I told my friend Liz that she really needed to read the book Loving Frank. I knew she'd love it and would have a lot to say about the book.
She finished it Sunday morning at 12:09am and I've been hearing about it ever since! :)
I thought that I had done some research after I'd read the book but Liz has found a number of issues that I didn't discover.
For those of you who haven't read the book it is about Frank Lloyd Write and him long time love, not is wife, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. The story is fiction but based on factual events and letters that were collected over time. I found it very easy to get caught up in their story & found it amazing everything they went through. It was all very scandalous for the times and we certainly had a interesting discussion in book club over the events. I loved this book and it was my favorite read in 2008.
WARNING! If you haven't read the book, don't read the rest of the blog as I'm going to ask questions to things that you don't want to know happen.
In doing research Liz found that they people in the community where Frank and Mamah built their house, it was widely thought that Frank set up the tragedy that happened. Do you think this possible?
What do you think of the fact that Frank got remarried twice after losing Mamah?
When Frank died he was laid to rest by Mamah, when Olga died, she had him exhumed and creamated, their ashes combined and burried together. What do you think of this?
If you've read this book I would love to know your thoughts and opinions!
Are there other questions you've been asking?
Liz, I expect complete answers from you! :)
http://lovingfrank.com/
3 comments:
I can't really see Frank having anything to do with the tragedy. I don't know what he would have gained by it. It's an interesting thought though. I was kind of angry about the fact that Mamah gave up everything for him and he wouldn't marry her because his wife "wouldn't" divorce him, but after she was gone somehow he managed to get divorced and remarried two times? As I read the book, the less impressed I was with him. Mamah deserved much better. As far as the burial goes, it's an interesting tidbit, I think it's kind of fitting, but ultimately where you are buried really makes no difference.
I'm not monster! I'm intrigued! Okay, I've never blogged before, so here goes.....
After I thought about it some more I don't see how Frank could be involved in the tragedy. I mean why would he risk destroying Taliesin? He didn't have the money to build it the first time around! I think that the people of Spring Green just disliked him and disliked that he was disgracing their little town with his immorality. It was easy for them to place the blame on him.
People actually think Mamah got what she deserved. I think one of the things that bothers me most is that they called her a whore for living up there with him. Running off with Frank was not the right thing to do, but once she figured out what she wanted, she did what she had to do to obtain a divorce from Edwin. She was a single woman! He was the one with a wife and family back in Chicago!
In the beginning I found their romance exciting. The way they tried to stay away, tried to call it quits, etc. but couldn't. I so wanted them to find a way to be together, after all, isn't that what everyone is after? To find their true soulmate and live side by side with them for the rest of their lives?
Once they got on the ship to go to Berlin I immediately began to dislike Frank. He was a pompous you know what. He begged her to go with him, he begged her to leave her children behind and go be with him in Berlin and I felt like he didn't live up to his end of the bargain. When they'd begun their affair I thought that he treated her as an intellectual equal, but once they traveled together it seemed like he was treating her like a man treated a wife back then, like property.
As the book went on, I liked Frank less and less. He was a crook, he was a sneak and I didn't trust him at all. I always felt like something was up. I thought he was having an affair, or going back to Catherine, etc.
I agree with Deb that Mamah gave up EVERYTHING for him and all he gave her was Taliesin, and really that was for him. She wanted a villa in Europe. I also agree that she deserved better. She really did. She was something special, she had dreams and aspirations.
When I finished reading the book I was sick. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep. I was expecting something bad, but certainly not that. The children! She hardly had them with her and of course the tragedy had to strike while they were with her. I felt for Frank when he came home to find his soulmate gone. At that point I felt like he truly appreciated her all the while and just did a terrible job showing it.
My heart went out to Edwin. Poor guy, he didn't do anything wrong. Just because Mamah was bored with him didn't mean he wasn't a fantastic father and decent husband. He was willing to take Mamah back all those times, I truly believe he had a heart of gold. To have your children taken from you in that way is just so wrong.
I spent two days searching the internet for more information on Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Barthwick Cheney. I've found a lot of interesting stuff, unfortunately I don't think the answers I'm looking for are out there. What specifically caused the servant to go completely off the deep end? Was he angry that Mamah was letting him go? Was he angry about the way everyone had been treating him? Or was it because he thought she was doing something immoral living there with Frank?
I expected to read that Frank never returned to Taliesin again, that he went on to build houses and event centers and spent all his time working because he knew no other way to cope with losing his soulmate. I was SHOCKED to find that almost immediately he moved another woman, Miriam Noel, into Taliesin with him. Finally Catherine divorced him and he married Miriam. It made me sad that she hadn't done it sooner, it made me sad that Mamah was deprived of that. Who knows what could have happened if she and Frank had been allowed to marry and live together as husband and wife.
From what I've read Miriam was a drug addict and made Frank's life living hell for a few years. I'd say it was Karma, but he somehow managed to find another wife during all that drama. Melanie made a good point while we were talking, he was a selfish man, and he couldn't be alone. Obviously not! He went from one woman to the next, Olga had moved in before he and Miriam were divorced. It seems that Olga was the real deal. I think they were married for about 30 years before Frank passed away. From the sounds of it she was no peach. She was very stern and she ran a tight ship. I believe that's what Frank needed... a woman to tell him what to do (j/k). But I really do think he needed someone with some discipline to help keep things afloat. He certainly couldn't do it himself.
I was happy to learn that when Frank passed away he was burried in Spring Green near his mother and Mamah. I believe that's where he wanted to be, where he was meant to be. I was sickened when I later learned that Olga's dying wish was to have Frank exhumed and have their bodies creamated and poured into a memorial wall. I guess she got the last word huh?
I've decided to order "The Women" by TC Boyle. It's about Mamah, Miriam, Olga and Catherine. I don't know if I'll learn anything new, but I'm not ready to let this go yet. I can't even think about reading anything else right now. Melanie you've ruined me for all other books. Nothing will compare to Loving Frank.
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