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Didion and Babitz
Joan Didion is revealed at last in this outrageously provocative and profoundly moving new work on the mutual attractions—and mutual antipathies—of Didion and Didion’s fellow literary titan, Eve Babitz. “Could you write what you write if you weren’t so tiny, Joan?” —Eve Babitz, in a letter to Joan Didion, 1972 Eve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in a closet in the back of an apartment full of wrack, ruin, and filth was a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. These boxes were pristine, the seals of duct tape unbroken. journals, photos, scrapbooks, manuscripts, letters. inside a lost world. This world turned for a certain number of years in the late sixties and early seventies, and was centered on a two-story house rented by Joan Didion and her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood. 7406 Franklin Avenue, a combination salon-hotbed-living end where writers and artists mixed with movie stars, rock n’ rollers, drug trash. 7406 Franklin Avenue was the making of one great American Joan Didion, cool and reserved behind her oversized sunglasses and storied marriage, a union as tortured as it was enduring. 7406 Franklin Avenue was the breaking and then the remaking—and thus the true making—of another great American Eve Babitz, goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky, nude of Marcel Duchamp, consort of Jim Morrison (among many, many others), who burned so hot she finally almost burned herself alive. The two formed a complicated a friendship that went bad, amity turning to enmity; a friendship that was as rare as true love, as rare as true hate. Didion, in spite of her confessional style, her widespread fame, is so little known or understood. She’s remained opaque, elusive. Until now. With deftness and skill, journalist Lili Anolik uses Babitz—Babitz’s brilliance of observation, Babitz’s incisive intelligence, and, most of all, Babitz’s diary-like letters—as the key to unlocking the mighty and mysterious Didion.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2024
1526 people are currently reading
38759 people want to read
About the author
Lili Anolik
6 books326 followersLili Anolik is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Her work has also appeared in Harper's, Esquire, and The Believer, among other publications. Her book, Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A., will be published by Scribner in January 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,264 reviews
July 28, 2025
what this book is: fun, wildly catty, gossipy in a way that makes you want to say "you're bad" over a martini like a 1960s housewife.
what it's not: very serious.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DB_hlr_uJ...
it's the kind of book that seems like it might set feminism back a decade or two, tossing two of the best writers of the 20th century (or at least the back half of it) together, shaking them up, objectifying them, and calling it a feud. somebody call ryan murphy.
i felt a low-level guilt while reading this, but not much pleasure. maybe i'm the kind of buttoned-up joan acolyte the author rolls her eyes at in early pages (she's an eve girl and it shows constantly, in the way that girls who smoked cigarettes in the bathroom tried to out-cool the popular groups without showing their effort).
i especially don't like defining eve by her body and those in or near it and joan by her cold calculations. those are components of them both, but god, after this many pages, how lazy!
some of the things in this book are unforgivable — say, that joan was never all that interested in her husband or her daughter (and to hell with those two career-defining books about their world-destroying losses, they don't fit with the narrative, we'll discuss them only to cherry-pick quotes we can use to call her unfeeling). or diagnosing joan with an eating disorder out of an also author-diagnosed fixation on being diminutive. or admitting to editing (without in-quote notation) many excerpts of eve's writing.
ultimately i think allowing a 98 year old man a few months out from death ramble unchecked about how he "made joan didion" tells you everything you need to know about the seriousness of the work here.
bottom line: i love these two enough i'd read anything about them. i just wish i didn't have to hit myself on the head with a rock until i forgot feminism in order to enjoy it here.
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
what it's not: very serious.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DB_hlr_uJ...
it's the kind of book that seems like it might set feminism back a decade or two, tossing two of the best writers of the 20th century (or at least the back half of it) together, shaking them up, objectifying them, and calling it a feud. somebody call ryan murphy.
i felt a low-level guilt while reading this, but not much pleasure. maybe i'm the kind of buttoned-up joan acolyte the author rolls her eyes at in early pages (she's an eve girl and it shows constantly, in the way that girls who smoked cigarettes in the bathroom tried to out-cool the popular groups without showing their effort).
i especially don't like defining eve by her body and those in or near it and joan by her cold calculations. those are components of them both, but god, after this many pages, how lazy!
some of the things in this book are unforgivable — say, that joan was never all that interested in her husband or her daughter (and to hell with those two career-defining books about their world-destroying losses, they don't fit with the narrative, we'll discuss them only to cherry-pick quotes we can use to call her unfeeling). or diagnosing joan with an eating disorder out of an also author-diagnosed fixation on being diminutive. or admitting to editing (without in-quote notation) many excerpts of eve's writing.
ultimately i think allowing a 98 year old man a few months out from death ramble unchecked about how he "made joan didion" tells you everything you need to know about the seriousness of the work here.
bottom line: i love these two enough i'd read anything about them. i just wish i didn't have to hit myself on the head with a rock until i forgot feminism in order to enjoy it here.
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
August 22, 2024
A non-fiction account of two of my favorite literary icons who ran in similar circles, side by side, though both were cast in a very different light. One of my most anticipated reads of the year and one of my most disappointing.
The problem with this book (well, one of them) is that its tantalizing description of “Joan Didion, revealed at last” isn’t entirely true. Anolik has an intense fascination—fetishistic, in her own words—with Babitz and it rings true in this book which sheds more light on Babitz's relationship to Didion than it does on Didion’s relationship to Babitz. Meaning… It feels like a mostly one-sided account of their relationship, focusing more heavily on Babitz’s experiences, and either using that information to make uninformed assumptions about Didion and her life or leaving Didion in the background for much of the book.
For an author to say to readers in the introduction of their book, “People are inclined to get a little soft in the head where Joan Didion is concerned” and “Reader: don’t be a baby” to set the scene for her Didion-bashing is a bit unsavory and clued me in from the start that I wasn’t going to like this. But I don’t know, maybe I’m just being a baby? Maybe I’m just soft in the head?
Anolik is the go-to person when you want your Babitz information, having spent years communicating with her before her death. Unfortunately, in the case of this book, that access to Eve pushes her in to Eve’s corner and makes her incredibly biased against Didion. There is no investigative journalism here when it comes to Didion; only assumptions, condescension, and speculation that benefit Anolik's side.
For example, this is Anolik “breaking in” to a letter Eve wrote to Joan:
“I’m breaking in. Eve is criticizing Joan for what she regards as Joan’s obsessive and inexplicable machismo. For Joan, strong and hard and clear signifies masculine, while doubts and unsettled feelings are weak, dithery silliness: feminine.”
All speculation; I’m reading what Anolik assumes Eve means, what she assumes Joan feels.
If you’re looking for a better biography on Didion’s work I would suggest The World According to Joan Didion or if you want an account of Didion’s later life from a person who was actually close to her, I would suggest the memoir The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion: A Memoir. And if you’re looking for a better biography on Babitz, well, just read her work. It’s all autofiction anyways. Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A. would be a great place to start.
I think I would only recommend this book to readers who were looking for gossipy speculation on a personal relationship between two women without much proof to back it up. The “research” done on Didion here can be found with a swift Google search. It’s unfortunate that this was such a flop just because the author was intent on measuring two brilliant women against one another rather than lifting up both of their voices and work.
Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 11/12/2024. *Quotes are pulled from an advanced reader copy and are subject to change prior to publication*
The problem with this book (well, one of them) is that its tantalizing description of “Joan Didion, revealed at last” isn’t entirely true. Anolik has an intense fascination—fetishistic, in her own words—with Babitz and it rings true in this book which sheds more light on Babitz's relationship to Didion than it does on Didion’s relationship to Babitz. Meaning… It feels like a mostly one-sided account of their relationship, focusing more heavily on Babitz’s experiences, and either using that information to make uninformed assumptions about Didion and her life or leaving Didion in the background for much of the book.
For an author to say to readers in the introduction of their book, “People are inclined to get a little soft in the head where Joan Didion is concerned” and “Reader: don’t be a baby” to set the scene for her Didion-bashing is a bit unsavory and clued me in from the start that I wasn’t going to like this. But I don’t know, maybe I’m just being a baby? Maybe I’m just soft in the head?
Anolik is the go-to person when you want your Babitz information, having spent years communicating with her before her death. Unfortunately, in the case of this book, that access to Eve pushes her in to Eve’s corner and makes her incredibly biased against Didion. There is no investigative journalism here when it comes to Didion; only assumptions, condescension, and speculation that benefit Anolik's side.
For example, this is Anolik “breaking in” to a letter Eve wrote to Joan:
“I’m breaking in. Eve is criticizing Joan for what she regards as Joan’s obsessive and inexplicable machismo. For Joan, strong and hard and clear signifies masculine, while doubts and unsettled feelings are weak, dithery silliness: feminine.”
All speculation; I’m reading what Anolik assumes Eve means, what she assumes Joan feels.
If you’re looking for a better biography on Didion’s work I would suggest The World According to Joan Didion or if you want an account of Didion’s later life from a person who was actually close to her, I would suggest the memoir The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion: A Memoir. And if you’re looking for a better biography on Babitz, well, just read her work. It’s all autofiction anyways. Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A. would be a great place to start.
I think I would only recommend this book to readers who were looking for gossipy speculation on a personal relationship between two women without much proof to back it up. The “research” done on Didion here can be found with a swift Google search. It’s unfortunate that this was such a flop just because the author was intent on measuring two brilliant women against one another rather than lifting up both of their voices and work.
Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 11/12/2024. *Quotes are pulled from an advanced reader copy and are subject to change prior to publication*
November 7, 2024
Earlier this year, F. Scott Fitzgerald infiltrated my heart through his letters. From his gentle guidance to his daughter to his dazzling literary insights to his spectacular vocabulary and his endurance through extraordinary challenges, even so many years after his death, I started to understand his essence as a father, an author, a husband, a friend, an imperfect human with missteps and setbacks.
Then, Time publishes The Most Anticipated Books of Fall, and Didion & Babitz is on the list. It teases Babitz’s mysterious letters found in sealed boxes, published by Scribner, the same publisher of my friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
When I cracked this book open, I was expecting to see Babitz’s letters. However, less than 10% of the book is actual letters. What letters are provided are heavily edited, so we never see Eve unfiltered.
But F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote in his letters:
“I thought it was one purpose of critics and publishers to educate the public up to original work. The first people who risked Conrad certainly didn’t do it as a commercial venture. Did the evolution of startling work into accepted work cease twenty years ago?”
Alright, Scott, thanks for being my literary angel and devil sitting on my shoulder.
Is this original work?
Yes.
But it’s a mess (and not in a good way).
“You do something first and then somebody else comes along and does it pretty.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald who claims Picasso said this to Gertrude Stein
The format in Didion & Babitz is a hot mess—the first chapter is 63 pages long and shifts to an awkward second person perspective. Going hand-in-hand with not showing the actual, unedited letters, Anolik spends too much time telling (“Eve was brilliant. Eve was an original.”) and not enough showing.
The target audience of this book is poorly defined with the author invoking very specific literary references (yeah I got the Nabokov reference but I’ve read Lolita three times and attended multiple Yale lectures so is this book meant for the three of us?).
Most importantly, the tone of this book is extraordinarily off-putting. It represents toxic feminism, where two females (Joan Didion and Eve Babitz) are pitted against each other. But both women can be winners—one doesn’t have to lose for the other to win.
While Eve is disproportionately covered in the book and in glowing terms, Anolik trashes Joan Didion throughout the biography, and on the last pages attempts to say Eve and Joan were friends. Too little, too late.
One entitledwhiner gentleman was quoted about Joan:
“She and John moved to Trancas and they had me over maybe twice, even though I was living in LA all of 1971. I’m sure that was Joan, John just fell in line.”
First, I missed the part where Joan Didion was required to help this gentlemen. Being an introvert isn’t a crime against humanity.
Also…um Joan Didion had multiple sclerosis. This can be a vicious disease where the body attacks the outside covering of nerves. The fatigue from this disease can be crushing. Instead of enjoying life, the patient might just have an overwhelming desire to rest. Additionally, the medications used to treat MS can suppress the immune system. That means when you shake hands with someone, you get warts on your hands because your body can’t fight off even simple, common infections. It means when you get a little sniffle that would normally last 1-2 days for “normal” people, you spend 6 weeks going through boxes of Kleenex, praying you don’t get pneumonia, and losing 10 pounds because you are so sick to your stomach.
Yet there was unjustly zero compassion for Joan Didion. Even when Joan’s entire family died, the author couldn’t resist saying something cruel.
The author gives a glib disclaimer to readers—“Don’t be a baby.” This is classic couching language used to preface insensitive/inappropriate/out-of-bounds comments.
*Thanks, Scribner, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – Free from publisher
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Insta My Bookstore at Pango
Then, Time publishes The Most Anticipated Books of Fall, and Didion & Babitz is on the list. It teases Babitz’s mysterious letters found in sealed boxes, published by Scribner, the same publisher of my friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
When I cracked this book open, I was expecting to see Babitz’s letters. However, less than 10% of the book is actual letters. What letters are provided are heavily edited, so we never see Eve unfiltered.
But F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote in his letters:
“I thought it was one purpose of critics and publishers to educate the public up to original work. The first people who risked Conrad certainly didn’t do it as a commercial venture. Did the evolution of startling work into accepted work cease twenty years ago?”
Alright, Scott, thanks for being my literary angel and devil sitting on my shoulder.
Is this original work?
Yes.
But it’s a mess (and not in a good way).
“You do something first and then somebody else comes along and does it pretty.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald who claims Picasso said this to Gertrude Stein
The format in Didion & Babitz is a hot mess—the first chapter is 63 pages long and shifts to an awkward second person perspective. Going hand-in-hand with not showing the actual, unedited letters, Anolik spends too much time telling (“Eve was brilliant. Eve was an original.”) and not enough showing.
The target audience of this book is poorly defined with the author invoking very specific literary references (yeah I got the Nabokov reference but I’ve read Lolita three times and attended multiple Yale lectures so is this book meant for the three of us?).
Most importantly, the tone of this book is extraordinarily off-putting. It represents toxic feminism, where two females (Joan Didion and Eve Babitz) are pitted against each other. But both women can be winners—one doesn’t have to lose for the other to win.
While Eve is disproportionately covered in the book and in glowing terms, Anolik trashes Joan Didion throughout the biography, and on the last pages attempts to say Eve and Joan were friends. Too little, too late.
One entitled
“She and John moved to Trancas and they had me over maybe twice, even though I was living in LA all of 1971. I’m sure that was Joan, John just fell in line.”
First, I missed the part where Joan Didion was required to help this gentlemen. Being an introvert isn’t a crime against humanity.
Also…um Joan Didion had multiple sclerosis. This can be a vicious disease where the body attacks the outside covering of nerves. The fatigue from this disease can be crushing. Instead of enjoying life, the patient might just have an overwhelming desire to rest. Additionally, the medications used to treat MS can suppress the immune system. That means when you shake hands with someone, you get warts on your hands because your body can’t fight off even simple, common infections. It means when you get a little sniffle that would normally last 1-2 days for “normal” people, you spend 6 weeks going through boxes of Kleenex, praying you don’t get pneumonia, and losing 10 pounds because you are so sick to your stomach.
Yet there was unjustly zero compassion for Joan Didion. Even when Joan’s entire family died, the author couldn’t resist saying something cruel.
The author gives a glib disclaimer to readers—“Don’t be a baby.” This is classic couching language used to preface insensitive/inappropriate/out-of-bounds comments.
*Thanks, Scribner, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – Free from publisher
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Insta My Bookstore at Pango
December 22, 2024
3.5. full review on my substack here
December 4, 2024
To anyone curious, the percentages of the contents of this book are as follows:
10% Joan
45% Eve
45% every tangential being ever to have had simply a conversation with them and the differing and often insensitive assumptions they had about either woman
If you are more truly a Didion fan, this book will not be ideal: Anolik is extremely predisposed towards Babitz, sometimes visibly villainizing Didion purely for her austere character and sensibility, commonly almost comparing the women in a mean competitive sense.
I picked up this book, as any of us would, as a seasoned reader of both women’s works, but also not as a Ride or Die fan of either in the way the cool girls of today are. I expected a beautiful tribute to both women, the ways in which they were warmly alike and charmingly different, something as cinematic and enveloping as their work itself.
I instead received an overdrawn roll call of every man that ever passed through their lives, Eve’s entire sexual history and her surrounding relationships biographies, and light condemnation of a shrewd and private Joan set against free and sensual Eve.
This book should have been 50% shorter, more evenly parsed, and should’ve read more as a testament to both women and their souls than a slap in the face of every ill begotten say so from anyone to ever show up in their lives. The whole book reads as a shallow collection of gossip, rumor, and speculative psychoanalysis done by many men and the author that doesn’t feel accurate to either woman. I left this book feeling like I knew neither woman any better in any way that truly mattered. I feel as if Anolik had an idea to profit off of these joint women’s spike in relevancy in the last 10 years and especially within the internet sector of “cool” women, and decided to tenuously and loosely weave them together through the brief and often spiteful correspondence she could find. From what I can tell, I do not see these women as two sides of the same coin, but I also don’t know them as well as Anolik claims to and does. There are some reflecting and conflicting attributes in these women, but so goes for any two women you pair together, that does not mean a valuable argument can be made for their unconscious connection.
This book exhausted me, the only truly enjoyable part to read was the last 15%, the most accurate to my expectations of the content of the book, and even still the author continues to make insensitive remarks (especially towards Didion regarding her loss). I think this concept is going to be a big moneymaker, and good on that, but I don’t think it is truly flattering or genuinely attributive to either woman, and any connection of the two within its page feels like an afterthought and a stretch.
Received from NetGalley as an E-arc in return for my honest review.
10% Joan
45% Eve
45% every tangential being ever to have had simply a conversation with them and the differing and often insensitive assumptions they had about either woman
If you are more truly a Didion fan, this book will not be ideal: Anolik is extremely predisposed towards Babitz, sometimes visibly villainizing Didion purely for her austere character and sensibility, commonly almost comparing the women in a mean competitive sense.
I picked up this book, as any of us would, as a seasoned reader of both women’s works, but also not as a Ride or Die fan of either in the way the cool girls of today are. I expected a beautiful tribute to both women, the ways in which they were warmly alike and charmingly different, something as cinematic and enveloping as their work itself.
I instead received an overdrawn roll call of every man that ever passed through their lives, Eve’s entire sexual history and her surrounding relationships biographies, and light condemnation of a shrewd and private Joan set against free and sensual Eve.
This book should have been 50% shorter, more evenly parsed, and should’ve read more as a testament to both women and their souls than a slap in the face of every ill begotten say so from anyone to ever show up in their lives. The whole book reads as a shallow collection of gossip, rumor, and speculative psychoanalysis done by many men and the author that doesn’t feel accurate to either woman. I left this book feeling like I knew neither woman any better in any way that truly mattered. I feel as if Anolik had an idea to profit off of these joint women’s spike in relevancy in the last 10 years and especially within the internet sector of “cool” women, and decided to tenuously and loosely weave them together through the brief and often spiteful correspondence she could find. From what I can tell, I do not see these women as two sides of the same coin, but I also don’t know them as well as Anolik claims to and does. There are some reflecting and conflicting attributes in these women, but so goes for any two women you pair together, that does not mean a valuable argument can be made for their unconscious connection.
This book exhausted me, the only truly enjoyable part to read was the last 15%, the most accurate to my expectations of the content of the book, and even still the author continues to make insensitive remarks (especially towards Didion regarding her loss). I think this concept is going to be a big moneymaker, and good on that, but I don’t think it is truly flattering or genuinely attributive to either woman, and any connection of the two within its page feels like an afterthought and a stretch.
Received from NetGalley as an E-arc in return for my honest review.
June 27, 2024
arc provided by netgalley in exhange for an honest review.
dearest gentle reader,
if one finds themselves in the search for a long winded, harshly written book about a made up rivalry between two literary giants, look no further than anolik's didion and babitz. if one find themselves in the search for a well written, coherent jornalistic piece, i urge: look elsewhere.
to quote anolik herself: she picked a side, and she'll stick with it. that, of course, being eve's side. and i can only wonder why "picking a side" is even necessary. to a normal human being, it wouldn't be. both didion and babitz, personal opinions aside, are wildly regarded as two of the best writers the united states has ever produced. and their circumstances aren't as intertwined as anolik would have you believe. didion and babitz aren't wharton and james. they don't share this insane, symbiotic literary relationship - they were friends. until, of course, babitz decided they weren't. but the question that lingers throughout the entire book is: why should eve's drug induced whims decide the course of an entire literary piece, aka this book, and why should i care?
anolik answers: because it's fun! and this author can't help but agree. there is a reason i read it all, even as a bad taste swirled endlessly in my mouth. but why is it fun? because, dearest reader, there is nothing the world loves more than seeing two women fight one another. even as the battlefield is rigged by anolik's lack of journalistic integrity. didion never stood a chance against babitz and the writer's "love (...) with a fan's unreasoning abandon" for her. now, i can't judge too harshly: both these women are dead. they can't be hurt anymore. and, like it or not, with fame comes the consequences of being splayed out for all to see, crucified as people see fit. but, still. there's a difference between tweeting "joan didion sucks!" and writing an entire book bashing her for... not being like babitz? to quote anolik again: "i respect her work rather than like it; find her persona-part princess, part wet blanket-tough going (...)". so then, i wonder, why would she choose to write an entire book about her?
except, of course, she didn't. for every three pages bestowed on didion, she spends thirty on babitz. goes on incessant monologues - especially towards the end of the book - about how brilliant babitz is. only to turn around and shit on everything didion has ever done, including, but not limited to, biting rants about her personal opinion of didion's books (no one cares!) and frankly cruel analyses of her personal life.
anolik is an impartial narrator and writes a mean spirited, gossip filled book that accomplishes nothing except spread her unfounded theories for all the world to chew on. john dunne was abusive! she shouts. he was gay! ... or, maybe he felt inferior to joan! .... or, maybe he wanted to fuck eve? who really knows! he's dead, after all. he can't defend himself. so why not just gather intel given by random, biased people and write the narrative as i see fit. didion was bitter because she hated femininity, eve represented everything she despised. eve had gigantic tits and was free and didion was small and itsy-bitsy and repressed. eve was everything didion longed to become. didion was a heartless bitch that used her husband's and daughter's deaths to get the one thing she's ever wanted, fame, while eve is a tragic artist, misunderstood, who was thrown aside because she was just too real! that's why these women hate each other, reader. agree with me.
well, i don't, and i won't. it doesn't really matter to me that both of them are dead. nor does it matter that they opened themselves up to speculation. one can't, and must not, make assumptions about real people's lives with little to no facts to back them up. it doesn't matter how much anolik loved babitz, or how much they talked, or how much she knew about her. when you gather a bunch of men to interview (and, oh god, there was so many men), couple that with scattered pieces of unmailed letters (UNMAILED!), and the voices in your head that tell you these women despised each other, you'll end up with a very entertaining novel, but one that holds no value other than spreading cruel gossip and deceptive allegations. (note that i said novel, reader. to call this nonfiction is as deceptive as anolik's claims.)
the introduction of the novel centers around a letter babitz wrote to didion (but never sent), and it's frankly a great piece of writing. could you write what you write if you weren't so tiny, joan? brutal - and interesting. but a tiny quote does not a book make. especially when it's blown way out of proportion. as i mentioned before, this letter was never sent. babitz and didion didn't have a giant fight, didn't despise each other. babitz was an unstable drug addict that up and decided she just didn't like joan anymore after years of friendship. anolik even admits it herself: (...) after 1979, she'd given one thought to eve for every fifty eve's given to her.
so, i must question again. why does this book exist? the only two reasons i can think of: 1) anolik wanted to continue writing about babitz, and 2) the two women together sell more than as individuals. which i can't judge, i was interested in this, after all, as i imagine many more people will be. but the point i must keep making is that anolik clearly doesn't want to write about didion. so, please, please, PLEASE, leave her name out of your mouth. let her rest in peace without having people desecrate her personal life and body of work for cruel, meaningless reasons.
all this to say: this book is mean, useless, and badly written. don't waste your time, reader.
dearest gentle reader,
if one finds themselves in the search for a long winded, harshly written book about a made up rivalry between two literary giants, look no further than anolik's didion and babitz. if one find themselves in the search for a well written, coherent jornalistic piece, i urge: look elsewhere.
to quote anolik herself: she picked a side, and she'll stick with it. that, of course, being eve's side. and i can only wonder why "picking a side" is even necessary. to a normal human being, it wouldn't be. both didion and babitz, personal opinions aside, are wildly regarded as two of the best writers the united states has ever produced. and their circumstances aren't as intertwined as anolik would have you believe. didion and babitz aren't wharton and james. they don't share this insane, symbiotic literary relationship - they were friends. until, of course, babitz decided they weren't. but the question that lingers throughout the entire book is: why should eve's drug induced whims decide the course of an entire literary piece, aka this book, and why should i care?
anolik answers: because it's fun! and this author can't help but agree. there is a reason i read it all, even as a bad taste swirled endlessly in my mouth. but why is it fun? because, dearest reader, there is nothing the world loves more than seeing two women fight one another. even as the battlefield is rigged by anolik's lack of journalistic integrity. didion never stood a chance against babitz and the writer's "love (...) with a fan's unreasoning abandon" for her. now, i can't judge too harshly: both these women are dead. they can't be hurt anymore. and, like it or not, with fame comes the consequences of being splayed out for all to see, crucified as people see fit. but, still. there's a difference between tweeting "joan didion sucks!" and writing an entire book bashing her for... not being like babitz? to quote anolik again: "i respect her work rather than like it; find her persona-part princess, part wet blanket-tough going (...)". so then, i wonder, why would she choose to write an entire book about her?
except, of course, she didn't. for every three pages bestowed on didion, she spends thirty on babitz. goes on incessant monologues - especially towards the end of the book - about how brilliant babitz is. only to turn around and shit on everything didion has ever done, including, but not limited to, biting rants about her personal opinion of didion's books (no one cares!) and frankly cruel analyses of her personal life.
anolik is an impartial narrator and writes a mean spirited, gossip filled book that accomplishes nothing except spread her unfounded theories for all the world to chew on. john dunne was abusive! she shouts. he was gay! ... or, maybe he felt inferior to joan! .... or, maybe he wanted to fuck eve? who really knows! he's dead, after all. he can't defend himself. so why not just gather intel given by random, biased people and write the narrative as i see fit. didion was bitter because she hated femininity, eve represented everything she despised. eve had gigantic tits and was free and didion was small and itsy-bitsy and repressed. eve was everything didion longed to become. didion was a heartless bitch that used her husband's and daughter's deaths to get the one thing she's ever wanted, fame, while eve is a tragic artist, misunderstood, who was thrown aside because she was just too real! that's why these women hate each other, reader. agree with me.
well, i don't, and i won't. it doesn't really matter to me that both of them are dead. nor does it matter that they opened themselves up to speculation. one can't, and must not, make assumptions about real people's lives with little to no facts to back them up. it doesn't matter how much anolik loved babitz, or how much they talked, or how much she knew about her. when you gather a bunch of men to interview (and, oh god, there was so many men), couple that with scattered pieces of unmailed letters (UNMAILED!), and the voices in your head that tell you these women despised each other, you'll end up with a very entertaining novel, but one that holds no value other than spreading cruel gossip and deceptive allegations. (note that i said novel, reader. to call this nonfiction is as deceptive as anolik's claims.)
the introduction of the novel centers around a letter babitz wrote to didion (but never sent), and it's frankly a great piece of writing. could you write what you write if you weren't so tiny, joan? brutal - and interesting. but a tiny quote does not a book make. especially when it's blown way out of proportion. as i mentioned before, this letter was never sent. babitz and didion didn't have a giant fight, didn't despise each other. babitz was an unstable drug addict that up and decided she just didn't like joan anymore after years of friendship. anolik even admits it herself: (...) after 1979, she'd given one thought to eve for every fifty eve's given to her.
so, i must question again. why does this book exist? the only two reasons i can think of: 1) anolik wanted to continue writing about babitz, and 2) the two women together sell more than as individuals. which i can't judge, i was interested in this, after all, as i imagine many more people will be. but the point i must keep making is that anolik clearly doesn't want to write about didion. so, please, please, PLEASE, leave her name out of your mouth. let her rest in peace without having people desecrate her personal life and body of work for cruel, meaningless reasons.
all this to say: this book is mean, useless, and badly written. don't waste your time, reader.
July 6, 2024
oh i actually don’t care what a bunch of men thought about joan didion and eve babitz ! made up drama with less nuance than girl it’s so confusing
February 17, 2025
stop pitting successful women against each other and using their “ex boyfriends” as sources.
November 9, 2024
this book should just be called babitz. i get it, so much has been said about didion, and babitz has been a relatively underhyped writer in comparison, up until the last decade. but good lord, joan is only brought into this to be dragged down for the sake of making babitz look good. joan is villainized for taking a different, more disciplined approach to her writing and it’s like… i almost question the need to even compare the two. besides being in the same place at the same time, they had such different styles and approaches.
lili anolik so obviously siding with eve made this lose a lot of credibility for me. the reader doesn’t really get a chance to form their own opinions because of this bias. super unbalanced, unlike the title and cover suggest. and what a shame because didion and babitz’s relationship seemed so complex and interesting! i wish anolik had dug further into joan’s perspective so that we could truly see both sides of the story.
even though the book sides with her, i really don’t even think this paints eve in that great of a light either. it feels super gossipy when anolik has people who were loosely involved in the franklin avenue scene talking about eve’s sex life and drug use, and speculating on didion’s marriage and her husband’s sexuality. also really disliked the condescending tone anolik uses throughout the book. the whole “dear reader” thing got old fast. this book should not have taken me as long as it did to finish it.
i liked the chronological weaving together of both writers’ lives and the publication of their works. eve’s letters and anolik’s conversations with eve and her sister were really insightful as primary sources. also love to see eve getting her flowers and being recognized! this style just did not click with me.
thank you to scribner and netgalley for the digital galley!
lili anolik so obviously siding with eve made this lose a lot of credibility for me. the reader doesn’t really get a chance to form their own opinions because of this bias. super unbalanced, unlike the title and cover suggest. and what a shame because didion and babitz’s relationship seemed so complex and interesting! i wish anolik had dug further into joan’s perspective so that we could truly see both sides of the story.
even though the book sides with her, i really don’t even think this paints eve in that great of a light either. it feels super gossipy when anolik has people who were loosely involved in the franklin avenue scene talking about eve’s sex life and drug use, and speculating on didion’s marriage and her husband’s sexuality. also really disliked the condescending tone anolik uses throughout the book. the whole “dear reader” thing got old fast. this book should not have taken me as long as it did to finish it.
i liked the chronological weaving together of both writers’ lives and the publication of their works. eve’s letters and anolik’s conversations with eve and her sister were really insightful as primary sources. also love to see eve getting her flowers and being recognized! this style just did not click with me.
thank you to scribner and netgalley for the digital galley!
Read
November 29, 2024That 'and' is doing a lot of work
November 19, 2024
…and very hush, hush ; )
The book starts with a promising ensemble of characters: Joan Didion and her circle, Eve Babitz, Jim Morrison, Steve Martin, Marlon Brando, Harrison Ford, Michelle Phillips, Stephen Stills, Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun, renowned composer Igor Stravinsky– and the creme de la creme of both Hollywood and the literary world. Author Lili Anolik had already published a biography of Eve Babitz, “Hollywood’s Eve” when– after Babitz passed away– she stumbled onto a treasure trove of her letters. The focus of this book is seeing and reevaluating Joan Didion through Babitz’s words.
I was somewhat familiar with Joan Didion, having read a few of her books and having watched the Griffin Dunne documentary “The Center Will Not Hold.” I had no idea who Eve Babitz was, other than a celebrity associated with Hollywood in the ‘70’s. My expectation was for a good, solid biography of two innovative writers.
I would classify this project as less biography and more gossipy opinion piece. Anolik does not mask her adoration of Babitz and often looks to tarnish Didion. Babitz is free-spirited and inventive. Didion is seen as calculating and distant. A solid biography would lay out facts, maybe quote others' opinions– without the heavy-handed bias. .
Again and again, we are addressed with the cutesy “dear reader” passages.
“In other words, Reader, don’t be a baby.”
“Don’t worry, Reader, we won’t be retracing our steps.”
“Now bear with me, Reader…”
This would be fine if a Rona Barrett style is what you are looking for. I was reminded of Danny Devito’s character in LA Confidential. “Remember dear readers, you heard it here first: off the record, on the QT, and very Hush-Hush.” -- Sid Hudgens, LA Confidential
With the portrait of Didion as uneven as it is, it is hard for me to trust the depiction of Babitz. I recently read “Dorothy Parker in Hollywood’ and wrote “...maybe I should read more Dorothy Parker and less about her.” I should read some Babitz and not rely on a Fanclub account. (Ouch… hurts to write that.) Both of these trailblazing women should get their due.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
The book starts with a promising ensemble of characters: Joan Didion and her circle, Eve Babitz, Jim Morrison, Steve Martin, Marlon Brando, Harrison Ford, Michelle Phillips, Stephen Stills, Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun, renowned composer Igor Stravinsky– and the creme de la creme of both Hollywood and the literary world. Author Lili Anolik had already published a biography of Eve Babitz, “Hollywood’s Eve” when– after Babitz passed away– she stumbled onto a treasure trove of her letters. The focus of this book is seeing and reevaluating Joan Didion through Babitz’s words.
I was somewhat familiar with Joan Didion, having read a few of her books and having watched the Griffin Dunne documentary “The Center Will Not Hold.” I had no idea who Eve Babitz was, other than a celebrity associated with Hollywood in the ‘70’s. My expectation was for a good, solid biography of two innovative writers.
I would classify this project as less biography and more gossipy opinion piece. Anolik does not mask her adoration of Babitz and often looks to tarnish Didion. Babitz is free-spirited and inventive. Didion is seen as calculating and distant. A solid biography would lay out facts, maybe quote others' opinions– without the heavy-handed bias. .
Again and again, we are addressed with the cutesy “dear reader” passages.
“In other words, Reader, don’t be a baby.”
“Don’t worry, Reader, we won’t be retracing our steps.”
“Now bear with me, Reader…”
This would be fine if a Rona Barrett style is what you are looking for. I was reminded of Danny Devito’s character in LA Confidential. “Remember dear readers, you heard it here first: off the record, on the QT, and very Hush-Hush.” -- Sid Hudgens, LA Confidential
With the portrait of Didion as uneven as it is, it is hard for me to trust the depiction of Babitz. I recently read “Dorothy Parker in Hollywood’ and wrote “...maybe I should read more Dorothy Parker and less about her.” I should read some Babitz and not rely on a Fanclub account. (Ouch… hurts to write that.) Both of these trailblazing women should get their due.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 24, 2024
Major thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for offering me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:
chat of the book with kiran
Anolik pulls “iM nOt ThAt KInD oF GiRL” to create sides to a kinship that, in her eyes, cannot entail duality.
Dear Lili,
Pay attention now.
I think you’ve been doing podcasts for too long that your conversational tone has spoiled your writing voice. There’s a clear divide between the first half and the second half of the book that when it all comes together, it’s a haphazard approach to two literary giants who shaped L.A.
The problem, dear Lili, is that you had a wealth of knowledge.
But the biggest issue, dear Lili, is the burden you must carry in creating a momentous work that sheds light on a relationship so special when we think of literary beefs. Either through deadlines or the pressures of Babitz coming into the spotlight of culture, everything felt rushed and your total point in siding with one over the other is ludicrous.
Why must we be Team Babitz or Team Didion? Why can’t we be both? They speak to both shades of LA, the fun party girl aesthetic but also the intense gothic that looms over the city. You compared two sides of the coin perfectly with their takes on the Santa Ana winds.
Thank you for your intense gatherings with flawed opinions. I say all this because this book is still stuck in the first draft. Requires countless edits and reformatting in creating a constructive argument. Also requires more emotional distance. Like we get it, you had a stalkerish sensibility to love Babitz, to get to her, even if it was by way of, literally, sniffing her out.
For fans of LA, Babitz, and Didion, you’ll find a wealth of information here in regards to the Franklin Ave scene and New Hollywood. Their relationship to their worlds and their art at the time is all gathered here. Not good. Not great. Misses the mark. But still an illuminating read. 3 stars for the cornucopia. Would’ve given this a 4.5 if it was just written a bit better.
chat of the book with kiran
Anolik pulls “iM nOt ThAt KInD oF GiRL” to create sides to a kinship that, in her eyes, cannot entail duality.
Dear Lili,
Pay attention now.
I think you’ve been doing podcasts for too long that your conversational tone has spoiled your writing voice. There’s a clear divide between the first half and the second half of the book that when it all comes together, it’s a haphazard approach to two literary giants who shaped L.A.
The problem, dear Lili, is that you had a wealth of knowledge.
But the biggest issue, dear Lili, is the burden you must carry in creating a momentous work that sheds light on a relationship so special when we think of literary beefs. Either through deadlines or the pressures of Babitz coming into the spotlight of culture, everything felt rushed and your total point in siding with one over the other is ludicrous.
Why must we be Team Babitz or Team Didion? Why can’t we be both? They speak to both shades of LA, the fun party girl aesthetic but also the intense gothic that looms over the city. You compared two sides of the coin perfectly with their takes on the Santa Ana winds.
Thank you for your intense gatherings with flawed opinions. I say all this because this book is still stuck in the first draft. Requires countless edits and reformatting in creating a constructive argument. Also requires more emotional distance. Like we get it, you had a stalkerish sensibility to love Babitz, to get to her, even if it was by way of, literally, sniffing her out.
For fans of LA, Babitz, and Didion, you’ll find a wealth of information here in regards to the Franklin Ave scene and New Hollywood. Their relationship to their worlds and their art at the time is all gathered here. Not good. Not great. Misses the mark. But still an illuminating read. 3 stars for the cornucopia. Would’ve given this a 4.5 if it was just written a bit better.
January 3, 2025
Is that the blue you’re using, Mrs Anolik?
November 30, 2024
an intermediary note as I shove my way through this book. it’s always been pretty clear to me that Lili Anolik is, well, a deeply unserious writer. i fear she is verging on being a stupid and sycophantic writer. this book is written in an incoherent stream of consciousness, in desperate need of editorial intervention. here’s an example: “and though Morrison wasn’t, in her estimation, an artist, he somehow was, in her estimation, an artist.” the book has plenty of other similarly stroke-inducing sentences. perhaps im more offended than warranted bc Didion has always been holy to me. but i think the primary problem with this book’s bad writing is that this is a book about Writers and Writing.
i think this book also symptomatic of a broader issue in the Culture, which is that Babitz & Didion have become floating signifiers of intellectual cool girl-ism, devoid of any meaningful engagement with their work. if you want to find out who Joan Didion was, let her tell you herself.
i think this book also symptomatic of a broader issue in the Culture, which is that Babitz & Didion have become floating signifiers of intellectual cool girl-ism, devoid of any meaningful engagement with their work. if you want to find out who Joan Didion was, let her tell you herself.
November 17, 2024
finally admitting to myself that it’s okay to dnf this at 32%. some of the worst writing i have ever read! i’m getting sick of people using didion’s image to sell books that are embarrassingly bad (i’m looking at you too gr*ff*n d*nne)
December 13, 2024
I devoured this book. I do my best to avoid looking at the Goodreads reviews of books I’m actively reading, so as soon as I read the last page I hopped on here and was shocked!
People are entitled to their opinions, but I think it’s wild that some of the complaints are that it’s a book of one-sided gossip written journalistically, when that’s more or less exactly what the author states it is at the start.
This is a story of Eve and Joan and their relationship, told through Eve’s perspective. To imagine that it could have been anything else is wild. And means Joan’s status as “a secular holy woman” is definitely questioned.
Anolik says from the beginning that she’s an Eve apologist, having spent many years of her life researching her, interviewing her, and interviewing the people she was closest to. As a result I think we get a stunningly accurate (and extremely fascinating) look into Joan from Eve’s POV throughout history. I believe it’s an accurate telling of Eve’s perspective, because that’s is where the journalism of this book comes into play.
If you’re on the fence about this book and are reading the reviews and getting discouraged, I just want to say I think this book is highly worth the read. Not only because it’s a stunning retelling of LA in the 60s, 70s from an insider’s POV, but because it analyzes what it means to be an artist, an woman in the arts, and the things we’re willing to do in the name of ambition.
I loved it. I really did.
People are entitled to their opinions, but I think it’s wild that some of the complaints are that it’s a book of one-sided gossip written journalistically, when that’s more or less exactly what the author states it is at the start.
This is a story of Eve and Joan and their relationship, told through Eve’s perspective. To imagine that it could have been anything else is wild. And means Joan’s status as “a secular holy woman” is definitely questioned.
Anolik says from the beginning that she’s an Eve apologist, having spent many years of her life researching her, interviewing her, and interviewing the people she was closest to. As a result I think we get a stunningly accurate (and extremely fascinating) look into Joan from Eve’s POV throughout history. I believe it’s an accurate telling of Eve’s perspective, because that’s is where the journalism of this book comes into play.
If you’re on the fence about this book and are reading the reviews and getting discouraged, I just want to say I think this book is highly worth the read. Not only because it’s a stunning retelling of LA in the 60s, 70s from an insider’s POV, but because it analyzes what it means to be an artist, an woman in the arts, and the things we’re willing to do in the name of ambition.
I loved it. I really did.
December 26, 2024
I may be in the minority on this, but I really loved this. An intricate piece in learning about Eve Babitz, who I didn’t know much about. I didn’t learn much about Didion, but I’m much more familiar with her work.
The author does offer a hefty dose of criticism towards much of Didion’s work. There’s thinly veiled references that some of her biggest books have been torn from personal relationships and somewhat exploited. I’m unsure if I agree with that or not.
What I can say: Didion is a prolific writer. She is iconic. She is exemplary and one of the most best authors of her time. I will be reading Babitz. Her books (still out of print) are described as genius by Anoulik and I can’t wait to dive into them.
The author does offer a hefty dose of criticism towards much of Didion’s work. There’s thinly veiled references that some of her biggest books have been torn from personal relationships and somewhat exploited. I’m unsure if I agree with that or not.
What I can say: Didion is a prolific writer. She is iconic. She is exemplary and one of the most best authors of her time. I will be reading Babitz. Her books (still out of print) are described as genius by Anoulik and I can’t wait to dive into them.
May 14, 2025
i'm afraid this was a DNF, besties. at least this was a library loan..
November 15, 2024
I preordered this book with high expectations, as I am a fan of both Didion and Babitz. Instead, it turned out to be one of the most disappointing reads I've encountered. Rather than a balanced reflection on two fascinating literary figures, the author reduces Joan Didion, one of the most iconic writers of the 20th century, to a foil for Babitz. Didion is reduced to a target for petty, mean-spirited commentary, with the author piling on unfounded gossip that serves no purpose other than to cheapen her legacy. While the letters themselves hold real interest, they’re buried beneath layers of snide, unnecessary critique. What could have been an insightful work is derailed by the author's obsession with undermining Didion. No wonder Donna Tartt hates this author.
July 11, 2024
As a huge fan of both, I was really excited to read this thinking I would learn more about these talented women. I'm so extremely disappointed that this was full of author assumptions, gossip, and unnecessarily going through a list of men they had been with. The author doesn't hold back their dislike of Didion throughout the entire book. Really disappointed and a waste of time.
*thank you netgalley for the arc!!
*thank you netgalley for the arc!!
September 3, 2024
i had such high hopes for this and i’m elated to report that they were (mostly) met.
i went into this knowing minimal knowledge on either writer. i’ve only read from didion twice (Play It As It Lays and The White Album) and babitz once (Black Swans) but from what i’ve experienced thus far i definitely jive more with babitz in terms of style. i knew the two were contemporaries, frenemies, and hollywood literary legends.
anolik’s admiration and attachment to babitz is palpable. i found the segments on babitz to be the most intriguing, in-depth, and charming. the sections more focused on didion felt a bit last minute and lackluster. like, “oh shoot. this is about joan too. i guess i’ll briefly mention what she was doing around this time.” i definitely want to learn more about didion elsewhere as i felt i was fed teeny tiny crumbs in this.
tl;dr: this one is for the babitz girlies. however, the didion girlies might wanna sit out on this one.
(thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!)
i went into this knowing minimal knowledge on either writer. i’ve only read from didion twice (Play It As It Lays and The White Album) and babitz once (Black Swans) but from what i’ve experienced thus far i definitely jive more with babitz in terms of style. i knew the two were contemporaries, frenemies, and hollywood literary legends.
anolik’s admiration and attachment to babitz is palpable. i found the segments on babitz to be the most intriguing, in-depth, and charming. the sections more focused on didion felt a bit last minute and lackluster. like, “oh shoot. this is about joan too. i guess i’ll briefly mention what she was doing around this time.” i definitely want to learn more about didion elsewhere as i felt i was fed teeny tiny crumbs in this.
tl;dr: this one is for the babitz girlies. however, the didion girlies might wanna sit out on this one.
(thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!)
June 8, 2025
do not be blinded by the magical title and cover of this — the author has a clear, admitted and odd bias against joan didion and spends the entire book projecting extremely weird opinions about her. this is NOT A BOOK ABOUT EVE AND JOANS RELATIONSHIP- its about eve babitz and two letters she wrote to joan. it doesnt even do eve babitz justice - its simply an insult to her as well to use her name, story and words against her WHILE ADMITTING to taking it upon yourself to edit her words and work... this book is entirely one sided in eve babitz favor but even makes questionable comments about her. weirdo author all around using these two women for her own benefit. so odd
September 16, 2024
I listened to the audiobook of Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A.from this author last year because I was intrigued by the Hollywood/Art/Music scene in California during the sixties and seventies. I never actually read a book from either Eve Babitz or Joan Didion until just recently- and disliked both. However, I am more interested in reading about these cultural icons as people rather than sampling their work product. Apparently, Eve Babitz and Joan Didion had an intense love/hate relationship over the decades. It was evident from Lili Anolik's last book about Eve Babitz that she is totally infatuated with her. That same obsession fuels this book in a big way, and it kind of sucked the life out of me the more I read this book of almost 400 pages. There are constant references to both Eve and Joan's books auditing secret clues about who they were really writing about, as well as rating the quality of their published works. Anolik's access to recently revealed unsent letters of Eve's in addition to other documents stored in a library were analyzed with a fine tooth comb to add another dimension to this author's un-ending obsession with her. If I could surgically excise the parts about the music and hollywood set that these literary mavens were in bed with- such as Jim Morrison and The Doors, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, Harrison Ford, Steve Martin, Carrie Fisher, Griffin Dunne....etc., etc.,...I would have enjoyed the book more. There was just too much of a deep dive into into their heads that exhausted me, just like their actual writings do. I read for pleasure, not for it to be a forensic exercise.
Thank you to the publisher Scribner for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
Thank you to the publisher Scribner for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
August 7, 2024
Didion & Babitz carries the brutal honesty of a tell-all takedown, while still lovingly painting a portrait of both people examined within the pages.
Though the author, Lili, warns the reader in the beginning to “not be a baby”, when it comes to forthcoming information about the eternally revered Joan Didion, I’ll admit I still found myself initially defensive—at least, until I gave in. Then my mouth simply hung open, until the final page.
Salacious, revealing and factual, in an off-the-record kind of way: this is not for a casual fan of either writer. In order to “get it”, you must have read at least a handful of their work.
You won’t leave this novel any less in love with either Didion or Babitz. In fact, if this book gave me anything, it was a reassurance that both writers have a permanent fixture of admiration in my life. As I’m sure it’ll be the case for you, too.
Thank you to the publisher for an early copy in exchange for a review!
Though the author, Lili, warns the reader in the beginning to “not be a baby”, when it comes to forthcoming information about the eternally revered Joan Didion, I’ll admit I still found myself initially defensive—at least, until I gave in. Then my mouth simply hung open, until the final page.
Salacious, revealing and factual, in an off-the-record kind of way: this is not for a casual fan of either writer. In order to “get it”, you must have read at least a handful of their work.
You won’t leave this novel any less in love with either Didion or Babitz. In fact, if this book gave me anything, it was a reassurance that both writers have a permanent fixture of admiration in my life. As I’m sure it’ll be the case for you, too.
Thank you to the publisher for an early copy in exchange for a review!
December 23, 2024
Pitting one woman against the other, a tale as old as time. For decades now the lives and works of Joan Didion and Eve Babitz have been contrasted and held in comparison to each other. While both women wrote autobiographical takes on pop culture through the 1970s and beyond, it has always felt like an unfair comparison and limitation to understanding each of their works exclusively through the lens of the other.
In recent years, especially with the revival of each of these author’s works with a new generation of readers, it often feels like there is a desire to take sides. While both are mentioned in the same breath, it's clear that each has their own strengths and weaknesses that appeal to some readers more than others. I’m sure there are readers who like both equally but I think most readers of these two authors have a preference for one. I certainly do. For me I have always been “Team Babitz”. Maybe some of that is that I read her works first, maybe it's because I’ve read more of her works, maybe it's because her style offers a level of personality and authenticity not reached by many other authors I’ve read, maybe her work is just more fun. While I may hold these opinions, none of my preference for Babitz comes at the expense of Joan Didion, which seems to be a big part of the issue I have here with author Lili Anolik and this book Didion & Babitz.
When I first learned of this book’s upcoming release a few months back I eagerly awaited a new work on the lives of Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, two of the most interesting women writing in the late 20th century. The presentation of this book offered expectations of a dual memoir, an assumption I’m sure most readers of this book came with. So what if I told you that is not what this book is about.
Lili Anolik is the author of the 2019 biography Hollywood’s Eve. While I have not yet read this book, I do remember watching a handful of interviews with her and Eve Babitz back around the time of that book’s release. She is one of the few people Babitz let into her life in her later years and is a quite competent Babitz historian, as well as superfan. I appreciate what she has done for the revitalization of Babitz’s career as of recent and she is really knowledgeable in the life and works of Babitz but that is about where her proficient skill set ends.
This book is mostly a book about Eve Babitz. It covers an abridged biography, her struggles and accomplishments getting published, and her relationship with Joan Didion. I think it would be fine for Anolik to have written another Babitz book. Considering she has passed since the publishing of Hollywood’s Eve, I think there is value in covering her life further now that we have seen it to its conclusion but that is not what this book is.
While mostly about Eve Babitz, there’s also a confusing and occasional occurrence of chapters dedicated to Joan Didion in this book. It is clear that Anolik does not have the same relationship or reverence for Didion as she does Babitz. Where Anolik has first hand experience of knowing Babitz on a personal level for nearly a decade, she does not have nearly the same experience with Didion. These chapters are sparse and few and far between, worst of all when these chapters do occur they often paint Didion in an antagonistic light.
There is a clear and present bias presented here which only adds to the confusion of marketing this book as a dual memoir to appeal to both Didion and Babitz fans. Anolik takes every opportunity to explain how pretentious, arrogant, and peerless Didion is, showcasing the real grit and authenticity of Babitz in comparison. While I don’t disagree with highlighting these points of Babitz or deny the pompous actions of Didion, I don’t believe this is the kind of book that should have been released as the first major piece of media since these two women’s deaths or that it really offers an admirable account of either author’s legacy.
Obviously, the antagonizing of Didion is not a great representation but I don’t think highlighting Babitz in comparison, especially in the catty and gossipy nature of this book, boosts her reputation for anyone who already had preconceived notions of her as an unserious or amateur author. I get that the gossip and dragging of one woman in place of another is kind of the point, trying to replicate the nature of a Babitz work but it is clear that Anolik does not have the skill and charm of Eve.
Looking at other reviews, you’ll find those from “Team Didion” who really don’t like this book, and it's no wonder why. It’s one thing to barely cover Didion but taking shots at her marriage and the authenticity of the grief covered in The Year of Magical Thinking are pretty offensive takes for fans of hers. I think that a book covering the lives of these two women and how they compare and contrast could have been made but Anolik is not the author to do it. She is too biased and too firmly placed in one camp over the other. I don’t think this is inherently a bad thing but when it comes to writing a book like this it certainly is.
Anolik brings up that a big reason for writing this book was finding Babitz’s letters while looking through a closet in her house after her passing. She found a wide assortment of letters but the main letters of interest were the ones between Babitz and Didion. I think this certainly is an interesting concept and one where a book could be based around but the letters really play such a minor part in this book. A potential “Babitz Letters” book could have been well done, where only a chapter or two were dedicated to the communication between her and Didion, but of course you need the marketing appeal of both the Babitz and Didion names.
Anolik knew what she was doing writing a book like this but Simon & Schuster did not do her any favors giving her this book title and cover, marketing this as a dual memoir. Half the people, those who lean more towards Didion, will hate this book and many of those Babitz fans, like me, will also take issue with it. Only a small minority of people who think similarly to Anolik will really like this book and the unfortunate reality is that this book is being marketed widely and read far beyond that niche. The CPL system has dozens of people waiting for this on hold and copies of this book can be found at many book retailers. I’d imagine most readers will find this book only okay at best.
The fact that this book doesn’t have a clear consensus on what it wants to be really is the biggest issue. It’s a bad memoir of either authors, it's a bad letter collection, it's a bad takedown of Didion and a bad redemption of Babitz. This book feels like digging through an older relative’s home after their death piecing together the story of their life from the contents of their home and the gossip heard at their wake.
Some final thoughts on issues with the contents of this book that color the reasoning for this rating because it really feels mostly like a miss marketing of the book otherwise. I found this book to be a bit of a mess structurally. It jumps around chronologically, and from Babitz to the occasional Didion perspective. For letters being the basis for the book’s inception it takes until 250 pages in for Anolik to explain the value of letters in Babitz's writing, something that should have been done in the first 50 in order to help contextualize the letters previously presented in the first 250 pages.
Most egregiously is that in the final pages of this book Anolik injects herself into the book explaining her relationship with Babitz in her final years and essentially insinuates that her actions of superfandom are the sole reason you’re reading the works of Babitz in 202X and should be grateful for her efforts. Lastly she tries to wrap up this book with the idea that you actually can’t have one of these author’s without the other and that there is value in both their careers, which just feels completely unjustified and contradictory to what was presented in the previous 300+ pages.
This was my most disappointing read of this year. There are good elements here, particularly the discussions of Babitz works and life but as a whole there are too many issues not to acknowledge them. If you are a Babitz fan there is value in reading this but don’t expect an amazing work. If you’re a Didion fan don’t bother.
Overall, it doesn’t help that the works of Didion and Babitz are already so autobiographical. Many of the big stories in these women’s lives you’ll probably already be familiar with and the prose of Babitz or Didion will have offered a more enjoyable take on these stories. If there’s anything that this book accomplished, it's that it made me want to read more works from these authors. In that sense maybe this is a work of a marketing genius.
In recent years, especially with the revival of each of these author’s works with a new generation of readers, it often feels like there is a desire to take sides. While both are mentioned in the same breath, it's clear that each has their own strengths and weaknesses that appeal to some readers more than others. I’m sure there are readers who like both equally but I think most readers of these two authors have a preference for one. I certainly do. For me I have always been “Team Babitz”. Maybe some of that is that I read her works first, maybe it's because I’ve read more of her works, maybe it's because her style offers a level of personality and authenticity not reached by many other authors I’ve read, maybe her work is just more fun. While I may hold these opinions, none of my preference for Babitz comes at the expense of Joan Didion, which seems to be a big part of the issue I have here with author Lili Anolik and this book Didion & Babitz.
When I first learned of this book’s upcoming release a few months back I eagerly awaited a new work on the lives of Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, two of the most interesting women writing in the late 20th century. The presentation of this book offered expectations of a dual memoir, an assumption I’m sure most readers of this book came with. So what if I told you that is not what this book is about.
Lili Anolik is the author of the 2019 biography Hollywood’s Eve. While I have not yet read this book, I do remember watching a handful of interviews with her and Eve Babitz back around the time of that book’s release. She is one of the few people Babitz let into her life in her later years and is a quite competent Babitz historian, as well as superfan. I appreciate what she has done for the revitalization of Babitz’s career as of recent and she is really knowledgeable in the life and works of Babitz but that is about where her proficient skill set ends.
This book is mostly a book about Eve Babitz. It covers an abridged biography, her struggles and accomplishments getting published, and her relationship with Joan Didion. I think it would be fine for Anolik to have written another Babitz book. Considering she has passed since the publishing of Hollywood’s Eve, I think there is value in covering her life further now that we have seen it to its conclusion but that is not what this book is.
While mostly about Eve Babitz, there’s also a confusing and occasional occurrence of chapters dedicated to Joan Didion in this book. It is clear that Anolik does not have the same relationship or reverence for Didion as she does Babitz. Where Anolik has first hand experience of knowing Babitz on a personal level for nearly a decade, she does not have nearly the same experience with Didion. These chapters are sparse and few and far between, worst of all when these chapters do occur they often paint Didion in an antagonistic light.
There is a clear and present bias presented here which only adds to the confusion of marketing this book as a dual memoir to appeal to both Didion and Babitz fans. Anolik takes every opportunity to explain how pretentious, arrogant, and peerless Didion is, showcasing the real grit and authenticity of Babitz in comparison. While I don’t disagree with highlighting these points of Babitz or deny the pompous actions of Didion, I don’t believe this is the kind of book that should have been released as the first major piece of media since these two women’s deaths or that it really offers an admirable account of either author’s legacy.
Obviously, the antagonizing of Didion is not a great representation but I don’t think highlighting Babitz in comparison, especially in the catty and gossipy nature of this book, boosts her reputation for anyone who already had preconceived notions of her as an unserious or amateur author. I get that the gossip and dragging of one woman in place of another is kind of the point, trying to replicate the nature of a Babitz work but it is clear that Anolik does not have the skill and charm of Eve.
Looking at other reviews, you’ll find those from “Team Didion” who really don’t like this book, and it's no wonder why. It’s one thing to barely cover Didion but taking shots at her marriage and the authenticity of the grief covered in The Year of Magical Thinking are pretty offensive takes for fans of hers. I think that a book covering the lives of these two women and how they compare and contrast could have been made but Anolik is not the author to do it. She is too biased and too firmly placed in one camp over the other. I don’t think this is inherently a bad thing but when it comes to writing a book like this it certainly is.
Anolik brings up that a big reason for writing this book was finding Babitz’s letters while looking through a closet in her house after her passing. She found a wide assortment of letters but the main letters of interest were the ones between Babitz and Didion. I think this certainly is an interesting concept and one where a book could be based around but the letters really play such a minor part in this book. A potential “Babitz Letters” book could have been well done, where only a chapter or two were dedicated to the communication between her and Didion, but of course you need the marketing appeal of both the Babitz and Didion names.
Anolik knew what she was doing writing a book like this but Simon & Schuster did not do her any favors giving her this book title and cover, marketing this as a dual memoir. Half the people, those who lean more towards Didion, will hate this book and many of those Babitz fans, like me, will also take issue with it. Only a small minority of people who think similarly to Anolik will really like this book and the unfortunate reality is that this book is being marketed widely and read far beyond that niche. The CPL system has dozens of people waiting for this on hold and copies of this book can be found at many book retailers. I’d imagine most readers will find this book only okay at best.
The fact that this book doesn’t have a clear consensus on what it wants to be really is the biggest issue. It’s a bad memoir of either authors, it's a bad letter collection, it's a bad takedown of Didion and a bad redemption of Babitz. This book feels like digging through an older relative’s home after their death piecing together the story of their life from the contents of their home and the gossip heard at their wake.
Some final thoughts on issues with the contents of this book that color the reasoning for this rating because it really feels mostly like a miss marketing of the book otherwise. I found this book to be a bit of a mess structurally. It jumps around chronologically, and from Babitz to the occasional Didion perspective. For letters being the basis for the book’s inception it takes until 250 pages in for Anolik to explain the value of letters in Babitz's writing, something that should have been done in the first 50 in order to help contextualize the letters previously presented in the first 250 pages.
Most egregiously is that in the final pages of this book Anolik injects herself into the book explaining her relationship with Babitz in her final years and essentially insinuates that her actions of superfandom are the sole reason you’re reading the works of Babitz in 202X and should be grateful for her efforts. Lastly she tries to wrap up this book with the idea that you actually can’t have one of these author’s without the other and that there is value in both their careers, which just feels completely unjustified and contradictory to what was presented in the previous 300+ pages.
This was my most disappointing read of this year. There are good elements here, particularly the discussions of Babitz works and life but as a whole there are too many issues not to acknowledge them. If you are a Babitz fan there is value in reading this but don’t expect an amazing work. If you’re a Didion fan don’t bother.
Overall, it doesn’t help that the works of Didion and Babitz are already so autobiographical. Many of the big stories in these women’s lives you’ll probably already be familiar with and the prose of Babitz or Didion will have offered a more enjoyable take on these stories. If there’s anything that this book accomplished, it's that it made me want to read more works from these authors. In that sense maybe this is a work of a marketing genius.
December 14, 2024
Lili Anolik’s Didion and Babitz begins and ends with the claim that the two LA writers are two halves of the same coin; a pair of soulmates forced apart by their differences. Yet, not one chapter of this supposedly “outrageously provocative and profoundly moving” biography of the competing womens’ lives supports this claim. Instead this work reads more like a ridiculously biased tell-all, ripping into Didion to justify Eve’s side of their dissonant relationship rather than celebrating their connection through a mutual love of Hollywood.
This is not to say I did not enjoy the book - I was tossing between giving this a 3 or a 4 star rating due to how much I love delving into the lives of these two women. Anolik traces with deftness the myriad of people that affect Eve’s life in LA - her several boyfriends (and girlfriends), the artists that shaped her collage and writing practice, and the unbreakable bonds with her sister and parents. The issue with Didion and Babitz is that Anolik does not treat Joan’s time in LA with the same care and attention, rather the author clearly holds some sort of resentment towards Didion, born out of her idolisation of Eve (which ultimately comes off as Anolik seeming more pretentious than the upper-class calculation she bluntly attributes to Joan) which turned a few chapters of the book entirely sour for me.
I cannot forget my heart dropping as I read the chapter where Anolik disregards The Year of Magical Thinking, claiming it was a carefully crafted business move from Didion, asking her publisher only days after submitting the manuscript, “Well, is it a bestseller?” Anolik’s Didion, or rather what Babitz’s Didion as interpreted (or as manipulated?) by Anolik, is presented as immune to the grief of both her husband John and daughter Quintana’s death, choosing to assume Joan’s harnessing of her grief into art was hardly noteworthy aside from the fact that it allowed Didion to have her first bestseller since 1979’s The White Album.
This is a recurring theme throughout the book, Anolik jumping to almost outlandish conclusions in an attempt to venerate Babitz as the only true chronicler of 60s/70s Los Angeles, which in my humble opinion, does more of a disservice to Eve’s work than Anolik may ever be forced to admit. It is Eve’s belief in her glittering and sensuous life-long affair with Hollywood as truly worthy of a place in art and literature that allows works like Eve’s Hollywood, Slow Days, and Black Swans to shine decades later despite a lack of initial success. These works do not require a disparagement of Didion’s memory and work in order to exist as beautiful works of writing, yet Anolik proves that underneath her obsessive adoration (which she herself admits to be almost an addiction in the book’s preface) of Babitz’s life and writings, she does not have faith in the wider literary community to accept Babitz as one of their greats.
In all, my personal opinion is that Anolik should have a little more trust in Eve’s ability to exist independently of all the other noise in the LA literary scene, as well as a bit more respect on how Didion ultimately paved the way for Babitz’s success since 2015-onwards. I did genuinely enjoy most of this book, but just felt that Anolik’s voice is entirely and totally one-sided, leaving Joan in a losing battle from the first page.
This is not to say I did not enjoy the book - I was tossing between giving this a 3 or a 4 star rating due to how much I love delving into the lives of these two women. Anolik traces with deftness the myriad of people that affect Eve’s life in LA - her several boyfriends (and girlfriends), the artists that shaped her collage and writing practice, and the unbreakable bonds with her sister and parents. The issue with Didion and Babitz is that Anolik does not treat Joan’s time in LA with the same care and attention, rather the author clearly holds some sort of resentment towards Didion, born out of her idolisation of Eve (which ultimately comes off as Anolik seeming more pretentious than the upper-class calculation she bluntly attributes to Joan) which turned a few chapters of the book entirely sour for me.
I cannot forget my heart dropping as I read the chapter where Anolik disregards The Year of Magical Thinking, claiming it was a carefully crafted business move from Didion, asking her publisher only days after submitting the manuscript, “Well, is it a bestseller?” Anolik’s Didion, or rather what Babitz’s Didion as interpreted (or as manipulated?) by Anolik, is presented as immune to the grief of both her husband John and daughter Quintana’s death, choosing to assume Joan’s harnessing of her grief into art was hardly noteworthy aside from the fact that it allowed Didion to have her first bestseller since 1979’s The White Album.
This is a recurring theme throughout the book, Anolik jumping to almost outlandish conclusions in an attempt to venerate Babitz as the only true chronicler of 60s/70s Los Angeles, which in my humble opinion, does more of a disservice to Eve’s work than Anolik may ever be forced to admit. It is Eve’s belief in her glittering and sensuous life-long affair with Hollywood as truly worthy of a place in art and literature that allows works like Eve’s Hollywood, Slow Days, and Black Swans to shine decades later despite a lack of initial success. These works do not require a disparagement of Didion’s memory and work in order to exist as beautiful works of writing, yet Anolik proves that underneath her obsessive adoration (which she herself admits to be almost an addiction in the book’s preface) of Babitz’s life and writings, she does not have faith in the wider literary community to accept Babitz as one of their greats.
In all, my personal opinion is that Anolik should have a little more trust in Eve’s ability to exist independently of all the other noise in the LA literary scene, as well as a bit more respect on how Didion ultimately paved the way for Babitz’s success since 2015-onwards. I did genuinely enjoy most of this book, but just felt that Anolik’s voice is entirely and totally one-sided, leaving Joan in a losing battle from the first page.
March 27, 2025
WOW! this is a masterpiece. the research alone is jaw-dropping, but the content and the writing are just as impressive. i see Didion in a totally new light now.
December 20, 2024
This felt like reading Rita Skeeter.
Want to read
January 8, 2025I might just stoke my crazy a bit and start reading this book without having zero prior knowledge about either Didion or Babitz..won't that be cool?
November 21, 2024
(1.75)
-right off the bat, all about the author and her obsession with eve, i guess at least you immediately know you’re on uneven ground
-joan and eve through the eve babitz lens, which again, the writer does quickly state- but christ is she unsympathetic (little snips and snide asides) and does she idolise eve
-was this the right author for this book?
-Having not read Hollywood’s Eve and very much enjoying both Didion and Babitz’s works (and understanding that they each do a different thing very well), I was hoping for a more balanced take, for equal enthusiasm- Eve gets everything smoothed over, all her poor actions get a rationalising from the author and Joan has everything raked through the mud- Eve gets excerpts from her letters (her own words) and Joan gets an old ex boyfriend’s words taken at face value (this was so so annoying- author interviewed Noel Parmentel, who’s obviously a massive egotist and makes Joan’s success all his own doing-big chunks of text all Joan via this man- and there’s no critical analysis of this, it’s all just accepted as fact??)
-To be fair, the writer explains her stance in the first few pages- however, it wasn’t marketed the same way- and she does say she won’t be sentimental but proceeds to absolutely fawn over Eve and demean Joan (and I love Eve! but this was so unbalanced and biased as to be off putting)
-Author spends a whole pointless chapter trying to convince the reader that Joan’s husband fancied Eve, with absolutely no proof. It’s a constant attempt to one up Joan to make Eve look ‘better’ (which I’m not sure she actually does)
-in some ways still enjoyable because I do like Eve and want to know more about her! This could’ve just been Eve’s letters- should’ve been, considering how condescending and quite frankly ghoulish the author’s view of Joan is. The second to last chapter, in its discussion of The Year of Magical Thinking was foul- you don’t get to tell people how they feel about their grief, their losses. It’s just a constant attempt to put down Joan to make Eve sound good.
-right off the bat, all about the author and her obsession with eve, i guess at least you immediately know you’re on uneven ground
-joan and eve through the eve babitz lens, which again, the writer does quickly state- but christ is she unsympathetic (little snips and snide asides) and does she idolise eve
-was this the right author for this book?
-Having not read Hollywood’s Eve and very much enjoying both Didion and Babitz’s works (and understanding that they each do a different thing very well), I was hoping for a more balanced take, for equal enthusiasm- Eve gets everything smoothed over, all her poor actions get a rationalising from the author and Joan has everything raked through the mud- Eve gets excerpts from her letters (her own words) and Joan gets an old ex boyfriend’s words taken at face value (this was so so annoying- author interviewed Noel Parmentel, who’s obviously a massive egotist and makes Joan’s success all his own doing-big chunks of text all Joan via this man- and there’s no critical analysis of this, it’s all just accepted as fact??)
-To be fair, the writer explains her stance in the first few pages- however, it wasn’t marketed the same way- and she does say she won’t be sentimental but proceeds to absolutely fawn over Eve and demean Joan (and I love Eve! but this was so unbalanced and biased as to be off putting)
-Author spends a whole pointless chapter trying to convince the reader that Joan’s husband fancied Eve, with absolutely no proof. It’s a constant attempt to one up Joan to make Eve look ‘better’ (which I’m not sure she actually does)
-in some ways still enjoyable because I do like Eve and want to know more about her! This could’ve just been Eve’s letters- should’ve been, considering how condescending and quite frankly ghoulish the author’s view of Joan is. The second to last chapter, in its discussion of The Year of Magical Thinking was foul- you don’t get to tell people how they feel about their grief, their losses. It’s just a constant attempt to put down Joan to make Eve sound good.
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