The Women
A Novel
-
-
4.0 • 60 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “riveting” (The Wall Street Journal) and “wonderfully entertaining” (The Boston Globe) account of Frank Lloyd Wright’s life, told through the experiences of the four women who loved him.
“Boyle handles the big themes—Wright the genius battling an uncomprehending, philistine world and Wright the man loving and loathing his women—with extraordinary brio.”—San Francisco Chronicle
Is it easy to live with a genius?
Frank Lloyd Wright’s life was one long, howling struggle against the bonds of convention, whether aesthetic, social, moral, or romantic. He never did what was expected, and he never let anything get in the way of his larger-than-life appetites and visions.
Wright’s triumphs and defeats were always tied to the women he loved: Olgivanna Milanoff, an imperious Montenegrin beauty who was a student of the Russian mystic Gurdjieff and was known by Wright’s apprentices as “the Dragon Lady”; Maude Miriam Noel, a passionate Southern belle with a mean temper and a fondness for morphine; the spirited Mamah Borthwick Cheney, tragically murdered at Wright’s Wisconsin estate, Taliesin, in 1914; and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin, with whom he had six children.
T.C. Boyle deftly captures these very different women and, in doing so, creates a sexy, gripping drama about marriage, the bargains men and women make, and the privileges and pitfalls of genius and fame.
Customer Reviews
The women
This is an excellent piece of work, well worth reading. Boyle has woven an intricate, masterful reversed-time tapestry that brings Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life alive in an intimate and questioning manner.
Frank Lloyd Wright book
This is almost 2 books in one. There is an apprentice architect Japanese narrator who introduces the chapters, but the introductions stretch on much longer than one would expect and almost form a separate book. Then there is the story of Frank Loyd Wright and his three wives and one mistress. He’s a very mercurial character, to be sure. Lots of new info here, astonishing really.
Crushed when it ended
This historical fiction is so rife with brilliant use of language, written in a "circle" that is nothing short of genius . Frank Lloyd Wright was not someone I had any kind of interest in. I have found myself absolutely fascinated by his life and loves.