I've read so much of Joan Didion's works (and about her), but didn't know much about Eve Babitz. This book makes me want to know more, though there wasn't as much Didion & Babitz interaction as I was expecting. Still, if you're interested in these women & this time period in LA, you'll enjoy it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for honest feedback

Definitely found myself as fascinated about the discussion about this book (best of lists and pans) as the subjects themselves. I didn't go into this book with a strong opinion on Joan or Eve and so I was so interested in seeing the discourse. For me, I found this account of their relationship as adapted from their letters and interviews with Eve to be fun gossip. I sort of lost interest as Eve began her creative decline but I like the idea of these two very different women being fueled by competition in a way that wasn't about destroying one another.

Thanks to Net Galley and Scribner for the ARC!

A fascinating book that is loosely based on the rivalry and jealousy between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz. But really this is a book about Eve Babitz and the obsession by the author about her - including a lot of visits in the past couple of years of Eve's life. There are highly entertaining anecdotes and musings from many in their lives. Although I enjoyed reading it, I felt it was more about Eve than Joan. This rivalry was in the book as a loose thread. As a result, the book feels unbalanced in a way. I did like her asides to us as the reader about what to expect and where the book would go next and even with my feedback, still an enjoyable read overall.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

I was very interested in this book after reading the synopsis but upon reading a few reviews I realized I would likely be unable to fully engage with this book due to the fact I have no prior knowledge of the works of Didion or Babitz. Once I have a little bit of understanding of their works I plan to go back and read this novel. This has nothing to do with the writer/writing themselves, I just need to get a little more under my belt.

I didn't very much enjoy this one despite my high expectations and hopes in the beginning. I love Joan Didion and I love Eve Babitz. For that reason, I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on this scandalous look into their friendship and anti-friendship. When I read the synopsis, I thought it was going to include a bunch of the letters penned between the two but most of it was gossipy discussions with a few of the letters thrown in. The hook in the synopsis of "could you write what you write if you weren't so tiny, Joan?" was given to us very quickly. And as a lover of reality television, scandal, and shows with sharp and scathing reads like RuPaul's Drag Race, I was excited for the story around that line. Once it was given to us, it felt almost underwhelming. I held out hope, though, that if it was given away quickly that there would be more to follow it. But......nothing really did. It felt more like Hollywood's Eve 2.0 than it did an examination of the relationship between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz.

It was okay and I feel like I read it at the wrong time. Not really a book to read during the winter. Would be better, I believe, to read by the pool in the summer with a cold aperol spritz.

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.

This was such a fun book of gossip. I enjoyed learning more about the dynamics between two prolific titans of Californian writing. The unique insight the author was able to provide kept me interested despite not knowing who a lot of the players were or why I should care.

Unfortunately, Lili's Anolik clear bias towards Joan Didion really ruined the tone of this book for me :( Had it been a more neutral stance, I would've enjoyed this more. I guess I was just expecting a different perspective when reading this.

I wish there was a suggestion box where you could drop ideas for the next subject for Lili Anolik to tackle in this style, because what she does is fantastic and, well, I’ve got a lot of ideas.

It’s an interesting blend of an academic’s approach to research blended with a sort of oral history, very much akin to her podcast on the same subject and to the fantastic Once Upon A Time at Bennington College.

In terms of subject matter, I was a lot more interested in Bennington than in this, as Babitz and Didion aren’t my favorites and Southern California doesn’t interest me much as a backdrop. But this book is probably a solid piece of evidence that the enjoyment of Anolik’s work isn’t dependent on being a fan of the subject, which is an impressive feat in a piece of nonfiction.

Lili Anolik is a very stylish and self-assured writer (big fan of her magazine work and her podcast "Once Upon a Time at Bennington College") and her new book is no exception. Babitz and Didion are great subjects for her to tackle, and I found her argument that the two of them existed in tension with one another to be quite interesting. The book illuminates that time period in LA quote well via the two roads the women took. Makes me curious to read and reread more by them both, which is a great by-product of a very well-done book!

I love this book so much. Lili Anolik writes about two titans of American art and literature with such a strong voice of her own. So good!!

i had similar feelings to a lot of other creators. this isn’t a true and fair examination into both subjects. anolik greatly idolizes eve, which is fine if you aren’t claiming to unpack the genius of both writers. DNF

I was really excited to read this but I was unable to finish. It is no secret that Anolik is obsessed with Babitz- she admits this herself, which maybe should have served as a warning- but I found her exploration of Didion lacking and narrow minded. I enjoyed Anolik's writing style, but ultimately felt as though her colloquial and at times disconcerting prose was meant to manipulate the reader into believing that one woman (Babitz) was better than the other (Didion) without being *too* obvious about it. I really wanted more from this.

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.

I DNF'd the book at 60% but I can see the merit in long term Babitz fans reading this. The focus was solely on Babitz with a little bit of Didion sprinkled in. This tainted the reading experience for me because I thought it was going to be more balanced.

The writing style was a little poppy for me as well. I feel like this would have been a very buzzy podcast and would have worked better as a California focused podcast.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an early copy to read.

This cover. Wow. The photo really grabbed me and made we want to check it. I am not big on either Joan Didion or Eve Babitz, by which I mean I haven’t read their work or knew much of their history. I made it through 20% and then just couldn’t continue. It didn’t keep me interested.

Thanks for the advanced reader copy Netgalley and Scribner..

This book was one of my most anticipated reads, and unfortunately, one of my most disappointing. Billed as an exploration of Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, the book leans far more toward Babitz’s story, leaving Didion under-explored and often mischaracterized. Anolik’s intense fascination with Babitz turns the account into a one-sided narrative that relies heavily on speculation, assumptions, and biases, especially when it comes to Didion. Statements like “don’t be a baby” in the introduction set a dismissive tone that feels unsavory, and ultimately, the Didion insights lack depth and nuance. If you’re interested in more substantial portrayals of either woman, I’d recommend The World According to Joan Didion for Didion or Babitz’s own work, like Slow Days, Fast Company. Unfortunately, this book feels more like a speculative character analysis than the nuanced dual biography I’d hoped for.

Lili Anolik wrote the definitive biography of Eve Babitz, “Hollywood’s Eve,” which was published in 2019. Anolik had thought that she had excavated all that there was to know about Eve, and she had moved on from her preoccupation, when Eve’s sister, Mirandi, contacted Anolik to tell her that when Eve was transferred to an assisted living facility, Mirandi uncovered sealed boxes that their mother had packed away twenty years before. When Eve died days before Christmas in 2021, Anolik went to the Huntington Library in San Marino where Eve’s archives are maintained. Anolik assumed that the boxes would contain meaningless detritus and was shocked when she realized that the boxes held correspondence exchanged between Eve and Joan Didion. After reading the first of many letters, Anolik understood that she did not know Eve at all, explaining that she only had full access to the Eve of 2012-and-beyond, and that that Eve was at a remove from “Past Eve.”

As Anolik details, Eve and Joan met in 1967, which was not surprising since they both inhabited what Anolik refers to as the “Franklin Avenue scene” and ran with the same artists, musicians, and moguls (until Didion and her husband, John Dunne, decamped for Trancas Beach). According to sources Anolik quotes, Eve would have dinner with Joan and John several times a week. Eve was getting by as an album cover designer and photographer, but at twenty-seven, she was aging out of th Troubadour scene. Joan did a good turn for Eve, recommending to Rolling Stone a piece that Eve had written about the girls of Hollywood High, which the magazine published and was Eve’s first byline. When Eve began writing her first book, “Eve’s Hollywood,” Joan championed it, allowing her reputation as an in-demand writer to be traded on and, more astonishingly, she and John edited the book. By 1973, Eve had rejected Joan’s protection and support, and her gratitude was replaced by scorn.

Anolik takes a deep dive into the complicated alliance between these two artists – one frail, sickly, but ambitious, driven, and “as deliberate a creation as any of her books” and the other voluptuous, profligate, and promiscuous, but so filled with the spirit of her time and place that her hard-living came at the cost that she was washed up by late 1970. Their friendship soured and had a lasting effect on both writers. Anolik quotes from letters to Joan that Eve failed to send (or destroy) that are laced with snark and condescension: “Could you write what you write if you weren’t so tiny, Joan?” Anolik offers new perspectives on both artists in the cultural scene of late 1960s and early 1970s Hollywood. Thank you Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this riveting tale of two beloved artists.

What a delightful treat of a book! Lili Anolik promises a new look at these prolific writers, and boy, does she deliver on her promise. With an engaging conversationalist style, Anolik deep dives (again) into her fascination/obsession with Babitz, only this time around brings Didion in for the ride. The result is a journey back to Southern California in the Sixties and Seventies, a compelling read of the time and the women both of their time and ahead of their time. A must read for any Joan Didion and/or Eve Babitz fan. Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.