Joan Didion and Eve Babitz were two sides of the same coin in LA in the 1970s, with Didion as the buttoned up striver and Babitz as the wild child. Their paths briefly crossed and then diverged, with Didion rising to fame again in the 2000s and Babitz fading into poverty and obscurity before her death. The book alternates between the two women's stories and is far less critical of Babitz than Didion, who generally gets the gold star treatment from critics. Overall a sharp, smart read.

I suspect that I was not alone in the hope, upon hearing of the death of Eve Babitz, that some undiscovered trove of writing would soon come to light. We learn here, though, that she died in relative squalor and that all survived was an old box of unsent letters packed decades earlier by her mother.

These letters nominally provided the impetus for the author - who had previously delivered the biography Hollywood’s Eve (get it?) - to revisit the telling of the story of Eve Babitz’s life. One letter in particular, written to Joan Dideon sets the stage where Didion and Babitz are juxtaposed.

Curiously, letters form only a tiny fraction of the storyline. Indeed, aside for one just mentioned and another to Joseph Heller (of Catch 22 fame), the boxes seem not an archival treasure, but rather an excuse to retell Eve’s story. Joan Didion’s story is but a shallow counterpoint to Eve’s in this telling.

The author hardly hides her distain for Didion, who is repeated treated as a cunning, conniving careerist. This is not to say that much negative is said of Didion’s often brilliant writing, rather it is her ambition, especially realized ambition, that grates when compared with Eve, the consummate, tragic free spirit.

As with Hollywood’s Eve, I found it often hard to discern where I was reading well-supported biographical detail and where I was being treated to the conjectures of the author. The author is very much present as a party to this dialogue. Aside from the aforementioned cost, her presence enhances the text.

After all, Eve Babitz lived a life worth retelling.

Thanks to Net Gallery and Scribner/Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to preview an advanced copy in return for a candid review.

2.5 /5 ⭐️
Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for an ARC of this book!

I took a few days to digest this book after writing a formal review, but I must say I was quite disappointed by this book. I wish I read this book with an audiobook, as the writing style really lends itself to vocal narration. As someone who is familiar with Anolik's other works in other mediums, I believe her work is most successful in an audio format.

Now to the content of the book itself. Anolik positions her book as the exploration of a rivalry between famous writers: Joan Didion, and Eve Babitz. She explores the dynamic and changing relationship between the two woman, and then how they are received in the publishing world. Anolik is extremely biased toward Eve Babitz, and depicts Joan Didion as a "the enemy". Biases are fine and expected, but I entered this book thinking I was going to gain more insight about the writers rather than read Anolik's personal opinions on the women. There are several points in the book where Anolik clearly states that she is inserting her own opinions, which poses the question: to what extent can reporters become a part of the narrative?

The beginning of the book begins with a "content" warning, which tells the reader that explicit topics will be discussed. In reality, the explicit sections were not as shocking as I anticipated. If you are familiar with the work of Babitz, then these conversations will not be a surprise. The aspects which I did find a little bit more jarring were the discussions surrounding the personal lives of the writers, specifically Joan Didion. Anolik describes Didion's relationship with her husband and peers harshly. Didion is depicted as a weak and mean individual, and Anolik often comes to conclusions regarding the authors life that do not feel backed in facts. As a fan of Joan Didion's writing, I was looking for this book to fill in more details about the author's life. In reality this book while providing a little bit more context to the life of the writer, consistently jumped to Anolik's assumptions rather than grounding thoughts in fact.

I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys the work of Eve Babitz and is looking for a personal and intimate account of the her life, yet I would suggest Didion fans to proceed with caution.

3.5 rounded up to 4. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the arc. I was immediately drawn to this book. I’ve read both Didion and Babitz, and while the author is more invested in Eve - I am a Joan Didion acolyte. I couldn’t miss this volume.

Two women with tremendous mythos around them are revealed beautifully here. Legends are made human. Mistakes and triumphs are recounted with clear eyes. Lili Anolik has quite a captivating writing style as well. I’m impressed at how well her pen holds up against the weight of her subjects. My only real gripe is the length of the book. It could have been shorter and I did want more Didion less Eve. Anolik’s preference for Babitz is a bit much at times.

Anolik has an erudite tone with a dry and biting humor. She reveres her Eve without turning her into a god. Joan Didion is one of my literary heroes, but after reading this book I’ve arrived at the conclusion that’s always making itself known: there are no heroes. If you love Babitz or Didion or both, you may like this.

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 biography’s, 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.

I have been a fan of Didion’s for years and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her mythology deconstructed by learning about her doppelgänger, Eve Babitz, a name that was completely unknown by me before reading this book.

I love when. Biography authors become completely immersed in their subject matter . That do not subscribe in speculation about their subject but speak in absolute truth and authority, as Anolik does. She inserts herself into the text, but not as a distraction, but rather how she becomes consumed with her subject matter, As a reader, she draws us in too.

I’d recommend this biography unconditionally.

Didion and Babitz is a lush, juicy look into the relationship between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz. Set in the literati world of the 70s, the story follows their relationship to each other and how the world around them affected them as well. If you've ever wanted to know more about these American literary icons, you won't want to miss this book.

I will write a much longer review on this whenever the weather permits but thank you so much to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC of Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik in exchange for an honest review. Like most literary communities, I am enamored and intrigued by Joan Didion and Eve Babitz. Joan's work fell into my lap more naturally as a girl who grew up wanting to become a journalist. "Creative nonfiction" is a genre that has swept me away for most of my life. I came across Eve Babitz a bit later and in my mind, they have always been in that realm of LA writers who could capture the city's essence. I have to be honest, I am not usually interested in the personal lives of writers that I admire because I believe it's like meeting a hero, I don't care to know about their less-than-admirable qualities. I fear that knowing makes me enjoy their work less but I'm slowly getting out of that. So, I went into this relatively blind. I did not read Lili Anolik's "Hollywood Eve" book before this but I wish that I did because this book references it a lot. I knew a bit more about Joan Didion's personal life through a biographical sense because of the documentary "The Center Will Not Hold" directed by Griffin Dunne, her nephew (and the iconic actor). With Eve, I knew nothing besides some of her semi-autobiographical work so this was my first introduction to Eve Babitz the person.

Here, I learned that she idolized Marilyn Monroe and had ambitions to be an artist. I was able to understand why she felt inspired and betrayed by Joan Didion and Didion's alignment with masculinity to protect herself. Human beings are complicated and these were complicated and thoughtful women. Lili Anolik fleshes out these iconic women and her connection to Eve Babitz through hundreds of interviews helped me better understand where Eve could have been coming from. I felt like I knew a lot about Eve Babitz after this. I gravitate more towards Joan Didion and her sensibilities because I've read more about Joan and she died as the most iconic American woman writer. So, it's no surprise there. Lili did not have the same access to Joan (did anyone?) and so it felt like Joan and Dunne popped in and out of focus throughout this book. I didn't mind that at all though because I was able to see a different side to her that isn't just praise. I feel myself rambling so I'll end it here for now.

I’m not sure why this book exists. I really like Eve Babitz, Joan Didion and Lili Anolik but this book didn’t reveal anything to me that Hollywood’s Eve didn’t either.

This book was great. I love the works of Didion and Babitz but I know little about them as people. Reading this book and learning about them and their relationship with one another was great. It was a fun read especially for those who love these two talented women

This was such a great read. I love learning about female writers, and Lili Anolik does such a great job exploring the relationship between two of my favorites. I love Anolik’s narrative voice in this as well, it is refreshing and unpretentious, and makes this fun and easy to read.

ARC provided by NetGalley

So well written I was fascinated by the friendship the interaction betweeen Didion& Babitz.I have read little about Didion's personal life her marriage so this was very revealing.There are so many names of people who are now iconic who were young and just starting out such as Spielberg & Warren Beatty a whose who of Hollywood at the time.A delicious eye opening look at the real the personal Didion&Babitz.#netgalley #scribner.

A very solid read! The way it’s written makes it easy and quick. The introduction is well written however as it continues, the author breaks the fourth wall a lot. I found myself more drawn to the Babitz and Didion excerpts that are included more than the author’s original piece. Because of that I knocked it down a star but I still would really recommend this.