Book Review: The Women by T.C. Boyle

It's a rare book that allows one the opportunity to wander through the life of an architectural genius. The Women is a detailed account of the love life of Frank Lloyd Wright, and although it is technically a novel, Mr. Boyle has taken the skeleton of a life and provided it with flesh. It has been painstakingly researched to the point where the distinction between biography and novel has been considerably blurred.

The narrator of the book is one of Wright's apprentices, Sato Tadashi, one of a crew of aspiring young architects whom Wright installed at Taliesin to assist in creating his massive and complex architectural projects. Sato is the unifying voice in this novel, although at times his voice is more prominent than at others. As the novel unfolds in reverse chronological order, his presence helps to unify the novel and establish the complex relationships.

The four women profiled, who include Wright's three wives and a mistress, are colorful personalities -- strong-willed, well-educated and ahead of their time. (The exception might be Wright's first wife, Kitty, who married him at seventeen and seemed content to keep a low profile.) The book opens with Wright's last and final wife, Olgivanna, a Russian dancer of noble parentage in her twenties, and then goes on to profile his three previous love interests. There is considerable overlap - for example, as Wright is divorcing his morphine-addicted artist wife Miriam, he is building a love nest for himself and Olgivanna. Other complicating factors include the social mores of that era, which frowned on divorce, not to mention such concepts as open marriage and living with one's mistress.

Frank Lloyd Wright is known primarily for his elegant and futuristic architectural designs. Much of the drama of his personal life has faded with the passing of time, and this is remarkable given its sensational elements. He was a complex man who was often his own worst enemy, insisting on his freedom to live with whom he chose, when he chose, and to pursue a creative obsession regardless of his financial situation or obligations at the time. But that's precisely what made him so creative an architect and artist - an unwavering faith in his artistic vision and a determination to follow it wherever it led him.

Mr. Boyle is a gifted writer, and he has the ability to transport the reader inside Wright's Taliesin, the streets of Chicago, or even Tokyo, with ease. He provides multisensory experiences and then builds on them. He is equally (and unnervingly) gifted at popping inside the heads of his female and male characters, thus providing the reader with a 360-degree view of a scene. It is a rare author who can present a conflict between two characters and elicit the response, "wait a minute. She's right. No - that's incorrect. She's wrong and he's right."

The book elicits curiosity in the reader regarding Frank Lloyd Wright and his women, along the lines of, "wait a minute. Did that really happen?" Which is a testament to the effectiveness of Mr. Boyle's prose. There is enough room in the story for the reader to be drawn in as a kind of percipient witness, ultimately wanting to fill in the blanks, find out more about Wright's architecture and learn more about him. That's the best kind of story - the kind that inspires, educates and compels one to learn more.

And as an added bonus is the sensationalism of the story itself. It's a racy tale that bears testimony to the truism that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. It explores the topics of architectural innovation, freedom within romantic relationships, social propriety, raising children within a creative environment and artistic patronage. It covers a lot, but it's definitely worth a read.

Source:

The Women by T.C. Boyle (Viking Penguin, 2009)