-fiction and if I'm going to read a biography of someone, I wanted to read about someone whose life's details I had some...nay....any interest in knowing. An architect, even a really, really famous one, didn't meet that criteria.

When it was selected as...more This book was brought to my attention several months ago but I didn't seriously consider reading it because I thought it was essentially a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect. I have a serious handicap when it comes to reading non-fiction and if I'm going to read a biography of someone, I wanted to read about someone whose life's details I had some...nay....any interest in knowing. An architect, even a really, really famous one, didn't meet that criteria.

When it was selected as a book group selection, I waved my white flag and read it anyway. Say what you will about book groups, one thing I appreciate about the forum is that they tend to throw books in my path that I wouldn't otherwise read. When I end up actually enjoying the mandated book, I appreciate the selection even more.

Loving Frank is part factual biography, part fictional novel featuring the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney's as she fell in love with Frank Lloyd Wright. Mamah, a feminist, intellectual and suffragist, was married to safe, loyal but rather boring Edwin Cheney. The married couple were financially secure enough to keep a nanny, a housekeeper and eventually hire an up and coming architect to build one of his conceptually new "Prairie Houses". Financial and marital security did not bring contentment to Mamah, however, and when Wright intimately connects with her on an intellectual and emotional level during the building of her and her husband's home, a physical affair between the two quickly follows.

What makes this story compelling and great discussion fodder isn't Frank and Mamah's relationship or their affair, it's the constant negotiating and justification the author forces Mamah to debate with herself and with the world about the honesty and integrity of romantic and self love. For Mamah, a person's own happiness super ceded that of any one else's, including one's children, although she admitted several times how incongruous that belief felt at times. When she found literature written by radical thinker, Ellen Key, her belief that she should be with Frank at the expense of everything else, because she loved him, deepened. I am left wondering when, if ever, a selfish act is the BEST act. As much as the pair wished it to be so, they did not exist in a bubble and their relationship had real and lasting consequences to the families they abandoned.

If the moral debate is the actual gift of the book (and for me, it was), then the fancy wrapping and giant bow is the holy-cow-wow! drama and historically significant events that made up the life of Frank Lloyd Wright. This should be a very interesting discussion.(less)

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Sep 06, 2007 Courtney Payne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favoritereads

Just finished it and L-O-V-E-D it. Highly recommend.
This is the kind of book that inspires me to write the author to just share how much I loved the book.
It is a book of fiction, based on the actual lives of Frank Lloyd Wright and his "girlfriend/mistress". But so much more. It is written with such a pitch perfect tone for the time (very early 1900's)---romantic everyday language, world travel, etc.etc.
Some of you already know the story of Frank and Mamah and some of you might be Frank Lloyd Wri...more

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Aug 13, 2008 Nina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like Frank Lloyd Wright

Recommended to Nina by: Chris, mom

I have always been facinated with Frank Lloyd Wright. I have been to some of his houses, and love the modern simple design. This story was told from the point of view of his mistress Mahmah. I didn't even know this part of his life was true. The ending SHOCKED me, and I was amazed that I didn't know the truth behind it. A complex struggle between leaving your family for the one you love. An interesting look what happened to women who wanted divorce during 1909. I am not a big fan of historical f...more

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Dec 12, 2008 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

FLW was kind of a jerk :-)

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Aug 11, 2008 Therese rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone over the age of 18

Recommended to Therese by: A friend

The minute I picked up this book, I was mesmerized and could not put it down. At the same time, I didn't want it to end. It was the riveting, clandestine love story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his commissioned client, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. It took place around the turn of the century and was historically correct in every page. I instinctively knew the author hailed from Oak Park, IL where Wright's first of many architectural masterpieces were introduced, laying the foundation for his artistic re...more

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Jan 21, 2008 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anybody who is ready to pack it in for La Vie Boheme

Recommended to Stephanie by: book club selection

Shelves: badgirls, greatfnwriting

Never have I been so pleasantly surprised by a book as I have by Loving Frank. Although I was familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright's work when I read this, I had no idea how fascinating his personal life was. Apparently, the guy had a knack for luring women away from their home and families. This book is about the most fascinating of his many mistresses, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. What made an erudite mother of two leave her family and exalted social status to live in the wilds of Wisconsin with her lo...more

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Nov 17, 2008 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Any chicks who like lit

Recommended to Lisa by: Ever-wise Judy

Shelves: book-club

I love it when a book is as wonderful as the buzz claims it to be. It's amazing that a first-time author could pull off a story this thoughtful and nuanced. Frank Lloyd Wright is a well-known God of Architecture, but the "real" Frank is revealed here to be temptestuous, self-absorbed, brilliant, and a non-conformist down to his very toes. Love him, or hate him, he found his intellectual and spiritual equal in the form of Mamah Cheney, the wife of client, Edwin Cheney. Mamah is the protagonist, b...more

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Feb 28, 2009 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was drawn to the book because I was curious about Frank but I learned way more about "Mamah" then I really wanted too. For some reason I really disliked her and it wasn't just because she ends up leaving her kids for Frank (sorry, don't mean to be a spoiler!).
I also felt ripped off after I finished the book and found out that really very little was known about Mamah so Horan took alot of poetic license here. At least she could have made the protaganist more interesting!
The big shocker at the e...more

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May 07, 2008 Carol Hunter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is another first novel that I could not put down. The affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, both of whom were married, was a scandal in the early 1900's. This author had the courage to write an outstanding historical novel about these controversial characters. Author, Nancy Horan, extensively researched to help bring Mamah Cheney to life. We intimately view all the sides to the protagonists and I grew to love them in all their humanity, dispite their flaws. The ending was shoc...more

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Apr 22, 2009 H rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book suffers because I've just read too many books in the past weeks I think. I found the hothouse societal atmosphere well delineated, and admire the way Horan depicts how stifled Mamah feels, particularly in the beginning of the book, and I feel like Horan did a good job making that stifling more understandable to the modern reader in a way that writers of the era (Wharton for instance) can't do - not through a failing, but just because they weren't writing to us, they were writing to the...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Lisa Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Lisa by: Erin

Shelves: historical-fiction

4.5 Stars

This book is begging to be our next pick for book club. I've been dying to discuss this one with a group of my favorite gals!

I'm surprised how well I liked this book due to the fact that the two main characters Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney at times were incredibly self-centered. Frank in particular was often so egotistical that I found it hard to find likable qualities in his character at all. That being said they were extremely interesting people, that I felt drawn to...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was one of those books that did nothing for me from page 1. A premise of what I consider dissolute behavior, regardless of who the person is/ was, is a huge turn off to me. So, the main characters spend the rest of the novel trying to justify leaving their families for their own selfish pursuits. Neither of their personalities or interests ever even captured my remotest empathy. The book was just a drudge to me. Frankly, sadly, the most interesting part of the entire book to me was the unfo...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Kristi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an uncomfortable read for me. I do not like many of the ideas in this book. My parents divorced when I was young with the same philosophy "if the parents are happy then the kids will be too". Nothing can make up for the extended absence of a parent. I am not saying people should stay in relationships with abuse or neglect.. Children's needs emotional and physical should be addressed before those of adults. I knew how their story ended before the book and so it felt a little like watchin...more

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Oct 31, 2010 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I wanted to love this book, and it seemed to have all the right elements working in its favor: good writing, a well-imagined narrative based on a fascinating true story. But there was something missing, which I can't quite put my finger on, and I'm ultimately left feeling underwhelmed by what could have been a good piece of historical fiction.

I admire what the author has done here -- creating a richly-imagined story from the bare framework of the facts of Mamah Borthwick's life -- which is why i...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Gabriela Revilla rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this book. On the one hand, I really do enjoy reading Nancy Horan. Her tone is pretty steady and she really does take you on a journey. My problem with the book was the lack of Mamah in the book. I understand that - that is the point! that she's always been trying to please other people and she's on a self discovery journey, but she's not a young girl so its frustrating to see a woman falling into these same traps. Overall though, I did think that Ho...more

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Oct 29, 2008 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hated this book until about 3/4s of the way through, then I would say it was tolerable. I think the main characters are pompous, pretentious, and the "love" story overwrought and pointless. This wouldn't be such a bad thing if the author treated the characters as if she knew this was how they appeared, but she seemed to be taking the whole thing very seriously. And since most of the book is fabricated, I can't help but blame the author for turning a grown-up affair into some kind of adolescent...more

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Oct 12, 2008 Stacey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted more out of this book but also less. It felt very long without being very satisfying. The history and characters of Frank Lloyd Wright's early to mid years are intriguing, but the whole love affair was downright bizarre and frankly a bit harlequin (although disappointingly less steamy). I could not really tell what she saw in him. I thought he was a first-class a-hole. A genius one to be sure, but I just wanted to punch him in the face. He's like one of those boys in college who tries t...more

1 like · like · see review

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About Nancy Horan

Nancy Horan is a writer and a journalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her husband and two sons. Loving Frank is her first novel.

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“Don't you see what's happened? You wanted to be in love again. To feel that feeling where a man you hardly know gazes into your eyes and seems to be the only human being who ever understood the real you.” — 41 people liked it

“It has always been on the written page that the world has come into focus for me. If I can piece all these bits of memory together with the diaries and letters and the scribbled thoughts that clutter my mind and bookshelves, then maybe I can explain what happened. Maybe the worlds I have inhabited for the past seven years will assume order and logic and wholeness on paper. Maybe I can tell my story in a way that is useful to someone else.” — 6 people liked it

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