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 read this book about two years ago and I honestly didn’t like it all that much either. But I should have been suspicious considering the publicity it received from the get go. I don’t trust books that get so popular and praised from the beginning.
.-= lilly´s last blog ..Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee =-.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions. When I first heard of this book, I thought I just had to read it. But by the time I started reading reviews and looking at the book more closely, I too decided that the book wasn’t for me. I’ll happily let this one go.
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Reading Attitudes: Challenge or Fun? =-.
That’s too bad this didn’t work for you! I hate wasting time on bad books…
.-= Kailana´s last blog ..Week in Review and Sunday Book Coveting =-.
I’m sorry this one wasn’t better, Meghan. I haven’t decided yet if I want to read this one. I keep going back and forth on it.
.-= Literary Feline´s last blog ..Sunday Salon: Short Story Sunday & Reading Challenge Wrap Up =-.
Uh-oh. I got this book for my mom because she loves Frank Lloyd Wright. She hasn’t read it yet, but it doesn’t sound like something she would like.
Oh well.
Does the book focus on Mamah’s murder at all?
.-= heidenkind´s last blog ..TSS: Lazy Sunday =-.
That would be the ending I hated! I couldn’t believe it ended that way. I’d had absolutely no idea that was coming.
Sorry this one didn’t work out for you. I listened to the audio version, and although I did not like the main characters, I did like the book. It was amazing to me what they gave up to be together. I rated it 4/5.
.-= diane´s last blog ..Sunday Salon – October 11th =-.
Ouch! I”ve been meaning to read this bok for ages. But it just doesn’t sound like I would like it at all!
Like you, I do need characters who I can identify with or like. Now, I think I”ll pass…
.-= Nish´s last blog ..Yesterday’s Weather – A Book Review =-.
I read this several years ago and didn’t like the characters either, but I did enjoy the book. I found it fascinating. I also think it would be great for a book club.
.-= Kathy´s last blog ..Review: A Season of Gifts =-.
I love your review. I thought this was an outstanding book, but like you, I had some problems with the characters. I agree that Mamah’s actions, especially in reference to her children, were reprehensible. I’m not a mother, but I can’t imagine that I would be able to act as she did if I did have children.
.-= Stephanie´s last blog ..Mailbox Monday =-.
I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews for this one, and so I haven’t made up my mind whether or not to read it yet.
.-= Alyce´s last blog ..Fire by Kristin Cashore – Review =-.
This is about how I’ve suspected I would feel about this book. I think I’ll skip it.
.-= Jen – Devourer of Books´s last blog ..Haunting Bombay – Book Review =-.
Funny – I see what you are saying on all your criticism, yet I liked the book. Just proves its all a matter of taste.
.-= Lorin´s last blog ..Review: The Host =-.
Oh man! I started reading your review and I was so excited because I thought it sounded so intereting and then it didn’t sound so interesting anymore
Thanks for your honest review. I am sure I would have some of the same problems you did. You saved me some time!
.-= Stacy´s last blog ..Monday Movie Meme – It’s all about love =-.
Sometimes books that have to much internal dramatization bother me as well. I think that, coupled with the fact that all the characters were unlikeable would really turn me off. Sorry this was not a good reading experience, but I really value the honesty of your review. I think I am going to skip this book.
.-= zibilee´s last blog ..Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel – 256 pgs =-.
I ended up liking the book better than I thought I would. It’s very hard to read as a mother because her choices are disturbing, but what struck me was how many more options I have as a woman now than she did and that maybe I was a little smug judging her from my time full of options, rather than from an era where I might have felt trapped. FLW though, he’s pretty arrogant and self-serving. I read his son’s brief biography which the author clearly used as a source because some of the worst scenes in the book are depicted as true by the son.
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Traveler’s Bookcase =-.
Thanks for the review, I found the premise interesting but then the whole fidelity thing is a touchy subject for me. I do not like to “humanize” or empathize with those that don’t take their marriage vows seriously. I would love to know more about it though, and wouldn’t mind reading a different book on Frank Wright. There has definitely got to be a bigger story here, but I need to find the right writer.
.-= Marie Burton´s last blog ..Book Review: Harriet and Isabella by Patricia O’Brien =-.