A “riveting” (Wall Street Journal) portrait of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life – 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Wright’s birth Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Harvey Kellogg in The Road to Wellville and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in The Inner Circle, T.C. Boyle now turns his fictional sights on an even more colorful and outlandish character: Frank … colorful and outlandish character: Frank Lloyd Wright. Boyle’s incomparable account of Wright’s life is told through the experiences of the four women who loved him. There’s the Montenegrin beauty Olgivanna Milanoff, the passionate Southern belle Maude Miriam Noel, the tragic Mamah Cheney, and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin. Blazing with his trademark wit and inventiveness, Boyle deftly captures these very different women and the creative life in all its complexity.
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The author is a wonderful story teller, with a fantastic vocabulary. The life of FLW and his wives make a fabulously interesting tale. He certainly liked complicated women! I learned so much about Wright and his life told through the prism of his relationships. Highly recommend.
I read it some years ago with my book club. It was focused more on his exploits than on his ideas. His personal life was the scandal of his times. It was a god read.
This is a fascinating book, whether you know about Frank Lloyd Wright’s life or not. The stories of his women are well written and the footnotes are particularly witty and helpful in rounding their various lives.
Frank Loyd Wright was a genius but his personal life was such a disaster. It’s hard to separate the two during this book.
Frank Lloyd Wright continues to fascinate us as one of the greatest American architects. This book fantasizes about the women in his life, from noble Kitty to crazy Miriam to tragic Mamah. It’s an interesting read and, as always, Boyle sends me to the dictionary quite often.
I really liked this book and the characters were so real.
Genious
What a rogue he was! This book starts at the end and works back to the beginning. Sometimes it is a little hard to follow, but it gets all tied together as the story goes on. I highly recommend this read.
Appreciated Boyle’s in depth woman characters. Liked the history factor as well
I have always loved FLW architecture but after reading this, decided I don’t like FLW, the man very much.
Different.
The characters (real people) are generally so unlikeable it’s hard to love the book in general. Author uses a lot of unnecessarily obscure words. But he does describe locations and atmosphere well. I enjoyed another fictional book on Frank Lloyd Wright more.
I am very interested in F L Wright’s work. And hVe seen a great deal of the
Buildings . This book tells more about the “ person”. Don’t think I would have
Thought as highly of him ask do the work. Still it was a good read, glad I have
It on my kindle .
Although interesting perspective (real people/imagined conversation) the insights into Wright are fascinating.
Good writing. Interesting to learn more about Frank Lloyd Wright’s life.
Well told story about one of the most important architects in the United Stated.Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural genius continues to impress, inform and challenge us. His personal life also provides fascination.
Fascinating insights
Very interesting read incorporating historical facts about the life and women in Frank Lloyd Wrights life.
Charming, sweet, fun
It is not riveting. The writing is so repititious and the female characters one dimensional. Read, Loving Frank , or any good biography of FLW. Even The Paris Wife was much better than this.