Very good.

A captivating novel which covers the life of Frank Lloyd Wright and his long-time love affair with Mamah. It is interesting to see the effect their affair had on their lives and how different it would be viewed today.

At first, Mamah Cheney knew Frank Lloyd Wright as the brilliant architect who was going to design her new house. While he did, they developed a close friendship, but on realizing their bounds, stepped away from each other purposely. It didn’t last long and soon they fell headlong into an affair that shocked both their families and the world. Both Mamah and Frank struggle to find their identities in the face of a hostile world and their own love.

I thought I was going to enjoy this far more than I did and to be honest it was a disappointing work that didn’t meet its full potential. The idea of humanizing and developing the love story between one of America’s greatest architects and his mistress, who appears to have been more or less reviled at the time, is at first a great one, and the book starts out promisingly. The characters struggle with the damage they’ve done to their families and themselves in the name of a “free love” which no one can understand but them.

By the time Frank and Mamah start to explore Europe, though, they had lost me. For one thing, Mamah is not a very sympathetic character. She places the discovery of the meaning of her life before her children and before Frank and it’s difficult to agree with her choice when it involves merely translating another woman’s works. Did she really have to seek out solitude and hurt everyone she loved for something that she could have done in their presence? Moreover, I didn’t like the philosophies that Ellen Key espoused and to be honest, didn’t like Ellen herself, and wished Mamah had the fortitude to write herself rather than give a voice to someone else. These are doubts that she herself struggles with, and even that bothered me to an extent. Much of this book is wrapped up in Mamah’s thoughts, regretting what she’d done and who she’d hurt, yet largely failing to right any wrongs she thought she had committed.

Frank isn’t much better, as he is brilliant but something of a wastrel, spending money on extravagances, going to faraway places, and even at times pushing Mamah into his ideal vision. This is a book with characters so flawed that they got on my nerves, and while that may be realistic, it does mean I had trouble going back to the book and concluded my dislike for it. It didn’t help that I hated the ending. Honestly, this is a true story, so I feel like it’s wrong to say that, because it would also have irked me if Nancy Horan had made up something else.

In the end, I didn’t like the characters, didn’t like where the story wound up, and didn’t like the philosophical dilemmas in between. Loving Frank was not a book for me. ( )

I went through many emotions in this book. The beginning was enjoyable to read and I enjoyed reading about the families during that time period. Then the middle part I struggled with the choices made by the character, Mamah, and whether I could even finish reading this book. But, as I continued to plug through the book, I found myself enjoying it again. The last 50 pages are unexpected and left me saddened with realizing it was the end of the story. I wish I could give this 3.75 stars. It wasn't quite a 4 star book, but definately a good read. The key is to keep reading all the way to the end! ( )

I never was aware about the life of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick..I only knew of his talents as an architect.

It was a good read, but how could ANYONE leave their children and run off with another man...to me that was totally irresponsible and unthinkable.

She may have re-thought her decision the last time she went to visit her children since they almost totally ignored her and were just being polite, but it was too late.

And....the ending....oh my...what a tragedy...my question, though, is this: Did that really happen at Taliesin? ( )

I liked this book. At first I was put off by how easily this woman seemed to walk away from her children. But as the story fleshed out and we as reader are shown the parameters in which women were forced to live at the time, it was harder to judge her. I'm inspired to travel to Tailiesin now in Spring Green, WI and see where this fictional-rooted-in-fact story took place (in part).

What "characters" Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright are. I could totally understand Mamah's inner struggles. How does an intelligent, loving woman of the early 20th century exist as more than a mother/housewife without invoking the wrath of society? Find out in this book. ( )

Loved this book! Hooked at the first paragraph!

I waffled between giving this 2 or 3 stars. I found the historical aspect interesting, but I thought the author rambled too much in the middle. Knowing how Frank and Mamah's story ended in real life, I kept turning pages to see how the author would write their fate at Taliesin. ( )

Loving Frank is probably best described as a biographical novel or fictionalized biography. It’s the story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the love of world-famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s life. Their affair shocked the still-Victorian nation from 1907 through 1914, as both had children and were married to others (although Mamah and her husband divorced in 1911). They met in 1903 in Oak Park, Illinois (where author Nancy Horan and some of my relatives used to live), when Frank designed a house for Mamah and her then-husband.

Strong-willed and independent, a college graduate and a former librarian, Mamah spent long periods on her own in Europe, translating books on free love by feminist Ellen Key, from German and Swedish to English. She was an intellectual match for Wright, and part of the inspiration for Taliesin, his home and studio in the Wisconsin countryside where his maternal grandparents settled.

This is another work that makes me want to research the characters, settings, and events to learn even more. Nancy Horan has a great website for the book with lots of photographs of Wright’s works, a video walking tour of Oak Park, as well as period newspaper articles about him and Mamah. The interesting cover for the hardbound edition features a stained glass dining room ceiling light from one of the homes Wright designed. ( )

I knew nothing about Frank Lloyd Wright's life before reading this book. Since the author based the fictional novel on as much source material as she could find, I feel secure in concluding that FLW was an arrogant bastard. As a feminist myself, I should feel more sympathy for Mamah Cheney and perhaps I would - if she'd left her husband and kids for anyone but Frank Lloyd Wright. The story was a repetitive rehash of their guilt, followed by their unwillingness to change the behavior that was causing the guilt. When "the big surprise" came, I was so tired of all these characters that I really didn't care what became of them. ( )

The perfect sort of historical fiction: so real, you can see and feel the characters, and, despite being put off by them, their story enthralls you; Horan clearly did her research in writing this fictional portrayal of the very real relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney.

This book has been incredibly popular at the library, and I have just finally been able to get my hands on it. I understand now why the wait was long, and why the biographies and architecture works on Frank Lloyd Wright have too been popular. You will finish reading this book (which I did in a day) thirsting for more! ( )

I couldn't finish this one. It was a bit dry and read like a textbook at times. ( )

I have hard really good things about this book, and so I will probably get back to it sometime...

I found the story to be slow-moving, and the characters whiney. I just didn't care what happened to them. ( )

Even though I had absolutely no respect for the main characters in this drama, I couldn't put the book down. It was a well-written, engrossing narrative that forces you to think about the choices women face as wives and mothers.. ( )

Loving Frank was well written, though very sad. The ending was a huge surprise for me--not a bad thing--but overall it just left me depressed. Interesting to know a bit more of Frank Lloyd Wright, though. ( )

I'm sorry to say this book disappointed me a little. The main character Mamah Borthwick, the woman with whom Frank Lloyd Wright had a long extra-marital affair, is interesting enough, as are the times, however she seemed so blind to her own motives that I became frustrated with her. Frank himself is portrayed as such an unlikeable man (albeit with undeniable genius) that I couldn't see why Mamah would pay such an enormous price to be with him, virtually abandoning her children, destroying her reputation, and causing such harm to her husband and her sister. Genius alone didn't seem credible, nor did her assertion that she'd finally found someone she could talk to, someone who understood her. It smacked of the cliche.

The threads of Ayn Rand's objectivism run through the fabric of this novel, and the end result is that the characters, in this author's opinion, seem adolescent and narcissistic, but even worse, in terms of fictional characters, they are blind to their own flaws. There are moments when they do take tiny peeks into their own souls, such as when Mamah discovers Wright's slipshod money management and the callous way in which he accumulates things "of great beauty" but never pays, leaving others to suffer for his pleasure. However, these seem rather tacked on, as though an editor suggested they ought to be there, rather than coming organically from the author's own experience of the characters.

Finally, AND THERE IS A SPOILER HERE - I found the point of view flawed. The book is told in free indirect discourse, from Mamah's POV, which works well for almost the entire narrative -- right up until the point Mamah dies. Then it becomes...ahem...inconvenient, for obvious reasons, and the point of view shifts for the last two chapters to focus on Frank. I found this jarring and unsatisfying. In reading the author notes at the end I learned that Horan wrote the book twice, and the first time there were four points of view. She states it wasn't a very good book. Well, perhaps four was too many points of view but, in my opinion, she didn't quite solve the problem in the final version. Pity, because Horan shows much promise.

Having said all that, there are some moments of lovely writing and insight, such as when, near the end of the book, Mamah describes Wright as someone who, "had come to mistake his gift for the whole of his character."

As first novels go, it's pretty good, but I suspect some experience will serve her well. I look forward to seeing what she does in a few years. ( )

I was only remotely aware of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and did not know the story of his life at all. Horan's novel depicts, with ficitional license, the years that FLW spent with Mamah Borthwick in Europe and in Wisconsin. The book moves compellingly toward a horrifying end, but the knowledge of that does not lessen the impact of the story. Horan weaves fact and fiction to offer a glimpse in to what their life together must have been like, two extremely talented and troubled artists trying to make a life in an honest and real manner. Like all good historic fiction, Horan's novel lead me to delve more in to FLW and Mamah and to understand more about them and their reltionship and lives beyond this period. I highly recommend this work. ( )

Loving Frank is the first novel by journalist and author Nancy Horan. It tells the story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who carried on a long love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a public scandal in the Chicago of the early 1900's. Frank and Mamah left their families and traveled extensively through Europe before settling in at Wright's Wisconsin farm and estate, Taliesen.

This historical novel tells the story through Mamah's eyes. Little is known of Mamah, and much that is written of her is fiction. The events of Wright's life are well-documented, as are the inspirations for his architectural genius. Horan lived for many years in Oak Park, Illinois, the Chicago suburb where many of Wright's early designs were built, including the home of Mamah and Edwin Cheney. Horan has a good feel for the community of Oak Park, and what it would have been like 100 years ago when the prairie ended just outside Chicago.

In this day and age, the idea of a major scandal erupting when two private individuals begin an affair seems quaint. But the Cheney/Wright drama was fodder for the yellow press for years. I visited Taliesen six years ago, and Mamah Borthwick was never mentioned on the tour. I imagine that now, with the popularity of Loving Frank, that is no longer the case.

While I suspect this is more fiction and less history, it's great to read historical fiction from the twentieth century. I enjoyed reading Loving Frank, and I do recommend it. ( )

What does it mean to love freely? What if you realized the father of your children was not the love of your life? Does your moral compass dictate you leave to honor truth?

Nancy Horan fleshes out the relationship that may have existed between Borthwick and Wright in the years after they left their families to love one another. Perhaps their love was not the scandalous affair the newspapers painted, but something more sacred.

Their characters come very much alive in this intimate portrayal of two flawed individuals who loved beauty, truth, and intellectual integrity. Midway though the story, the pace slows, but the tragic, historically accurate, ending is well worth the journey. ( )

I now know more about Frank Lloyd Wright than I ever thought I wanted or needed to know. The book was written very well and moved very quickly. It provided my book club with great discussion. The characters chaffed me a bit. As a mother, I cannot imagine ever giving up my children for a love interest. As a matter of fact, I can't imagine giving up my children for anything. What was she thinking???? ( )

Fascinating tale of Mamah Cheney, a married woman who leaves her husband and children because of her love for architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Author does a wonderful job creating a complex character. No pat answers, but a wonderful story. ( )

surprisingly engaging book, especially on CD. Definitely not a beach book, but not too cerebral either.

A fictional look into the lives of Frank Lloyd Wright and his life with his lover, Mamah Cheney. It is a desperate tale about becoming the person you are and being true to that despite the heavy cost and potential life-altering sacrifices. A moving story that spoke to me. ( )