The Women: A Novel

Let me start off by saying that I am a big fan of T. C. Boyle, and this book did not disappoint.Brief, brief summary, no spoilers:The title "The Women" refers to the 3 main lovers/wives of famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The story of each woman is prefaced by an "introduction" by one of Lloyd's apprentices, a Japanese man named Tadashi Sato. (Wright's first wife is discussed, but she doesn't get a separate introduction.)In his narration, Tadashi tells of his arrival at Taliesin, Wright's magnificent home in Wisconsin. Whereas his tale goes in chronological order, the story of the women does not.And that's one of the things that made this novel so memorable for me - we see characters at different points in time, through their own eyes, and through those of others. This also helped make the foreshadowing and sense of menace so palpable. When I finished that last page, I felt like I had been through an experience - and I had that wonderful reader "high" that comes with finishing a wonderful, thought-provoking book.I do have a couple of quibbles - I am not sure how I felt about the narration by Tadashi. I think the book might have been better without it. It felt a little disruptive - as if it were from a different story, both in mood and in content.Also, I thought one of the characters, Miriam, was almost cartoonish in her portrayal as a villain. She definitely helped give the book some of its best moments, but she never felt real to me because she consistently acted the same way, and always against her best interest. Mind you, I know there are people that do that, but she never sprung to life for me, and I could never see anyone being friends with her, lest marrying her.All in all though, this was just a terrific read. I recommend reading it with Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. I think that The Women is the better book, but the experience of reading one right on the heels of the other is very rewarding and fulfilling.Recommended, especially for book clubs.*** Note, I read this on a Kindle, and missed the footnotes when Tadashi was narrating. Be sure to read them because they add to the enjoyment of the book. (And as to how to easily access the Kindle footnotes, just check out the first comment to this post.)

Apparently, Frank Lloyd Wright was a sort of male Siren, irresistibly alluring to women of all types. And like the Sirens of Greek myth when you responded to his beck and call, you were dashed to pieces upon his monumental ego, cruelty or indifference. So says T. C. Boyle, who has written an engaging, if over-long fictionalized version of the women in America's, and perhaps history's, greatest architect.Having some familiarity and appreciation of his work, I was clueless as to his life, which from the Great War until his death in the 1950s was a tabloid editor's dream come true. Rupert Murdoch would have paid the man royalties for the number of papers his tawdry, tragic and tacky relationships sold. Following is an outline of some of the circumstances: If you don't want to know, DON'T read on. Twenty years into his first marriage, 6 children later FLW notices he's a genius and his wife's a bore. Naturally, that entitles him to break up and pursue the very modern and truly fascinating Mamah Borthwick Cheney.Her truly gruesome end opens the door for my personal favorite--mad as a hatter Miriam Noel--morphine addict and sometimes sculptress who make Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction seem tame by comparison. Fortunate to get out of the relationship with all of his reproductive parts intact, Wright ends his life with the disappointingly hypocritical Olgiavanna, a pale shadow of the women who came and conquered before her. And a nasty busy-body to boot.The author has done a ton of research and The Women shines because of it. The reincarnations of Wright's masterpiece, Taliesin, is well and beautifully told. I have two criticisms of the book, which others may not feel warranted. First, the section about Miriam (who happened to be my favorite character) is too long. It could be cut by a third. Second, while Wright is occasionally portrayed as selfish or egotistical, he is cut a great deal of slack and mostly comes off as your dutch uncle.Personally I think he was a much nastier and much more overtly selfish SOB who exacted a price to be in his presence. The author and I can disagree about this but if you're going to portray the women in his life--i.e., Frank from their POV, Boyle could have or should have been harder on the person (not the genius--there's no doubt about that). As I said though, others won't agree. Or think parts too long. The Women succeeds many levels but two that are seemingly contradictory: informative and titillating. Enjoy!

A fascinating novel. When I ordered it, I didn't realize it was a thinly fictionalized story of the many women in Frank Lloyd Wright's life. He was not known for being an easy-going guy, and this is a warts-and-all story of how various women whom he desperately needed in his life for various reasons put up with him. It is a fun an informative read.

It is a good thing that I read this book on the Kindle- with its built in dictionery I was able to look up many of the obscure words that Boyle uses, although I must say that they wont find their way into my vocabulary (because I cant remember them, and because other people wont understand them!).While I was thoroughly fascinated by Wrights architecture even before I read the book - having spent several months on a project in Wisconsin, where Wright is still revered, and more recently, having visited the Robie house in Chicago, I had no idea of the scandal and intrigue that surrounded his personal life, so this book was truly informative, although I think that the narration by the ficticious nephew of the ficticious Japanese apprentice was a little contrived and unneccessary.Well-written by a master of the English language!

The story of this part of Frank Lloyd's Life was fascinating, I had no knowledge of his talent and his career not to mention his relationships with women. Most enlightening.