Fallingwater Rising is a biography not of a person but of the most famous house of the twentieth century. Scholars and the public have long extolled the house that Frank Lloyd Wright perched over a Pennsylvania waterfall in 1937, but the full story has never been told.
When he got the commission to design the house, Wright was nearing seventy, his youth and his early fame long gone. It was the Depression, and Wright had no work in sight. Into his orbit stepped Edgar J. Kaufmann, a Pittsburgh department-store mogul–“the smartest retailer in America”–and a philanthropist with the burning ambition to build a world-famous work of architecture. It was an unlikely collaboration: the Jewish merchant who had little concern for modern architecture and the brilliant modernist who was leery of Jews. But the two men collaborated to produce an extraordinary building of lasting architectural significance that brought international fame to them both and confirmed Wright’s position as the greatest architect of the twentieth century.
Fallingwater Rising is also an enthralling family drama, involving Kaufmann, his beautiful cousin/wife, Liliane, and their son, Edgar Jr., whose own role in the creation of Fallingwater and its ongoing reputation is central to the story. Involving such key figures of the l930s as Frida Kahlo, Albert Einstein, Henry R. Luce, William Randolph Hearst, Ayn Rand, and Franklin Roosevelt, Fallingwater Rising shows us how E. J. Kaufmann’s house became not just Wright’s masterpiece but a fundamental icon of American life.
One of the pleasures of the book is its rich evocation of the upper-crust society of Pittsburgh–Carnegie, Frick, the Mellons–a society that was socially reactionary but luxury-loving and baronial in its tastes, hobbies, and sexual attitudes (Kaufmann had so many mistresses that his store issued them distinctive charge plates they could use without paying).
Franklin Toker has been studying Fallingwater for eighteen years. No one but he could have given us this compelling saga of the most famous private house in the world and the dramatic personal story of the fascinating people who made and used it.
A major contribution to both architectural and social history.
From the Hardcover edition.
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天哪,这本书简直是把我完全带入了另一个世界!从翻开第一页开始,我就感觉自己被一股强大的叙事力量紧紧抓住了。作者对环境的描绘简直是神来之笔,那种身临其境的感觉,仿佛我能闻到雨后泥土的芬芳,听到风穿过树林的低语。人物的塑造更是立体得让人心疼,他们的挣扎、他们的希望,都深深地触动了我。我很少能对一个虚构的人物产生如此强烈的共鸣,以至于在读完之后,我还会时不时地想起他们的命运。故事情节的推进巧妙得让人拍案叫绝,每一个转折都出乎意料却又合乎情理,让你忍不住想一口气读完,但又想放慢脚步,细细品味每一个细腻的描写。那种在迷雾中摸索,最终豁然开朗的感觉,简直是阅读体验的极致享受。这本书的文字本身就是一种享受,优雅而有力,读起来朗朗上口,充满了音乐的美感。我强烈推荐给所有热爱深度文学和精妙叙事的读者,它绝对值得你投入时间去细细品味。
评分这本书的对话简直是一绝!充满了智慧和锋芒,每个角色的发言都掷地有声,绝无废话。我常常会把一些精彩的对白抄录下来,它们读起来就像是经过精心打磨的诗歌,蕴含着深刻的洞察力。更令人惊喜的是,作者对于非人类角色的描绘也极其到位,它们不仅仅是故事的背景点缀,而是有着自己独立的世界观和动机,这种多维度的叙事视角,极大地拓宽了我的想象空间。我尤其喜欢作者在处理情感爆发时的克制,那种“此时无声胜有声”的处理手法,比直接的呐喊更具冲击力。它没有用华丽的辞藻堆砌,而是通过细微的动作、眼神的交流,将汹涌的情感暗流完美地呈现出来。这本书的节奏把握得恰到好处,时而如急流般奔腾,时而如静水般深邃,让你在不知不觉中被带入情绪的潮起潮落。对于喜欢细节和心理描写的读者来说,这绝对是一场盛宴。
评分我必须得说,这本书的氛围营造能力简直是教科书级别的。它成功地构建了一个既熟悉又疏离的世界,让你在阅读过程中不断地感受到一种奇特的张力。作者对光影和色彩的运用达到了近乎绘画的境界,尤其是在描述那些转折点上的场景时,那种色彩的突变,直接影响了我的阅读情绪。我感觉自己就像是跟着主角一起经历了一场漫长的精神洗礼。这本书的哲学思辨性也很强,它不直接给出答案,而是抛出一个个尖锐的问题,迫使读者反思自己对世界的固有认知。我尤其欣赏作者那种对“边缘人物”的关注,那些生活在社会边缘、不被主流理解的角色,却往往是揭示真相的关键所在。这本书需要你全身心地投入,去捕捉那些隐藏在字里行间的微妙暗示,回报你的将是远超预期的深度体验。
评分这是一部充满力量感和生命力的作品。不同于那些纯粹追求感官刺激的畅销书,它更像是一部用心灵之火淬炼出来的艺术品。作者对“坚持”与“放弃”这两个主题的探讨,简直是直击灵魂深处。书中的某些情节的转折,让我对自身的处境也有了全新的审视,它激励我以更勇敢、更坦诚的态度去面对生活中的挑战。我欣赏作者那种不妥协的写作态度,她似乎不愿意对任何一个复杂的问题做出简单的归纳。故事中偶尔出现的幽默感,不是那种为了逗乐而生的笑料,而是源自于对生活荒谬性的深刻理解,这种高级的幽默感,让沉重的基调有了一丝喘息的空间。总而言之,这是一部需要反复阅读的书,每一次重读都会发现新的层次和新的感悟,它绝对会在你的书架上占据一个非常重要的位置。
评分说实话,这本书的开篇其实有点慢热,我一度以为自己选错书了,但请相信我,一旦熬过了最初的铺陈,后面简直是火山爆发般的精彩!作者对于历史背景的考据可以说是下了大功夫的,那种时代特有的压抑感和人物在巨大变革面前的渺小感,被刻画得淋漓尽致。我特别欣赏作者处理复杂道德困境的方式,没有简单地划分黑白,而是将人性中那些灰色地带展现得赤裸而真实。有那么几个关键场景,那种紧张到令人窒息的氛围,我甚至不得不放下书本,深呼吸几下才能继续。而且,这本书的结构设计非常精巧,看似散落的线索,到最后却能完美地汇聚成一个宏大的主题,这种叙事上的掌控力,实在是高超。我感觉作者不仅仅是在讲一个故事,更是在引导我们思考一些关于时间、记忆和选择的永恒命题。读完后,我的思绪久久不能平静,需要时间消化这份震撼。
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