I read the book "Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan a couple of weeks ago. It tells the tale of Mamah Cheney, a real-life woman who had a long-term affair with the world's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The book was fine, however, it reminded me of two other novels written in a similar style that I enjoyed much more than this particular piece. So read on for summaries and a brief review of not just this book, but also "Mary" by Janis Cook Newman and "Ahab's Wife" by Sena Jeter Naslund.
"Loving Frank": Little is known about the true nature of Mamah Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright's romance. What Horan has mainly to rely on are newspaper articles written in the melodramatic stylings of yellow journalism, which was at its peak during their affair. Horan takes what was described as a salacious scandal and fleshes out these two characters' courtship into an elaborate tale of love overcoming obstacles. The tale has a lot of interesting elements, including Cheney's mission to advance the Women's Movement, which was in full-swing during the 1910s when the book takes place. The down-side to the novel is that Cheney and Wright are fairly unsympathetic characters, and you have to spend a lot of time with them. Wright is pompous and careless with his finances, to the detriment of many. Cheney sacrifices being a mother to her children (let alone a wife to her husband - both Cheney and Wright are married) in order to pursue her relationship with Wright. Horan tries to relay the overwhelming angst Cheney feels leaving her kids, but it wasn't enough for me to excuse her actions.
"Mary" by Janis Cook Newman is similar to Horan's piece, but infinitely more interesting. This is also a novel based on a historical figure whose life was steeped in scandal. This is the story of Mary Todd Lincoln and Newman weaves a captivating yarn relaying Mary and Abe's romance, and how Mary eventually came to find herself institutionalized in a mental hospital. In Newman's book, the story is written from the first-person perspective of the protagonist. Mary frankly describes herself as an incredibly passionate woman whose sexual longings get her in trouble with a relatively prudish (but not gay) Abraham and eventually lead her to a life of careless shopping sprees. That sounds dumb, but it's not. Here is an example of a character who does many unlikable things, but can still keep the reader on her side due to Newman's writing skill.
"Ahab's Wife" takes place roughly during the same time as "Mary": mid-19th century. Now Una is not a historical figure. She is the wife of Captain Ahab alluded to only once in Melville's classic "Moby Dick." However, Naslund, like Newman and Horan, saw an interesting character and ran with her story. This book is long and sometimes overly descriptive, but also excellent. Una is smart as a whip, and Naslund has a good time having her heroine encounter many prominent historical figures throughout the 1800s.
All three of these books showcase intelligent women looking for their place in world during the Suffrage Movement in America. None of them jive-well with the cultural norms of their times and fight being outcast from society at every turn. All three were books I'm glad to have read, but I'd read "Mary" or "Ahab's Wife" again before re-reading "Loving Frank," myself.
Monday, August 31, 2009
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The 19th Wife, which I read while on vacation, definitely also falls in this category. While there is also a contemporary story going on, the historical portion of the book focuses on Ann Eliza Young, who was one of Brigham Young's wives. She is a real historical figure, and - as the character does in the book - she did write a memoir about her life in polygamy. But most of the details about her life are completely imagined. Even the name of the memoir she writes is changed.
ReplyDeleteWhile much of the book is interesting, as I mentioned to you in person (and now repeat her for any readers who happen along), the author gets too wrapped up in his gimmicky device of using fabricated exerpts from sources, like Mormon church documents, newspaper articles, interviews and even Wikipedia. Once I finished the book, I understood the point of these "sources." SPOILER, in case you don't want to be spoiled. The entire book is supposedly a thesis by a Women's Studies student at BYU, who also happens to be a descendant of Ann Eliza Young. That was just a little too heavy handed for me, and so the entire device of the sources fell apart and served no purpose.
That being said, if you can wade through the gimmick to the story, it's relatively compelling. The contemporary story is somehow both more and less compelling. More compelling because it's a straightforward mystery told in a straightforward narrative . . . and less compelling for the same exact reasons. I don't know how else to explain it.
The 19th Wife was mentioned in my last book club meeting as our possible next selection. Either way, I think I'll read it soon! I'm glad to have the warning about the little gimmicks.
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