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Loving This

Customer Rating:

Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio in Oak Park is on a spacious street that boasts several of his houses, two blocks from where I grew up. That street never loses its charm, though I've walked down it many times. Next door to my family lived a Frank Lloyd Wright impersonator/ expert who would don his black cape and wide-brimmed hat to give talks at some library or historical society. "There goes Frank Lloyd Wright," we would say whenever we saw Mr.Shepherd. Now I regret that I never took advantage of the opportunity to learn about FLW from my neighbor's lectures, because due to this book, Loving Frank, I have become fascinated. Why was I never curious before? Evidence of his genius is all around Oak Park, and geniuses are often obsessive and tempermental and fascinating, aren't they? Horan bring FLW to life as a sensitive yet arrogant creative genius, basing a lot of FLW's character and dialogue on FlW's actual writings and ideas. We see him through the eyes of his mistress, Mrs.Cheney. I was fascinated with her from the start also, curious to learn about her relationship with FLW, how she made that difficult choice to leave her children, and also because I heard about her tragic ending from my dad, when I was telling him that there's a new book about FLW and the mistress Cheney. He said, "Oh, yeah, you know that she-----?" No I didn't; thanks, you spoiler! But actually, knowing her fate increased my curiosity. I found her to be a complex character, who had to follow the love of her life, yet felt guilty and missed her children every day. I couldn't help but sympathize with her as a reader, because we are so much inside her head throughout this book. Horan portrays her as a gentle intellectual who becomes involved with the feminist movement in order to defend her right to see her children and be treated equally as a divorcee. I loved going through the ups and downs of FLW relationship with her, asking, is it worth it? The situation was always so precarious, financially, socially, emotionally. I couldn't put this book down.

Loved Loving Frank	Customer Rating:
Really enjoyed reading this book;learned a lot about the personal and professional life of Frank Lloyd Wright. Would recommend this book.

A sleeper at first.	Customer Rating:
I picked up this book two times and tried to get into it, the third time, I made myself read it. About the middle of the book, I could not put it down, fabulous read.

A Fascinating Read

Customer Rating:

Having grown up knowing who Frank Lloyd Wright was (a famous architect), but knowing little about him personally, I was unprepared for the eagerness and antipation with which I devoured this novel once I began. I was intrigued by the great intellects Frank and Mamah are portrayed as having. Their fictionalized conversations are fascinating! All the while I was appalled by their affair and decision to leave their families--notably their children. This is a wholly engaging read with an ending that, if you are not already aware of the historical facts, will give you a shocking surprise.

Too little Too late Too long

Customer Rating:

My problem with the book was less with the writing than with the central character. That said, her half-hearted, directionless but still self-important quest to find herself went on for too many pages before she finally realized it was just an affair. Even that eventuality was lame as Mamah appeared more distressed about unpaid bills than she did about the effect of the sacrifices she'd been expecting from everyone all along. The book might not have been such a painful read if it had been simply shorter.