Old Flame

by Molly Prentiss

This “enthralling” ( The New York Times Book Review ) and “introspective, energetic novel” ( Booklist ) explores what it means to be a woman in her many forms— daughter, friend, partner, lover, and mother—from the acclaimed author of Tuesday Nights in 1980 .

Emily writes for women’s catalogs for a living, but she’d rather be writing books. She has a handsome photographer boyfriend, but she actively wonders how and when they will eventually hurt each other. Her best work friend was abruptly laid off. When her world is further upended by an unplanned pregnancy, Emily is forced to make tough decisions that will change her life forever.

What will she sacrifice from her old life to make room for a new one? What fires will she be forced to extinguish, and which will keep burning? Old Flame is an essential, “warmhearted, and luminous page-turner about desire, time, love, parenthood, work, and art in women’s lives” (Sophie McManus, author of The Unfortunates ).

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Adult, Romance, Feminism

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2023

About the author

Molly Prentiss has been a Writer in Residence at The Blue Mountain Center, Vermont Studio Center and at the Workspace program the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and received the Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Aspen Institute. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the California College of the Arts. Tuesday Nights in 1980 is her first novel. She currently lives, writes and walks around in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

when i first finished Old Flame, i rated it four stars.

https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...

then i spent hours upon hours trying to pick it back up, my brain absolutely rejecting the concept that i had finished it. i had a series of work calls, and after each i wanted to continue reading. i had a series of tasks, and i without fail attempted to stop doing them in order to read.

i could not stop thinking about this book!!!

so boom. 5 stars it became.

part of me prickled at the conceit of this, which is that creating a human life is an act of creation that is radical and artistic and important, and that nothing is taken from the strength and passion motherhood takes by virtue of its being societal default. i didn't think that going in, and i didn't really want to think it through most of my reading experience.

but that's part of why i am a good reader for this book. because it convinced me.

and on top of that gorgeousness, this is funny and sharp and populated with unforgettable characters. it's two distinct stories, and i loved both, which feels like the rarest thing ever.

this is in many ways about how it is a huge act of generosity to love someone, and maybe the most valuable thing you can do in this life.

and i love women and this book loves women and i love this book.

bottom line: love! life! jokes about capitalism! what more could you want.

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reread update

i love this book too much.

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tbr review

literary fiction about what it means to be a woman...yeah this is up my alley

(thanks to the publisher for the copy)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hooked on one of the first pages and had to buy this book from the line: "When I was younger than I am now, twenty-seven to be exact, I found myself walking into a tall office building on Thirty-Fourth Street in Manhattan. It felt like I was being pulled in by a magnet. The magnet was capitalism, but I couldn't see that then."

Unfortunately, I felt like this book was let down by its execution. The dialogue was a bit cringe and not as believable as I would have liked it to be. I wanted more of the friendship between Emily and Megan but they had a falling out and Megan was absent for a good chunk of the book. There was a lot of class consciousness in regards to how expensive it is to live in New York City and raise a child, which I liked, and the relationship between Emily and Wes was very realistically played out. I didn't like the "women obsessing over men and having babies" bit but I felt like that came together ok in the end. Lastly, I wasn't a fan of the final turn in the story - it was dramatic and not particularly believable. I don't know that I would necessarily recommend this one, but I also wouldn't smack it out of your hands if you wanted to read it.

Rating: 3 / 5

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure why I couldn’t get involved in the book, but despite my efforts, I liked neither the characters nor the writing style. Initially, I was impressed by the determination Emily showed, moving away from GIG jobs into tge substantial field of advertising. I think between the demographic and environmental, I don’t really have the context to allow me to enjoy this.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

[Audrey Steinburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 stars leaning 5. I gobble up any book about adult women exploring and resenting and focusing on their relationships with other women, with their partners who are men, with the structures all these ties exist in. PLUS explorations of motherhood, which I am fascinated and terrified by!
The characters were believable and largely likeable, the imagery and interiority were well done, and with a great and binge-able structure, I am so sold.

[Alessia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever read something that has verbalized so many different types of thoughts I’ve had ranging from my love of Italy to what it’s like to be a woman. this will probably be one of my top reads of the year

[Megan Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first picked this book up, I read for 3 hours straight. Day 2 looked pretty similar. Then I forced myself to slow down to make it last longer. I guess I just found it super compelling. I smiled through a lot of it, relating so strongly to Emily. Maybe not her experiences per se, but definitely her perceptions of the world.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emily is a 29-year-old woman who has been flying by the seat of her pants since birth, when her mother passed away. After a not-so-loving stepmother and a very lonely upbringing, Emily finds herself in New York, working as a copywriter for an "iconic New York department store" and dating a photographer, Wes, who is "married to his work". Her job is simple enough—write a couple of puns and try out some eye-catching word play—but Emily wants more. After some convincing from the people around her, she decides to start writing. Megan, her best friend at work, starts emailing Emily drawings that Emily then writes short stories about. With one drawing in particular, a sketch of their married boss Todd's office lamp, Emily starts writing a story about Megan and Todd's affair. In a story she doesn't think will ever see the light of day, Emily writes about Todd and Megan's steamy encounter, which actually happened, and Megan's subsequent pregnancy, which did not (to Emily’s knowledge). On a trip to Italy, where Megan accompanies her instead of Wes, Emily finds out that she, instead of the fictional Megan she wrote in her notebook, is the one with the accidental pregnancy. As she reels about this news and the child she knows Wes will not want, Megan finds Emily's journal, and the following fight ends their friendship for over a year. Within that time, Emily does the unthinkable, keeping the baby, and so does Wes, leaving Emily for another woman. While Emily is devastated about the loss of her friend, her relationship, and now her job, she writes to the one magazine that ever published her own mother's writings. The magazine picks up her stories, Emily is reunited with Megan in Greece, and the story wraps up in too perfect a package.
 
 
Old Flame by Molly Prentiss was a frustrating read both in structure and substance. The novel is written in what I'd call "bullet point style" where instead of chapters, Emily tells us information as it becomes important with titles like "Work Drinks", "Subway Tears", and most simply "Wes". This style of writing makes consumption all the more difficult, stripping it of any cinematic structure and making it feel almost clinical. The book often reminded me of Sally Rooney's Normal People in its self awareness and the characters constant denial of the truth that they see as plain as day. All of that to say, Prentiss' ability to so simply describe the plight of womanhood in such few words or observations is heartrending. I consistently found myself in tears or taking a breather due to the bombs Prentiss would drop that would hit a little too close to home. These bombs would then be followed up with a lack of focus and poor story structure. I did not care for a single character in Old Flame, not for lack of trying. It simply felt like Molly wouldn't let me. We never get intimate with anyone, everything is told to us from behind a wall. I was never truly clear on what the focus of the book was supposed to be. Whether it was her relationship with Wes, her relationship with Megan, motherhood, the lack of a mother, seeking a mother, or becoming a writer. Emily does go on what I'd call "Writer's Tangents" where we're able to see her imaginary world as it runs through her mind, and in these moments and only these moments do I see it on the screen. In the end of the book, Emily quits her job, is now a single parent, and by some miracle not only gets bought out of her loft (resulting in a hefty sum in her bank account), but she also gets her writings published by the first company she sends them to (also resulting in a hefty sum). A book dripping with negativity and woe-is-me ending in a forced happy ending was the cherry on top of a personally upsetting sundae.

[Tessa Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I (un)fortunately deeply identified with the protagonist's particular brand of neurosis. In fact the author articulated many of my unhealthy thought patterns better than I have ever been able to, thank you Molly!!!

Some other things I loved were the book's ambivalent depiction of pregnancy/motherhood and portrayal of a too-common type of trauma obsessed "photo-journalist" whose empathy for suffering runs out when it comes to their own family and friends...

My big critique is just a matter of personal preference in that I thought there were way to many dream/imaginal sequences. The extended metaphors got exhausting.

[🩶 April • A.M. Flynn • 🩶]

DNF

[Joslyn Janeczek · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8! It did take me a while to get into but that could just be the seasonal depression not wanting to read. Any book about a girl trying to make her way through life will get automatically get 3 stars because it’s tough out here

[Anna Ivanchenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great novel about women and the paths they take and don't take in their lives. For me, also a reminder of something I am only learning to acknowledge: that nothing ever stays the same and everything changes.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought about this book constantly as I was reading it.

[Aislinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I’m going to have to sit with this book a bit before I rate it.

Overall, this story was a rollercoaster that spanned much further than I had anticipated. The feel of the book changed with the main character, Emily, maturing and aging as she did in a way that felt very real and relatable despite her and I’s differences. And truthfully, some parts of this book felt like a horror novel to me, especially when in the thick of new motherhood. So much so that I found myself becoming so sad and angry for Emily that I was ready to metaphorically burn this book if it had a bleak ending.

I felt a lot reading this book, both good and bad, and while the tale itself isn’t entirely new, it felt important.

[Rachels_booknook_]

DNF

[kenna bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

damn, molly prentiss. i see you.

not sure i realized how impactful this book would be on me until closing the cover. i just finished, and yet i remember everything. i remember the characters, i remember the happenings, i remember essie riding up and down on the escalator. i feel that renata, and greta, and rene are mine; baby greta and emily and megan. these characters, as i read about them, didn't really...feel extra special? but now, sitting here, i realize how unforgettable they are. how i'll be thinking of them, their experiences, their feelings, for months after. the writing was equal parts humorous and profound, poetic at the perfect moments. i love to laugh, and i love to feel held, and this book offered me both.

i often look to other folk's reviews for more eloquent explanations of my feelings after putting down a book, and emma says it best in her review that "this is in many ways about how it is a huge act of generosity to love someone, and maybe the most valuable thing you can do in this life...bottom line: love! life! jokes about capitalism! what more could you want."

(read emma's full review here, she's a hoot and a half: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

anyway. i am very interested in picking up prentiss's debut novel, now. this book served as a great reminder of why i love lit fic.

[Sarah Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Editing my review a month later to note that reading this book during an emotionally tumultuous time helped me realize I needed to end my 8-year long-term relationship with a man. So what review is better than that, lmao.

Regardless of the motherhood arc being unrelateable (?) to me, the dialogue around navigating your life in your 20s and 30s as a woman in this world, motherless one way or another, and left to square away who you are, what you want to be, and what fulfills you is a narrative I’ll never shy away from. And above all else what it means to see yourself as someone or something beyond your relationship to the men in your life is alwaysssss refreshing!!

I also just really loved the way this novel was written. Gorgeous prose, gorgeous sectioning.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually I only rate a book five stars if I immensely enjoyed myself while reading it. While I did enjoy this book, I am giving it five stars because of the author’s incredible way with words. She has a way of making you feel like every isolating thought you’ve ever had as a woman has already been had, without diminishing your individualistic feelings. Would be a perfect book club book. Want to buy it for all the women in my life.

[Arden · Rating 4 out of 5]

propulsive and uniquely interesting, a book that makes an epic drama out of a snapshot of one woman's life. particularly loved the relationship between megan and emily. i felt this book's discussion of mother/daughterhood was poignant without overwhelming the story with preaching—indeed, that discussion was the story! would recommend.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gimme a book about millennial white women having crises about womanhood & motherhood and imma eat it up every time!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

this just confirmed that all my fears of having kids are correct

[Michelle Curie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life is messy, often uncomfortable, sometimes fun, full of unforeseen events — and this book leans fully into that. Once you embrace this, it becomes an emotionally resonant ride.

Old Flame wasn't easy for me to get a grip on. It's essentially about living and being a woman, but since the protagonist, Emily, doesn't quite know what this means, neither did I as a reader. She writes for women's catalogues, though she'd rather be writing books. She has a handsome photographer boyfriend, but she actively wonders how long the relationship is going to last. When she then also unexpectedly finds herself pregnant, it's time to find out which flames are worth keeping alight.

There's a lot of emotional depth to this. It's emotionally authentic in a way I sometimes found hard to read, because when Emily wasn't feeling great, neither was I. The writing — especially of her inner world — is so nuanced and sensitive that you really go through all the façades of friendship, motherhood, and grief with her. It also shows the protagonist as a multi-faceted person: she's an artist, but also a daughter, friend, girlfriend, and later on, mother. Sometimes these roles are easier to handle than at other times, and I found this portrayal felt real to a degree rarely seen in literary fiction of this kind.

The realness does come at the cost of pacing. While this is an excellent character study, I felt a little lost while reading it. I just found it difficult to accept that this would simply be about life, without one coherent and clear thread to follow from introduction to climax, as I am used to with traditional novels. Certain themes are more present than others, of course, but many things are constantly happening at once, and sometimes we lose sight of one subject for many pages. The pregnancy, relationship problems, and a falling out with her best friend all happen simultaneously — and you might get invested in the last storyline, for example, but then just have to accept that it won't be followed up on for ages as other things keep occurring.

There's so much psychological development and growth within her. On the other hand, I found the portrayal of motherhood extremely captivating. I've noticed a shift in the literary landscape in recent years, with novels such as Nightbitch allowing motherhood to be understood as more of an ambivalent thing than a God-given blessing, but I haven't come across a portrayal quite as complex as this one. Emily's pregnancy marks a major turning point in her life, forcing her to reevaluate her identity on many levels. She didn't expect a baby to come into her life, and Prentiss leads us through the changes that come with this: there's love, visceral and emotional intensity, but also fears of self-erasure and real experiences of isolation. I appreciated how motherhood was shown to be neither the start of a horror story nor the bringer of instant self-fulfilment. Instead, it's just something that reshuffles our existence on this planet.

And if there's anything this book teaches us, it's that life is just like that: a constant stream of little messes we can work through in order to find something that will eventually be pretty all right. Maybe even lovely.

[Caitlin Elgin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this a 3.8. I honestly can’t tell if I really liked it or really didn’t? Maybe a little of both but it was intriguing

[Mia Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I need to email prof stulke about this book and also write a paper about womanhood the digital and neoliberal self making. You can TELL the writer is really considering these themes and arguing in her own way. All that AND it’s just damn well written. It’s the longest most feverish academic poem ever. And its so raw and real and just ugh I loved it.

Also: any book that takes me back to Italy is a winner. Sometimes it feels physical, how I miss the sun through late afternoon strands of hanging garlic, the salty ocean air, the white paper cones of fried fish, the sound of amore amore being called in the street, the sweaty closeness of all our bodies walking through Trastevere, how leah and I fell asleep speaking to each-other in italian, the lemon zest over my pasta, the nuns in baby blue habit crossing the street in front of my cafe, the smell of cracked pepper, that long walk Ida and I did along the sea on il sentiero degli dei, the white furred sheepdog puppies collapsed in a heap in the mid day sun, the unbelievable blue of the water, the unbelievable white of the marble, how we walked up to our fifth floor apartment hunched over too full from dinner and wine with out professor, the sound of my roommates iterating italian verb conjugations at one in the morning, the patch of mint at the opera we rested on during intermission, the ballet we saw in the open air, the smell of heady incense in the street, even the phone calls to my boyfriend thousands of miles and 4 time zones away because it meant somehow that Italy was real and I was real and my voice was the proof of beauty moving through me. Italy. Italy. Italy.

Quotes of my heart from this book:
“Oh, how I’ll miss these clams,” she said too quietly for the rest of the family to hear. (Dying grandma readying dinner.)

“‘Loving something more than yourself.’ Wes solemnly wrote down what I said. Under it, he also wrote Tiny Feet.” (Pros and cons list to having a baby.)

[Emma Fenstermaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a quintessential 3 stars for me; my feelings are exceedingly neutral. It's a very ~plight of womanhood~ capital L capital F Lit Fic story, and while some insights definitely felt beautiful and profound, many more weren't packaged in an interesting enough way to feel fresh (i.e. women embody masculine traits to succeed in the workplace and isn't that a tragedy...totally). The central (maybe central? i couldn't really track which relationships i was supposed to feel most invested in) friendship between Emily and Megan felt half-baked; it was a lot of the author telling us that Emily feels a soul-deep kinship with Megan without really showing us that connection, and then Megan vanishes for half of the book. The dialogue was also v unrealistic and stylized for the sake of being stylized, which ive realized is one of my biggest reading pet peeves. Finally, this is a personal preference, but once the book moved into the motherhood section and everything devolved into marveling at the creative act that is growing a life, the discovery of what joy REALLY feels like, the obsession over tiny fingernails, etc, it really lost me. I suppose there is a baby's hand on the cover so that's maybe on me for picking it up in the first place. Overall I don't regret reading it, but i've mostly already forgotten it.

[Serena Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

You’ll like this if you like lit-fic that includes:
The plight of womanhood.
Millennial observations.
Anti-capitalist quips.
Female friendships.
Motherhood.
NYC.

Given all of the above, I thought I’d like this more but while reading it I never felt like I was invested in the characters.
3.5 ⭐️

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books that are supposed to inspire you because it’s written by a female in a coming of age way where she undergoes hardships & you feel like you’re there alongside her because it s written in first person. I like these kinds of books.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come for the cover, stay for the writing. Old Flame is a young woman's coming-of-age story, following her as she navigates her career, relationship, friendship, and eventually, motherhood. Initially, I had a little trouble getting into it, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. The story is told in little vignettes, telling her story in bits and pieces, but making it easy to absorb. The writing is absolutely beautiful--the author has such a gift for storytelling. While this is the story of one woman's life, it really is an exploration of women's issues. I found myself thinking about it long after I closed the book!

[Mariana Deloera · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about women for women!

[Julia Haberfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consider me moved. Can’t wait to reread this when I enter the thralls of motherhood.

Also, I started to think like she writes.

[Sara Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - this one took me awhile to get into, but it had some good messages strewn throughout. More of a well written book than a plot book