The story of Frank Lloyd Wright is told by a Japanese apprentice to him, through the lens of the 4 women with whom he had long term relationships. Based on real events, but fictionalized. An interesting way to look at Wright's life. Living so close to Taliesen, but never having visited, this book makes me want to go. ( )

Tried reading this two times. Not my bag, man. ( )

The women
The women of the title are the wives and mistress of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. I have read Loving Frank about Mamah Borthwick, his mistress during his marriage to Kitty (Catherine Tobin). The other wives are Miriam Noël Wright and Olgivanna Milanoff.
This is historical fiction and Boyle uses a character called Tadashi Sato, a Japanese immigrant, who was one of Wright’s apprentices at Taliesin to provide the narrative. He is assisted periodically by Seamus O’Flaherty. It’s well done.
Tadashi arrives at Taliesin in 1932 as an architectural apprentice to Wright but in reality the program provides free labour for Wright and his family. He stays for eight years and provides a very good description of the man who may be a genius but is also a con artist, a philanderer, perhaps a sociopath who abused the trust of everyone, especially the women in his life.
The bulk of the story focuses on his second wife Miriam who Wright married after the horrible death of Mamah and six others in the murder and fire at Taliesin in 1914. Miriam is portrayed as a a nut case given to temper tantrums and violence when displeased or ignored. She was a sculptor who lived in Paris before meeting Wright. The marriage lasted a year because of Miriam’s addiction to morphine and her mental instability. By this stage, Wright has met Olgivanna Milanoff and had another child with her. Miriam fights tooth and nail and lures the media into the salacious details of her life with Frank and his life with Olgivanna.
Kitty Wright is portrayed as a good person who is trying to keep her children housed, fed, educated and loved as Frank abandons her for Mamah. Kitty takes the high road and struggles to run the household on credit and keeps her dignity among the friends and neighbours in Oak Park. She refuses to give Frank a divorce.
Mamah is the last woman in the story and the focus is primarily on her life with Frank at Taliesin as she works on translating the work of her mentor, Swedish feminist Ellen Key.
Olgivanna is the brains behind the apprenticeship program and she runs the household, outbuildings and family as Wright creates and builds around the world.
Frank and his women are free spirits who disdain anyone who disagrees with their morals and lifestyles which given the times, early 20th century was pretty wild. Very well written, character development is excellent. ( )

I read Loving Frank a few years ago and was really interested in learning more about Frank Lloyd Wright's many relationships. The story was told from the point of view of one of his apprentices and was very interesting to a point. It was just too long and at some point about 3/4 of the way through I just didn't care anymore and stopped reading. ( )

Willkommen in der aufgewühlten, stürmischen Welt von Frank Lloyd Wright. Skandalöse Affären wüten hinter verschlossenen Türen, gebrochene Herzen werden beiseite geworfen, Feuer reißen durch die Flügel des Hauses und Paparazzi lauern vor der Haustür auf die jüngste Tragödie dieser nicht enden wollenden Saga. Dies ist die Heimat des großen Architekten des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts, eines Mannes der Extreme sowohl in seiner Arbeit als auch in seinem Privatleben: gleichzeitig eine Naturgewalt und eine Lawine von Not und Emotionen, die alles, was sich ihr in den Weg stellt, beiseite fegt. Scharf, wild und subtil gleichermaßen, "The Women" lotet das Chaos, den Horror und die unbändigen Leidenschaften einer beeindruckenden amerikanischen Ikone aus.