Persuasion

Haven't read Jane Austen in a while, and felt like tackling Persuasion, which I have never read. Jane spins an intricate tale as usual, setting the story in familiar territories of Kellynch manor, nearby Uppercross, Lyme and Bath. The Elliot family, led by Baronet Walter Elliot, takes little notice in daughter Anne since her mother died. Having been persuaded to break an engagement by her friend Lady Russell to Wentworth, since he has little prospects and no titles, Anne lives life waiting for something to happen. Eight years later, on the verge of another proposal from her heir-apparent cousin, William Elliot, and perhaps another from family friend Captain Benwick, now-Captain Frederick Wentworth returns, a rich and respected navy veteran. Who will persuade Anne now?

The Women

The Women is a rather depressing novel of the three women Frank Lloyd Wright made his mistresses over the course of several decades after ending his marriage to wife Kitty. Told from the perspective of one of his draftsman students Sato Tadashi, the book hurtles through the lurid details of Wright's various ill-fated love affairs, but in reverse historical order. We first encounter Olgivanna, then Miriam, then Mamah, the most famous of the group and the subject of the other popular book, Loving Frank. While the other book makes you like and pity Mamah, this book leads you to revile all three women and indeed, Wright himself. I liked Loving Frank much better than this book, even though it probably romanticized an ugly situation concerning a man who started a love affair with his client's wife before officially finishing his marriage. While some allowances have to be made for a time when most men were not engaged fathers or necessarily expected to be faithful husbands, The Women portrays Wright as a near-depraved egomaniacal spendthrift who happened to design nice houses. I can't believe that accurately portrays Wright's personal or professional lives, although perhaps that's why it's a novel.