Didion & Babitz

Lili Anolik takes us under the hood, not just of literary history but of what makes a woman palatable for public consumption. The greatest female writer to take on the female writer, Lili never falters. Sentence by sentence, page by page, she does Joan and Eve proud and explains the truth about why women who speak their truth will always be societal dynamite. The book is magic. It's all I ever needed -- Lena Dunham
A truly exhilarating double biography that makes us question the myths that have sprung up around both women * Independent, Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2024 *
A gossipy, shocking, intimate, very funny and always smart take on the two writers...Fascinating, funny and ferocious at times, it's a reminder that even literary biographies can be thrilling * Glasgow Herald *
Theirs was an almost Shakespearean relationship, full of longing, jealousy and thorny ambivalence...immaculately researched and laced with gold * The Times, Books of the Year *
[Anolik's] research and sources are unparalleled; she interviews so many people on the scene, including Babitz herself, that most of this book is direct speech: cool people, talking at you...[a] fun, brilliant book * Telegraph *
[A] riveting account of two complex, elusive and humorous writers..."I can't stand meetings. I'd much rather figure things out from gossip," said Babitz. If that comment raises an approving nod, I'm sure you'll enjoy this fascinating slice of history * Independent *
It is hard not to admire the gumption...This is vivid, entertaining stuff and often gallops along as if it's been up all night at one of Didion and Dunne's notorious Franklin Avenue gatherings * Guardian *
Absorbing...the best chapters read like glittering high school gossip, offering up Didion's most-coveted secrets * The Times *
A captivating look into the way two very brilliant, very different writers maneuvered around one another, and the starry, messy world they inhabited. Someone get Ryan Murphy a copy, we smell a new season of Feud * Town & Country, Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024 *
As Lili Anolik argues in this joint biography, Didion and Babitz represent more than what it means to be a woman who writes: They're two halves of American womanhood. It's a big swing, but one that Anolik knocks out of the park, showing readers how Didion was the sun to Babitz's moon, the superego to her id * Bustle *
So, are you a Joan or are you an Eve? That's the question everyone will be asking each other this fall * Literary Hub *
A love letter in the form of this detailed biography that reads like a propulsive novel * Oprah Daily *
Anolik gets the best of both writers, and the best of both worlds - this is assured, controlled and cool - and yet lush, tender and heady. It's already one of my favourite books about writers and writing, art, Hollywood mythology and how icons are created. It explains exactly why the world loves Joan Didion - and exactly why the world should fall in love with Eve Babitz -- Daisy Buchanan
Anolik is a galvanizing, exacting, mordantly funny and lionhearted writer...[Didion's and Babitz's] legacies will be forever shaped by Anolik's double portrait forged in inquisitiveness, empathy, intellectual firepower and love * Booklist (starred review) *
A crackling dual biography of two of L.A.'s brightest literary lights * Publishers Weekly *
I practically snorted this book, stayed up all night with it. Anolik decodes, ruptures, and ultimately intensifies Eve's singular irresistible glitz -- Jia Tolentino on HOLLYWOOD'S EVE
What Hollywood's Eve has going for it on every page is its subject's utter refusal to be dull... It sends you racing to read the work of Eve Babitz * New York Times on HOLLYWOOD'S EVE *
There's no better way to look at Hollywood in that magic decade, the 1970s, than through Eve Babitz's eyes. Eve knew everyone, slept with everyone, used, amused and abused everyone. And then there's Eve herself: a cult figure turned into a legend in Anolik's electrifying book. This is a portrait as mysterious, maddening - and seductive - as its subject' -- Peter Biskind, author of EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS, on HOLLYWOOD'S EVE
The Eve Babitz book I've been waiting for. What emerges isn't just a portrait of a writer, but also of Los Angeles: sprawling, melancholic, and glamorous -- Stephanie Danler, author of SWEETBITTER, on HOLLYWOOD'S EVE
Read Lili Anolik's book in the same spirit you'd read a new Eve Babitz, if there was one: for the gossip and for the writing. Both are extraordinary -- Jonathan Lethem on HOLLYWOOD'S EVE