Reviews round-up
Didion & Babitz
by Lili Anolik
1 of 4 critics positive
8 reviews: 1 positive, 2 mixed, 1 pan; 4 not stating a verdict in public
What the critics said
“entertaining double biography”
The strange rivalry of California’s two most glamorous writers
“blurs ethical boundaries, but exhilarates”
Secret twins? A casually brutal biography of Joan Didion and ‘soul mate’ Eve Babitz blurs ethical boundaries, but exhilarates
“titillating but diminishes both writers”
Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik review –the seductress and the sphinx
“its fixation on their rivalry obscures the complicated truth”
Why Gossip Is Fatal to Good Writing
When Joan and Eve were pals: 'Didion & Babitz' explores the unlikely bond between two seminal L.A. writers
Joan Didion and Eve Babitz: The uneasy bond between two very different literary ‘it girls’
Joan Didion and Eve Babitz: Contemporaries, Peers, Rivals — and Soul Mates? (Published 2024)
Verdicts are read from each outlet's own headline and summary; quotes are their words, credited and linked. Where a paywalled summary does not give the critic's view, we say so rather than guess. How it works.
