Loving Frank is the first novel by journalist and author Nancy Horan. It tells the story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who carried on a long love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a public scandal in the Chicago of the early 1900’s. Frank and Mamah left their families and traveled extensively through Europe before settling in at Wright’s Wisconsin farm and estate, Taliesen.
This historical novel tells the story through Mamah’s eyes. Little is known of Mamah, and much that is written of her is fiction. The events of Wright’s life are well-documented, as are the inspirations for his architectural genius. Horan lived for many years in Oak Park, Illinois, the Chicago suburb where many of Wright’s early designs were built, including the home of Mamah and Edwin Cheney. Horan has a good feel for the community of Oak Park, and what it would have been like 100 years ago when the prairie ended just outside Chicago.
In this day and age, the idea of a major scandal erupting when two private individuals begin an affair seems quaint. But the Cheney/Wright drama was fodder for the yellow press for years. I visited Taliesen six years ago, and Mamah Borthwick was never mentioned on the tour. I imagine that now, with the popularity of Loving Frank, that is no longer the case.
While I suspect this is more fiction and less history, it’s great to read historical fiction from the twentieth century. I enjoyed reading Loving Frank, and I do recommend it.
In USA:
Published in hardcover-Random House-2007
Softcover edition-Ballantine Books-2008
Loving Frank: A Novel
Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are a couple in their early thirties expecting their first child. They live in a ramshackle house near Burt’s parents. When they learn that Burt’s parents are moving to Belgium for two years, they search for a place to raise their child. Their wanderings take them to visit friends and relatives in Phoenix, Tucson, Madison, Montreal and Miami.
Burt is a rather unsuccessful salesman of insurance futures, and Verona is a medical illustrator. Before embarking on their journey, May and Burt feel that everyone they know has their lives more together than they do. They soon realize, of course, that each of the people close to them have their own foibles and idiosyncrasies. If they are raising children, Maya and Burt quickly see their failings as parents.
The funniest and weirdest is Burt’s “cousin” LN, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is a university professor who believes in female empowerment and extreme attachment parenting. One of the film’s more amusing moments comes when Burt tries to present LN with a stroller. She feels that strollers are evil, since, as she so amusingly states, “why would I want to push my child away?” Burt offers the stroller directly to LN’s three year old son Wolfie who laughs hysterically while Burt pushes him around LN’s house.
Verona and Burt eventually realize that as long as they love each other and their child, and try to do the right thing, they will make fine parents. And they eventually do settle on a place to live that is just right for them.
I really enjoyed this movie, but I think it really is a chick flick. While leaving the theater, I heard one man say to his female companion “You liked that? I don’t get the point.”
Away We Go: A Screenplay (Vintage)
I have not been a tremendous fan of Lisa Scottoline. To me, her books were always sort of formulaic crime dramas. When I read some of the press on Look Again, it seemed a bit different, so I thought I’d give it a try. It is actually quite good.
It’s pretty easy to figure out the true scenario long before the end of the novel. Scottoline still takes us on some intriguing twists and turns as her main character, reporter Ellen Gleeson, solves the mystery.
Ellen Gleeson lives in Philadelphia, and is the single mother of a young son she adopted after meeting him while working on a story. One day, Ellen receives a “Have You Seen This Child?” flyer in the mail. The age progressed photo of a little boy (abducted at age one) looks just like her son, Will. Although Ellen had legally adopted Will, she knows nothing of his biological parents, so she begins to investigate.
What elevates this story above others are the sub-plots interwoven into Ellen’s search for the truth. Ellen is coming to terms with her mother’s death and her father’s plans to re-marry. There are staff cutbacks on the newspaper she writes for. There is a backstabbing colleague, and Ellen has a crush on her boss.
Look Again moves along very quickly and has a satisfying ending. It would make a good beach book.
In USA:
Published in hardcover-St. Martin’s Press-2009
Look Again
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is an extraordinarily moving and well-written memoir that speaks to the immigrant experience that built America. The focus is on author Lucette Lagnando’s family, particularly her father, Leon. Leon was a prosperous Cairo businessman. A lover of Cairo’s nightlife, Leon did not consider marriage until spying 20 year old Edith at an outdoor cafe in 1943.Within a few weeks, they become engaged, and wed shortly after.
Devout Jews, the Lagnado family lived in harmony with their Moslem and Christian neighbors in a spacious apartment on a bustling Cairo boulevard, Malaka Nazli. The Lagnado family has servants. The children attend the finest schools, and wear the finest clothes, and are often treated to excursions to Cairo’s most renowned cafes and pastry shops. The family vacations each year by the sea, and visits with their extended family are routine.
This magical life ends when Nasser comes to power, and the Jews of Egypt are forced to leave with only whatever clothing they can take-no money, no jewelry, nothing that would help them begin a new life. The family spends a year living in Paris, then comes to New York, all with the assistance of international refugee aid organizations. Eventually, the Lagnado family ended up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, amidst a small community of Egyptian Jews.
Over the years, the different family members react to their new circumstances in different ways. As Leon and Edith age and become more infirm, their children become more distant, and more American. Leon and Edith never really become American.
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is a love letter to a time gone by, and also a sad and realistic depiction of how immigrants become American. As all traces of their old life disappear, some become stronger, and other are destroyed.
I highly recommend this fine memoir, and look forward to reading more of Lucette Lagnado’s work.
In USA:
Published in hardcover-Ecco-2007
Softcover edition-Harper Perennial-2008
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (P.S.)
