Tuesday Nights In 1980

Tuesday Nights In 1980

By Molly Prentiss

336 pages

Grimy, dirty, dingy and ripe with art world skullduggery, Tuesday Nights in 1980 is a love letter to Manhattan at the dawn of an adventurous decade. Set before

the Big Apple's facelift of the late 20th century (there’s no pristine Times Square or gentrified Greenwich Village) the novel is set at a time when an vibrant art scene in full swing, helmed by folks like Andy Warhol.

By setting her debut novel in this era Prentiss has the luxury of utilizing the brash inventiveness of New York’s art world as character itself. It’s a gossipy, creative and cutthroat world that devours the weak. It is against this backdrop that she introduces three characters, an art critic, a painter from Argentina who has come to America to escape his past, and a small town girl making her way in a big new world.

 While not as glossy as Sex & the City, it nonetheless captures the essence of the times. The novel is a breakout work for Prentiss who displays a delicate craftsmanship in her storytelling. As these characters dodge and weave into and around each other’s lives she skillfully builds their interactions towards a crescendo that will leave an indelible mark upon their lives and their art.

Each of her protagonists is flawed in some way. By using an artist, a critic and a newbie who becomes an artistic muse Prentiss, explores a time when Soho ‘s art scene was still a subversive movement where creativity was tenaciously born amidst the muck of chaos. This allows each of her creations to face challenges in finding success and acceptance while simultaneously forcing them into develop their own rapport between life and art.

Manhattan itself it all of sleazy glory is a character unto itself. It’s day-to-day grind can both stifle and stimulate creativity. 

New York's cultural scenes in art, music, film and theater are smoldering underground, waiting to burst to the surface by the end of the new decade and reshape the city itself as the artistic capital of the universe.