I first heard about Joan Didion through a classmate of mine. We were sitting in class and the assignment was to write a short 500 word article about any topic. She chose to write a review/critique about the new Didion & Babitz book written by the well-known Vanity Fair journalist, Lili Anolik. 

Let me begin by saying how notably cool this girl was therefore anything she said or did I took as a passage from the Bible or something. I admired her dyed red hair and her really girly shoes paired with the most amazing jewelry that rang together while she was typing. The type of jewelry that if you asked where it’s from she would answer with something like, “it’s my grandma’s from Italy,” or “ I found it in this tiny antique shop in Rhinebeck.” She had the best insights on anything and obviously whatever she said I indisputably listened. 

She and I have discussed books before and found that we enjoyed the same writers and genres. After reading her assigned article, I decided to start with Eve Babitz. 

It seemed a little personally intimidating to suddenly find myself reading Babitz and Didion. The only thing I really knew about them was that they were both considered the “literary it girls” of their time (besides of course, Gloria Steinem). 

Joan Didion was a familiar name because of how established she is in the journalism world. She is considered one of the journalists that opened the door for combining fiction writing with real-life stories. Writers like Didion, Hunter S Thompson, Norman Mailer and Gay Talese were all names that I admired, so diving deeper into Didion was effortless. 

Despite meeting Joan Didion first, I started with Eve’s Hollywood. My first impression of it was the cover with the author posing in an artsy way and the fabulous bright pink spine of the book. From what I found in my research, she was a cool party-girl, and I consider, way ahead of her time. The book is composed of more than a dozen essays that stayed consistent in her clever, in-touch, and madcap writing style. I would easily consider this my favorite Eve Babitz book out of the three that I read. Her writing is just so candid and dances on the line of flirtatious and playful.

Babitz often mentions Virgina Woolf in her stories, going on frequent tangents about how every woman should read her books and how influential she is in her writing. Noting that A Room of One’s Own clearly highlighted the historical context of women’s struggles for freedom – both creative and independently. The main point of the book, from what I gathered when I read it in high school, was that women needed “ a room of their own,” to produce great art. This resonated with her deeply and something she was a strong advocate for.

She gives the reader a well rounded and detailed account for what the L.A. scene was during the 60s through Eve’s Hollywood. These themes definitely individualized herself from other writers at the time. Topics like sex, drugs, partying, impulsive travels, and straying away from society’s expectations were accounted for in her series of essays. No topic or essay overstayed its welcome, her accounts could last pages or even just one paragraph. She found meaning in everything, and not the kind of meaning that could seem pretentious or prejudice but instead, more obvious and direct. 

Babitz is able to bounce between high society events and taquito stands on the side of the road seamlessly. Her tone throughout leaks its way into other novels she writes such as Slow Days Fast Company and Sex & Rage. 

Although I did thoroughly enjoy Slow Days Fast Company as well as Sex & Rage which, by the way, is simply the best title of a book I have ever read, nothing beats Eve’s Hollywood. Sex and Rage is a non-fiction novel about a young woman on the hunt to find creative relief in moving from L.A. to N.Y.C. in the 1970s. 

I found myself wanting to like this book much more than I actually did. The book was at an inadvertent plot standstill, with the main character Jacaranda unlikable and self-destructive. In the 245 pages, Jacaranda was just drifting through life and gave an honest story of a young woman’s journey. 

Even still, through this slow and monotonous book, Babitz’s writing still shines through and is the reason I kept reading. Her insights about friendships, relationships and professional endeavors were candid and appreciated.  

Slow Days Fast Company is another love letter about L.A. and although she clearly has love for it, her observations about the city’s culture are trustworthy. She writes in this sort of gossipy and cool tone that makes you wish you were somewhere you’ve never been. My pen was constantly underlining witty and charming remarks she made about the world around her –  “ women who dance with their eyes closed, smiling, are as near to heaven as you can get on earth,” she writes.

I particularly appreciated how real and in-touch with the world she is even though hers is flooding with lavish parties and people. Eve Babitz reminds me of the kind of girl that you meet in the bar bathroom and when she tells you to get bangs…you get bangs. 

Before I went to my Disneyland of a Barnes & Nobles, I attempted to research which Didion novel I should start with. There were many different answers to my question and after a bit I realized –  it doesn’t matter, I’ll start with whichever one I want. 

In my opinion to start Joan Didion is to start with Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Now granted I only read two of her books as of right now, Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album and opened a handful of her books and found that every sentence I read almost read like a rhythmic song.

Didion often refers to Ernest Hemingway, crediting his stories as direct inspiration for her writing style. She was drawn to his “iceberg” theory that suggested that the majority of meaning and impact is conveyed through what is left unsaid. To further her inspiration, Didion used a type-writer to rewrite his stories to thoroughly understand the rhythm of his sentences – focusing on the structure of long vs short sentences within paragraphs. She adopted these habits into her own writing while also navigating the linguistic labyrinths of the English word. 

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is simply a masterpiece. It’s the Mona Lisa of literature, it’s that pair of perfect jeans in denim disaster, it’s a young woman’s guide to livelihood. I won’t compare it to the Bible, but I might. I won’t. It’s my Bible.

There are a total of 20 essays in this masterpiece each divided up into appropriate sections. Life Styles in the Golden Land, Personals, and Seven Places of the Mind – all relating to life in California during the 1960s. In one of her first few essays she’s taking you for a drive through a Northern Californian neighborhood, describing the streets, restaurants, stores and frequent faces. It felt as though I was sitting right there in the passenger seat with wind blowing in my hair and Joni Mitchel on the radio.

I found that Slouching Towards Bethlehem, in its consistent prose writing essence, was not one sentence short of perfection. I drowned myself in her insightful and observant way of writing. There is no doubt in my mind that she was one of the most observant writers that I have ever encountered. Not observant in the way of just simply pointing out the color of one’s hair but pointing out the anxieties and contradictions within different subcultures and historical moments.

Her essays frequently explored cultural shifts happening in America such as celebrity culture, the amplification of hippie-counterculture, and political discourse. She thoughtfully captured the underlying contradictions and uncertainties of the times with clarity. 

My favorite writing done by her has to be her collection of Personals. I personally think her writing and perspectives thrive in this section. From explaining why she keeps a notebook to her experience with self-respect, she is truly eye opening. Her anecdotes about how she lived her life are truly refreshing and have since then shifted my outlook on life. 

The White Album in my opinion is the more intimate and vulnerable version of Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Through this series of essays she captures her personal struggles with topics like marriage, writing, and even migraines. The first line of the very first page has now become one of the most memorable quotes she’s written, “ we tell ourselves stories in order to live.” 

Many of her essays stood out to me and I was constantly underlining/dog-earring the whole book. Her essays almost feel like diary entries because of how vulnerable and real she is with readers. One particular essay stands out to me – In The Islands. She describes the hotel she’s staying in, the weather, and most importantly her recent filing for divorce. Sentences such as “quite often over the past several years I have felt myself a sleepwalker,” and “a place belongs forever to the person who claims it the hardest; remembers it obsessively.”

She shows the realities of her life, good or bad. Her melancholic disposition reflects itself clearly, reassuring me that it’s okay to sulk in my own sadness. Joan Didion is thoughtful and reflective in any endeavor she finds herself in, personally inspiring me to follow suit. It is a privilege to have gotten to know her through her writing in complete understanding. She’s the voice of all that has, or hasn’t necessarily changed to anyone unprejudiced enough to listen.