Loving Frank by Nancy Horan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Loving Frank
Book Review: limited book
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been listening to this book on CD and couldn't finish the second of twelve CD's. Mamah's character is one-dimensional and for a woman who is evidently trying to find acknowledgement for her creative sensibilities, is astonishingly mute in her marriage. For example,her husband Edwin initiated giving her owl jewelry and figurines as presents, which she accepts without a word but with internal annoyance. Regardless of what era she's living in, what happened to "Honey,thanks for the owls, but it's not really to my taste-why don't I tell you more about what I would like". The author gives her no voice within her marriage to become closer to Edwin by taking any risk to let him know her. What was so terribly wrong with him? We never get to know. The few examples that are given are bizarre. The few hairs on the top of his head resembled banjo strings. Really? Other metaphors are trite. She and Frank were "spit out by fate" to be together because they were born around the same time.
The author may have been limited by the document-based nature of her fictionalization, which perhaps provides her with little knowledge about Mamah's childhood or personality development, but we are left with a rather passive person who seems to get obsessively attracted to a married man's charisma and creativity. She unhappily has to wait for him to become available,but doesn't seem to try to develop her own creativity. Hardly the story of a woman becoming liberated. It instead presents a woman who is selfishly able to leave children and family behind for a man who is a genius but also has a narcissistic personality disorder. That actually could have been interesting had that been written about with more skill.
Book Review: I Hated This Book!
Summary: 1 Stars
I hated this book for so many reasons; I'm not certain where to begin.
I suppose I can start with the premise. Well educated, well read mother and wife, feels she's not living up to her potential; not living authentically; feels there's more out there; wants to discover who she is. This premise has been examined countless times and I'm confident today there are many educated, well read mothers (particularly stay at home moms) and wives that have experienced those same feelings. However most of us do not fall into an affair with a lying egoist (okay, so he's considered a genius) and proceed to abandon our children under the guise of having to find out who we really are. Mamah's story would have been more captivating had she struck out on her own as opposed to taking up with another man and a married man at that. The story would have also seemed more credible, had her husband been stifling in some way. He was depicted as being nothing but encouraging.
Second, I could barely stomach Mamah's deference to FLW regarding her translation of a poem. There she is a woman with a master's degree in languages; an experienced translator and she's asking the architect, what he thinks.
Mamah's surprise at how she was depicted in the press was the point at which my expectations for this book plummeted. A woman of that time would have known exactly what she was in for. There would have been no doubt she would be painted with a "scarlet letter" and become a social pariah. Her curling up in bed with her bottle of cough syrup with just stupid.
Unfortunately once I begin a book I have to finish it. I pushed on just to get it read since it is our book club selection for this month. I wish I hadn't. Did Horan's publisher say "hey, you have to wrap this up" because the ending of this book came out of nowhere. All of a sudden (within a few pages) there's racial conflict between employee's, a dismissal and then the dismissed party goes crazy and kills several people. Is it just me, or was some character/scene development warranted there?
Finally, historical fiction is tough and I would think the first thing an author has to do is be firmly planted in the era about which they write. That wasn't the case here. The main character seemed naive about the time in which she lived and at times seemed to "think" with the mind of a 21st century woman.
Obviously I was very disappointed. I would suggest taking a pass on this one.
Book Review: Loving Frank
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a tiresome story about selfish, self-important people for whom I felt nothing but contempt. The best part of the book was the end. The book itself deserves the same ending.
I would have rated Loving Frank zero stars, but the form wouldn't allow it.
Book Review: Captivating, enlightening novel
Summary: 5 Stars
To put it simply, I absolutely LOVED Loving Frank. Nancy Horan is clearly a gifted writer in that she has a great command of the language but is also accessible to any reader. I couldn't put this book down. I knew very little of Frank Lloyd Wright and found myself searching the internet for photos of his architecture (it is frequently beautifully described in the book). No one in my all-female book club agreed with Mamah's decision to leave her children, but we all couldn't help but like her. Everyone said this is one of the best books our club has ever read in our nearly ten years! I love books that educate me AND entertain me. Loving Frank did both beautifully.Book Review: I was loving Loving Frank!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the fictionalized story of the mistress of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. She was a real woman who lived an interesting life, but certain private details are added to the facts to round out an enjoyable read. It wasn't a happily ever after love story, but Ms. Horan stayed true to what really happened to this woman in the early part of the century as she struggled against the norms of the times and the conflict within herself as a wife, mother, and woman in love. This was fascinating fiction.