Loving Frank: A Novel
 

Loving Frank: A Novel

by Nancy Horan

Amazon Significant Seven, August 2007: It's a rare treasure to find a historically imagined novel that is at once fully versed in the facts and unafraid of weaving those truths into a story that dares to explore the unanswered questions. Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney's love story is--as many early reviews of Loving Frank have noted--little-known and often dismissed as scandal. In Nancy... (read more)

Top tags: historical fictionfrank lloyd wrightarchitecturefictionmamah borthwick cheney (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

Janet O
  • Rated 5 stars

Loving Frank is an unconventional love story between Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress Mamah Cheney. It takes place in the early 1900's. It's a story of a strong women living in a different time who gives up just about everyting to be with Frank. Do not do what I did - stay away from the internet until you have finished this book.

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Didn’t Like It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
celeste b
  • Rated 2 stars

It surprised me that I liked this book, but I found it interesting on so many levels. The story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his odd mistress is fascinating in itself, but in reading it I also learned quite a bit about women's lives during that era.

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Community:
  • Rated 3.917749 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4 stars
 

Newest Comments

  • Julie

    julie said:

    The story was captivating, especially because it is based on actual events, but the characters were not all that likable. Mamah was annoying, and I was disgusted with the way she just abandoned her family. Frank seemed to have no backbone, and used artistic talent as an excuse to mess up his personal life. So much tragedy for all of the involved parties! My sister had to convince me to read this book, but I'm glad I let her talk me into it. This is a book that sticks with you long after you have finished reading.

    posted Saturday, June 28 2008
  • Andrea  V

    andrea v said:

    Even though I cared very little for Mamah, i could identify with soley the fact that she struggled with defining who she was outside of motherhood. None of that could EVER justify abandoning her children as she did. I think this would be a fabulous book club discussion book.

    posted Wednesday, June 25 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Betsy C

    betsy c said:

    One of the best books I have ever read. A terrific book club selection. Fascinating.

    posted Tuesday, June 10 2008
  • Deanna P

    deanna p said:

    I am in the middle of this book, and though I don't dislike Mamah, she sometimes makes me so irritated I could slap someone. She rarely even thinks of her kids, and when she does she pities herself over missing them. Any half-way decent mother would NEVER leave her kids for any reason. You give birth, and naturally those kids become number one, or they should anyway. I would just as soon cut off my right arm than be without my kids. I would follow no man but Christ himself like she followed Frank; who is completely annoying. There is no justification for an affair.

    posted Saturday, June 7 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Pat K

    pat k said:

    I was too ticked off with Mamah & Frank to judge the book on any literary merits. He was an ass, she was at best a lost soul, at worst a horrible person. I'll go with the latter. Abandonment is abandonment, whatever your rationale or cause. I found the story very static. The author fleshed out Mamah's suffragette background but I never thought that it, or her love for Frank, explained her extreme actions. The writing was adequate, but left me disatisfied with Mamah's thought process. Never really answered the question of why she did what she did. I think she tried a little too hard to make Mamah a sympathetic character. I found it very hard to care much what happened to her, though was of course shocked at the ending.

    posted Thursday, June 5 2008
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