Didion & Babitz

by Lili Anolik
Didion & Babitz cover
Good Books rating 3.58
Biography and Memoir
Technical:
  • ID: 281
  • Added: 2025-09-07
  • Updated: 2025-09-18
  • ISBN: 9781805463931
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books
  • Published: 2024-11-14
  • Formats: 20
  • Reviews: 3
Buy online
Waterstones
Paperback • £9.49 Hardback • £20.00

Didion & Babitz delves into the intricate and often fraught relationship between Joan Didion, the enigmatic literary figure, and Eve Babitz, the dazzling and rebellious muse of Hollywood’s counterculture. Through the discovery of decades-old sealed boxes containing Babitz’s intimate, diary-like letters, journalist Lili Anolik unlocks the emotional and creative dynamics that shaped both women’s lives and careers. The story centers on their shared milieu at 7406 Franklin Avenue, a modest Hollywood rental that witnessed their artistic births and transformations, and reveals how their friendship evolved from alliance to enmity. Lili Anolik’s narrative goes beyond mere biography to illuminate the cultural landscape of Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s, capturing the clash of personalities and artistic visions between Didion’s cool, precise style and Babitz’s fiery, unapologetic persona. The book also serves as a tribute to Babitz’s overlooked brilliance and incisive intelligence, challenging readers to reconsider her place alongside Didion in American literature. Anolik’s intimate access to Babitz’s unsent letters and her deep immersion in both women’s worlds make this a compelling portrait of friendship, rivalry, and the making of literary legend.

Reviews
Substack - Megan Wahn · Megan Wahn · 2025-03-03
engaging 3.25

The book is enjoyable mainly due to its compelling subjects rather than the writing style, which the reviewer found occasionally condescending and repetitive. The relationship between Didion and Babitz is portrayed as a creative rivalry with complex personal dynamics.

Megan Wahn finds the book compelling because of the fascinating lives of Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, rather than Anolik's writing style, which she sometimes criticizes for being condescending and overly detailed in exposition. The dynamic between Didion and Babitz is described as a creative and somewhat one-sided rivalry, with both women moving in the same social circles but eventually growing apart. The reviewer appreciates the book's exploration of their personalities and interactions but feels Anolik's narrative style can be distracting.

Quick quotes

    Though the salacious “unlocking” she teases is actually really boring.

    Anolik’s narration—riddled with its frequent condescending addresses to her “dear readers.”

    The redemptive quality of the book exists not through Anolik’s own skill at weaving a narrative, but only because the lives Joan Didion and Eve Babitz lived are compelling.

Los Angeles Review of Books · 2025-01-26
intriguing 3.75

The book contrasts Didion as a serious and sometimes difficult writer with Babitz as uneven yet sympathetic, framing them as two halves of American womanhood. The relationship is portrayed more as a complicated frenemy dynamic than a rivalry or deep connection.

This review presents Didion as the 'serious' writer and Babitz as a more uneven but relatable figure, emphasizing a duality that the author Anolik explores as representing conflicting yet aligned aspects of American womanhood. The reviewer sees the book's romantic framing of their relationship as somewhat overstated, suggesting instead that Didion and Babitz were merely frenemies who cautiously interacted before eventually drifting apart. While the book offers many dichotomies, the review implies these do not amount to a profound insight into either woman or their connection.

Quick quotes

    Didion is the good writer and bad person, Babitz the uneven writer and difficult but sympathetic person.

    Joan and Eve are the two halves of American womanhood, representing forces that are, on the surface, in conflict yet secretly aligned.

    Didion and Babitz were just frenemies, frequenters of the same circles who cautiously circled around each other and eventually had a final falling-out.

ReadingWritingAndMe · 2025-01-15
complex 3.75

The reviewer feels the book is heavily skewed toward Babitz’s story, with Didion's inclusion seeming secondary and at times an afterthought. While the book is character-driven and engaging, the fractured relationship and Babitz’s later political stance complicate the narrative.

This review expresses disappointment that the book, while titled for both Didion and Babitz, primarily focuses on Babitz, with Didion appearing mainly as a supporting figure in her story. The reviewer notes that Anolik’s affection for Babitz is clear, and Didion's role is diminished except when their lives intersect. The fractured friendship, culminating in Didion being 'fired' by Babitz, is a key moment after which Didion recedes from the narrative. The book also covers Babitz’s controversial late-life political views, which the reviewer suggests complicate her legacy and reception. Despite these narrative choices, the characters' depth makes the book sing.

Quick quotes

    A more accurate title might be Hollywood's Eve Part 2: (and have I mentioned I can't stand Joan Didion!).

    Didion was sprinkled in like an afterthought when her life isn't on an intersecting path with Babitz.

    Babitz fractured the relationship and 'fired Joan.'

Appears in Lists