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Jun 25, 2008

Shannon rated it:

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 unfortunate More...

12 comments like (64 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Schmacko rated it:

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 perfect More...

1 comment like (22 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Walt rated it:

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 h More...

3 comments like (19 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2007

John rated it:

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 cou More...

1 comment like (21 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2007

Susan rated it:

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 coul More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2008

Gail rated it:

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 t More...

9 comments like (20 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2008

Susan rated it:

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...

3 comments like (18 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Molly rated it:

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 cov More...

6 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2007

Sara rated it:

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 sensational More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2010

Chrissie rated it:

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 More...

46 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2008

Penelope rated it:

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 mat More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2007

Katherine rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2007

Andrea rated it:

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

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2008

Lucy rated it:

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 More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2007

Courtney rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2008

Nina rated it:

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...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2008

Melissa rated it:

FLW was kind of a jerk :-)

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Aug 11, 2008

Therese rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2008

Stephanie rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2008

Lisa rated it:

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 More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Jill rated it:

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!
Th More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 07, 2008

Carol rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2009

H rated it:

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 th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

Lisa rated it:

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 pe More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2009

Gabriela rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 29, 2008

Karen rated it:

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 o More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2008

Stacey rated it:

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 t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2008

Julie H. rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 21, 2009

Christina rated it:

Living in Chicago, I have visited Wright's Home & Studio in Oak Park and Taliesin in Spring Green many times, so I already knew the stories of the great architect's personal tragedies and failings. Loving Frank was an engaging read, but I found myself questioning some of it, particularly Horan's depiction of Mamah's guilt and regret over her abandonment of her children. I wanted to like Mamah, but I found that -- even though Horan tried hard to convince me to empathize with her -- I couldn't f More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 01, 2008

Laurie rated it:

Worth the read b/c there's a lot of interesting information in here about Frank Lloyd Wright's life and architecture. But let's face it, Wright's a terrible man and therefore not a very sympathetic character, and it's hard to understand, really, what Mamah saw in him beyond his genius (confusing the artist with the man).

This would be an adequate criticism if this was a piece of non-fiction. But this is a novel, and the writer never went far enough inside her characters to offer what More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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