Babitz’s inimitable voice propels these stories forward, corralling everything that gets in their sex, rage, the Château Marmont, youth, beauty, Jim Morrison, men, women, and black swans. While her light take is undeniably frustrating, this self-centered framing is human, and uncomfortably relatable. There are a few less interesting ones in the middle, but for the most part I love stepping into Eve’s shoes and taking a walk around in her mind and her world. There were some stories I enjoyed more than others but even the ones that weren't my cup of tea were by no means bad. I mean, she says so much in the book but her central theme was true tho — you shouldn’t be with someone intimidated by your greatness and the fact that you age and are a continuously maturing human being, also you shouldn’t fuck your friends exes or current partners.

On the page, Babitz is pure pleasure--a perpetual-motion machine of no-stakes elation and champagne fizz. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. One of the strengths of this collection lies in her willingness to catalog her own flaws, even when exposing unflattering facets of her personality . LARB publishes daily without a paywall as part of our mission to make rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts freely accessible to the public.I hadn’t put this book down until I reached the end of ‘Free Tibet’ and needed some time to sit with it. Very descriptive sex scenes were dragged for many pages and her interactions with different characters in the books seemed to have little meanings.

When Babitz's stories engage with politics, they're focused on demonstrating how her characters would engage, and the good and bad that comes with it.Her articles and short stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire magazines.

Despite her own levity, even Babitz can’t help but quip that “the thing she fears most is bad taste, in other words. The recipient of this copy was planning to leave Hollywood, and this may have been a presentation copy, as Babitz inscribed it twice in the week of publication, two days apart, in three colors of ink. I really hate giving bad reviews and try to find something good about most books but I could not get into this book at all. She graduated with a BFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University and received her MA in Literature from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, where she is currently working toward her doctorate.

eve gave us 9 amazing stories about her life (and others), each one being so exciting and interesting, her being shameless was just everything. I did have issues with some things like: “he was tan but you didn’t want to get too tan less you’re mistaken for the wrong sort in LA and beat over the head by the LAPD. And her irreverence in the face of persistent expectations of feminine decorum—reanimated like a sociocultural zombie during this administration—can cause a sigh of relief . Don’t pick it up if you’d prefer to hear a more discerning narrative from someone who wasn’t immune to the metaphorical and literal smog of the darker and more nuanced realities of 90s LA. And if you still think you’d be fine with these issues because Babitz is dead so she can no longer profit off being evil (which I believe is OK, I also read a lot of dead white men who would tie for record-breaking gold if racism and misogyny were Olympic sports) don’t say I didn’t warn you: these stories are choppy, pointless, and artless.