Having just returned from 5 days at the river…where I read 3 books…here goes with the review of the first book I read.
This is not a book I would recommend. I read it cover to cover and found the architectural information fascinating and even found the women’s movement perspective somewhat interesting. I do however, have a difficult time with the justification of not only having the affair but with regard to the abandonment of children. If you have read A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, you will find some glaring similarities – none of the flattering ones. In all fairness, Loving Frank was well written; it was the characters and the situation that were so deplorable. And, honestly, I don’t think I am nearly as offended by the affair itself as I am with the blatant disregard for others and the complete lack of anything other than justification in regard to author perspective and the historical perspective she meant to portray. I have no doubt that her rendering of Frank Lloyd Wright was dead on, but I found him to be pompous, demanding, self-absorbed and emotionally immature. If you are intent on reading this, take a bottle of wine with you (maybe even two!).
Yours were the most honest comments I have heard about this book. We read it in our book club, and were bogged down with the story, not with the morality of the main characters. While a great architect, FLW sounded like a nasty and egotistical man.