Architecture Books : Death in a Prairie House Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders
Loving Frank: A Novel | 
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Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin Press
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List Price: $16.95
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- ISBN13: 9780299222147
- Condition: New
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 Good and Bad
As a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright I needed to read that book. However, I'm not sure it was worth it. It's basically a 2 part book - part biography, part crime story. While all the facts are in there it is rather confusing. It felt more like a retelling of the police reports. I definitely missed the story telling part. Since the murders were never truly solved I would have prefered to either have the author decide on one of the theories and keep it a book or leave all the narrating out and just give the reader a report. But that in-between-thing, that the book ultimately became, was not enough for me.
Taliesen Murders
I thought this book was simplistic and not well done at all. It seemed like a long Wikipedia entry. (Maybe it is!) It's an ABC account of concrete and supposedly concrete details of the murders. No new info, no interesting ideas or perceptions, etc. Not recommended unless you are fascinated by the murders and like reading "first this happened and then that happened" types of newspaper articles, and Wikipedia.
 Terrific True Crime, Answers Questions, Artfully Researched
Drennan's "Death In a Prairie House" is as good a true crime novel as the best Ann Rule books. Drennan meticulously starts at the beginning, as any good true crime novel should, with the parents of Frank lloyd Wright and carefully creates a profile that goes a long way to explaining the reason for Wright's adult behavior. It's fascinating.
I first read about Frank Lloyd Wright and Mameh Borthwick in the book "Loving Frank." The story so fascinated me that I wanted to learn more about this strange and horrific tragedy. "Death In a Prairie House" goes a long way to filling in some of the blanks. What's more, Drennan's writing ability is amazing. What else has this guy written, because I want to read it, gosh darnit! Each of his sentences are brilliantly crafted yet completely easy to understand. In addition, he is a true artist who uses vocabulary as his medium! His use and placement of words is truly breathtaking.
I only wish there was more we could learn of Mameh, Lloyd's "feminist mistress." "Loving Frank" probably provides the best portrait, but it would be nice to know a bit more about her from a biographical standpoint. Drennan does not seem particularly sympathetic to Mameh, nor does he chastise her outright. I suppose he wants to leave it up to the reader to decide or maybe allow history to settle the score once and for all.
What you will come away with after reading "Death In a Praire House" is: an open jaw (how can something so horrific have happened?), a better understanding of Frank Lloyd Wright and the progression of his works, and a bit of jealously for the author who can write so well, as well as a whetted appetite for more writing from him.
Book Review
Well written and researched accounts of a tragic murder concerning Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin.
Good analysis, sadly lacking in needed visuals
Like many, I read this after reading and enjoying Loving Frank, and I really liked it. Not a rehash of the same issues, but a good complement. Does a good job of analyzing -- not just describing -- things like Wright's architecture (how he worked in the early 20th c. to express a certain social ideal in his buildings) and why some in Wis. believe to this day he was behind the murders.
My only quibble -- and it's a big one -- is that the text requires visuals and for some inexplicable reason there are virtually none (aside from some newspaper front-page reprints which are so tiny as to be unreadable and, hence, irritating in their own right). Some of the analyses are literally based on visual evidence, so the absence of photographs, drawings, and other illustrations is both glaring and irritating. The narrative does a painfully accurate recap of the timing of the murders, based on Taliesin's 1914 floorplan -- but that floor plan isn't included. There's a fascinating analysis of how Wright's architecture changed after the murders --- one house completely changed between the pre-1914 drawings and the post-1914 final product -- but again, no visuals. Grrrr...
I assume that either some Wright foundation that owns the visuals demanded too high a price for them and the publisher refused, or the publisher simply didn't want to shell out fees. Big mistake. Sometimes illustrations just complement a text -- but sometimes, as in this case, they are critical. An alternative should have been found or the text altered because it's a big disservice to the readers.
That said, it's a fascinating read. The first section is not just a rehash of FLW's biography, but a good analysis of how an understanding of his pre-1914 life and work are important for understanding what happened in 1914.
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