Loving Frank

Found this tale of the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, mistress to Frank Lloyd Wright, disappointing. Is it a human thing to expect extraordinary lives to be lived by extraordinary people, or just an American thing? As portrayed by author, Mamah never feels remotely extraordinary. She’s a woman who was willing to defy some social taboos (leaving husband for lover) but not others (continues to insist she’s dedicated to her children … though she doesn’t attempt to see them for years at a time); she graduates from college (not common for women at turn of the century) but never really does anything with her degree/learning; she rubs shoulders with radical thinkers (Ellen Keyes, Goethe) but never adds anything meaningful to these show more movements; and she spends years in an intimate relationship with Wright without ever having any noticeable impact on his philosophy or art. Pretty much all that distinguishes her is her rather spectacular death at the end. Note that I said “as portrayed by the author,” because we can’t really know if Mamah was this uninteresting – that’s just how Nancy Horan depicts her. A part of me wonders to what extend Mamah’s true “radicalism” is blunted by Horan’s desire to portray her as a sympathetic figure. If this had been an autobiography rather than a biography, would we have liked Mamah less but admired her more?

Another major disappointment is what I call the “evening news effect.” Due to the limited amount of primary source info available (Horan stipulates to just how little in an important endnote), Horan apparently has attempted to flesh out the story by dumping everything she turned up in the course of her research into the story, no matter how irrelevant. Thus we are forced to endure scenes, pages, chapters of information (she planted a garden! her daughter was constipated on the train to Colorado!) that add neither to the story nor our understanding of Mamah’s character.

Perhaps the most distracting flaw (for me), however, was the lack of insight that the book provided into Frank Lloyd Wright’s career. Sadly, Borthwick’s life intersected the famous architects’ during what were probably the most fallow years of his career – after his vision was already shaped but before he began building some of his most spectacular edifices. We end up learning more about Wright’s sideline buying and selling Japanese prints than we do of his architectural career. As depicted by the author, Wright comes off as rather whiny, spoiled, and overbearing … but, again, to what extent is this perception shaped by the intent and/or prose of the author? There’s no way to know.

Ultimately, found myself resenting the fact that such an extraordinary life (wealthy, educated, travelled the world, hobnobbed with influential people) was wasted on such an ordinary woman. Would have been a much more exciting life, not to mention a much more exciting book, if Mamah had taken more advantage of the opportunities that her life afforded her. show less

4.5 stars.
This work of fiction attempts to tell the story of Mamah Chaney and her love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. It is told strictly from Mamah’s perspective and we learn of the effect her actions had on others only through her final realizations … however late they come.

The writing is very personal and intimate and so the story is compelling. I wavered between feeling in tune with Mamah and being exasperated with her. She had such blinders for much of Frank’s flaws, and for her own.

Would the story have played out differently today? Most definitely. There would not have been the huge scandal for one thing. Frank’s business would not have suffered as it did (but then he would be “freer” to make his own mistakes with no show more one or nothing to blame). Mamah would not have needed to hitch her wagon to Frank’s star in order to “find herself and her own fulfillment” in today’s society.

I did not know the story of Frank and Mamah so the ending was a surprise to me and one that left me reeling. show less

I had trouble with this book initially. I don't enjoy reading about troubled marriages, affairs, and kids being left behind. And the image in my head of Frank Lloyd Wright didn't jibe with the romantic, thoughtful guy here. Nor do I like historical fiction when the dialogue and letters are not based on actual pieces. (Okay the author found like 5 letters from Mamah...)

I used to live a few streets away from one of Wright's houses in MN and I so wanted to hear more about how his mind worked, what inspired him. He is such an influential architect, that I never gave a thought to the ups and down his career must have had. About halfway through this book, I found myself enjoying it. The author clearly researched dates, accomplishments, etc., show more and there is plenty to learn here about both Frank and his mistress Mamuh Borthwick: their families, schooling, and other influences. I also enjoyed watching the unfolding of women's rights in America. Mamah was rather unconventional for her time and, being fluent in several languages, became a translator for Ellen Key, an ardent feminist in Europe.

An interesting book. show less

How is it possible that neither Frank Lloyd Wright nor Mamah Borthwick Cheney have enough redeeming qualities to entice me to finish this book? I could not, no matter how hard I tried, force myself to finish this book. Frank is a self-absorbed snot, and Mamah is a whiney, foolish woman. Mamah leaves her children and her husband to follow a married man around Europe because he's all that and a bag of chips? Hardly. These two people are over-indulged and completely lacking in character and morals. Who wants to read that? I didn't find this to be an amazing love story. I found it horrifying that people would be so reckless with the lives of their families.

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more 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. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed Loving Frank, due on great part to living in the area where it takes place. I thought the portrayal of Frank Lloyd Wright was a bit sensationalized and certainly painted him in a light where he could do no wrong, which I found a bit annoying. That said, that was "early Frank" and the author does shed some ideas on why he turned out so jaded and self-centered. Every move he and Mamah made was slapped on the front pages of the newpapers and fodder for hatred and gossip. Mamah is one of the most interesting females of the time I have ever read about. You do have to have some interest in architecture, specifically "organic" architecture, to enjoy this novel ... as the process is a character in itself. Overall, show more excellent, thought-provoking (especially when you consider the time) and at the end, harrowing. I found it a fast, enjoyable read. show less