Moe Abugabal Abugabal itibaren Filisovo, Moskovskaya oblast', Rusya, 140763 itibaren Filisovo, Moskovskaya oblast', Rusya, 140763

This was a much more successful book than Nancy Horan's "Loving Frank" (see below, where I gave that two stars) but not Boyle's best. It tells the story of the seminal women in Frank Lloyd Wright's life with varying degrees of detail -- possibly due to the varying amounts of source material available about each woman but, I think, more likely based on who was the most fun to write about (which would be crazy drug-addled Maude, whom I got a little tired of despite the fascinating, over-the-top nuttiness of her voice). Stylistically it's inventive, employing a narrator who idolizes Wright but has enough of an outsider's perspective to lend wry and insightful commentary to the story -- while telling that story "backwards" through time. And even more so than in Horan's book, you come away with a rueful appreciation of what a horrible person Wright was in many ways -- but also an appreciation of what drew people to him so strongly. I'll never be able to look at Wright's work or genius in quite the same way...

I'm taking a class on this book currently. It is a very deep book and my teacher states that it is a book that is meant to be taught, not just read passively.

I really liked this story and LOVED Vera as a character, but as an audio book it wasn't the most stellar. The actor playing Vera was just kinda annoying and didn't sound like the Vera I had in my head. Kinda wish I had read this instead.

After many years I finally finished reading this anthology. Although it shouldn't have taken this long, to my credit, it is nearly 900 pages long. I bought this book to serve as a source of inspiration for my writing since the project I've been working on for the last 9 years takes place in Los Angeles. For the most part, the book served its purpose and I look forward to incorporating some of the notes I took into my work ahead. As you can imagine from its length, the anthology is very comprehensive which at times I found to be a flaw. It seemed like many of the excerpts were included simply because they took place in LA and offered little reflection about the city. Some themes, although relevant, seemed too repetitive (Hollywood, movies, driving in LA, the dependence on the car)while others (the hidden corners LA and its citizens working in the service industry)were only briefly touched upon through more modern day excerpts. I enjoyed reading the introductory paragraphs to each cited writer and there were some wonderful gems in every genre (fiction, poetry, essay, novel, memoir).