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Black Swans
Black Swans is a collection of nine stories that look back on the 1980s and early 1990s—decades of dreams, drink, and stoned youth turning Republican. Babitz prowls California, telling tales of a changing world. She writes about the Rodeo Gardens, about AIDS, about learning to tango, about the Hollywood Cemetery, about the self-enchanted city, and, most important, about the envy and jealousy underneath it all.
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. This exciting reissue further celebrates the phenomenon of Eve Babitz, cementing her reputation as the voice of a generation.
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. This exciting reissue further celebrates the phenomenon of Eve Babitz, cementing her reputation as the voice of a generation.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 1993
1389 people are currently reading
100941 people want to read
About the author
Eve Babitz
20 books3,500 followersBabitz was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of Mae, an artist, and Sol, a classical violinist on contract with 20th Century Fox.Her father was of Russian Jewish descent and her mother had Cajun (French) ancestry.Babitz's parents were friends with the composer Igor Stravinsky, who was her godfather.
In 1963, her first brush with notoriety came through Julian Wasser's iconic photograph of a nude, twenty-year-old Babitz playing chess with the artist Marcel Duchamp, on the occasion of his landmark retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum. The show was curated by Walter Hopps, with whom Babitz was having an affair at the time. The photograph is described by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art as being “among the key documentary images of American modern art”.
Because of her ideas about sexuality, both in writing and life, much of the press over the years has emphasized her various romantic associations with famous men, including singer/poet Jim Morrison, artists (and brothers) Ed Ruscha and Paul Ruscha, and Hopps, amongst others. Babitz appears in Ed Ruscha’s artist book Five 1965 Girlfriends. Eve Babitz had affairs with comedian/writer Steve Martin, actor Harrison Ford, and writer Dan Wakefield, among others. She has been compared favorably with Edie Sedgwick, the protegee of Andy Warhol at The Factory in New York City.
Eve Babitz began her independent career as an artist, working in the music industry for Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records, making album covers. In the late 1960s, she designed album covers for Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield. Her most famous cover was a collage for the 1967 album Buffalo Springfield Again.
Her articles and short stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire magazines. She is the author of several books including Eve's Hollywood; Slow Days, Fast Company; Sex and Rage; Two By Two; and L.A. Woman. Transitioning to her particular blend of fiction and memoir beginning with Eve's Hollywood, Babitz’s writing of this period is indelibly marked by the cultural scene of Los Angeles during that time, with numerous references and interactions to the artists, musicians, writers, actors, and sundry other iconic figures that made up the scene in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
In 1997, Babitz was severely injured when ash from a cigar she was smoking ignited her skirt, causing life-threatening third-degree burns over half her body. Because she had no health insurance, friends and family organized a fund-raising auction to pay her medical bills. Friends and former lovers donated cash and artworks to help pay for her long recovery. Babitz became somewhat more reclusive after this incident, but was still willing to be interviewed on occasion.
Babitz died of Huntington's disease at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on December 17, 2021, at age 78.
In 1963, her first brush with notoriety came through Julian Wasser's iconic photograph of a nude, twenty-year-old Babitz playing chess with the artist Marcel Duchamp, on the occasion of his landmark retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum. The show was curated by Walter Hopps, with whom Babitz was having an affair at the time. The photograph is described by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art as being “among the key documentary images of American modern art”.
Because of her ideas about sexuality, both in writing and life, much of the press over the years has emphasized her various romantic associations with famous men, including singer/poet Jim Morrison, artists (and brothers) Ed Ruscha and Paul Ruscha, and Hopps, amongst others. Babitz appears in Ed Ruscha’s artist book Five 1965 Girlfriends. Eve Babitz had affairs with comedian/writer Steve Martin, actor Harrison Ford, and writer Dan Wakefield, among others. She has been compared favorably with Edie Sedgwick, the protegee of Andy Warhol at The Factory in New York City.
Eve Babitz began her independent career as an artist, working in the music industry for Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records, making album covers. In the late 1960s, she designed album covers for Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield. Her most famous cover was a collage for the 1967 album Buffalo Springfield Again.
Her articles and short stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire magazines. She is the author of several books including Eve's Hollywood; Slow Days, Fast Company; Sex and Rage; Two By Two; and L.A. Woman. Transitioning to her particular blend of fiction and memoir beginning with Eve's Hollywood, Babitz’s writing of this period is indelibly marked by the cultural scene of Los Angeles during that time, with numerous references and interactions to the artists, musicians, writers, actors, and sundry other iconic figures that made up the scene in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
In 1997, Babitz was severely injured when ash from a cigar she was smoking ignited her skirt, causing life-threatening third-degree burns over half her body. Because she had no health insurance, friends and family organized a fund-raising auction to pay her medical bills. Friends and former lovers donated cash and artworks to help pay for her long recovery. Babitz became somewhat more reclusive after this incident, but was still willing to be interviewed on occasion.
Babitz died of Huntington's disease at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on December 17, 2021, at age 78.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,701 reviews
August 6, 2021
a book for hot girls about a hot girl doing hot girl things
February 1, 2023
eve babitz everything.
these felt a little more outdated than eve usually does (how is she so magically relevant regardless of timing!), but they still had as much of her humor and wit and charm.
i love her.
bottom line: get me her grocery lists.
these felt a little more outdated than eve usually does (how is she so magically relevant regardless of timing!), but they still had as much of her humor and wit and charm.
i love her.
bottom line: get me her grocery lists.
August 5, 2018
I could have kept reading these stories forever...I think I’ll have to track down her earlier books now.
November 1, 2021
how extraordinary she is. i've completely fallen in love with this book. eve gave us 9 amazing stories about her life (and others), each one being so exciting and interesting, her being shameless was just everything. tangoland was my favourite for sure, the way she talked about my culture was so beautiful and i'm really happy she did this, she captured it so well and i could swear i felt through her words how much she liked it there. another favourite was one free tibet was really emotional, and touching, something not easy to forget. and last but not least, i loved expensive regrets, theres something in the way she tells us these stories that make it so enjoyable, but i dont even know how to describe it. one of the best books that i read in the year for sure.
oct 26 - oct 31
oct 26 - oct 31
August 10, 2025
this is the sort of life i was meant to live : free, utterly unhinged, adventurous and surrounded by witty and interesting characters.
February 7, 2022
I could not stand the endless narcissism, and selfish, shallow behavior. The writing is scatter-brained and often mind-numbingly dull. L.A. is hell on earth if everyone there is like this. The only reason I gave this any stars at all is because I know these stories are based on her real experiences, and it takes guts to detail all the ways you have completely screwed over your friends. She’s an asshole through and through, and it’s a wonder anyone talked to her at all.
September 26, 2022
miss eve babitz never disappoints
August 15, 2021
Overall it is 2.8 but I round it up to 3 stars
Jealousy - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slumming at the Rodeo Gardens - ⭐
Free Tibet - ⭐
Self-Enchanted City - ⭐
Expensive Regrets - ⭐⭐⭐
Tangoland - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weird August - ⭐⭐
Coco - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Black Swans - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I found/read this book as part of the Audrey Hope book club otherwise I wouldn't have found it.
I guess that if someone loves Eve Babitz right now it is a red flag for me. Her writing style was not the problem for me but what she was talking about.
1. The way she was so casual about cheating like everyone cheats and it is normal to do so, it is not and not everyone does it! I feel like dating and relationships didn't evolve at all since the 80s~90s or when was this book written and I am disappointed af. Also, there were no feelings behind the cheating, everyone was cheating. She was sleeping with a married man. The only reason I rated Jealousy, the first chapter, 5 stars is that it was funny how it portrayed the difference between the sexes when they cheat. Everything is fine and everyone is supposed to be happy if HE cheats, but if SHE does it she is a hoe! I find it funny how this mentality is still going even now, and even more because really a woman is a hoe either way after a break-up or in any situation.
2. She was a bad person overall.
3. Everything was about L.A. I'm not from L.A. or even the USA so the L.A. parts really were boring for me, which means 80% of the parts were boring in the end. She talks so much about L.A. about how amazing it is, at least she is aware that the USA is not better than Europe like most think. She really thought she can make her boyfriend move to L.A. because she wouldn't leave it of course! The love for L.A. left me speechless and I'm happy I'm not an American.
4. There were moments when she was writing about something, ex. a person, and then in the next second without a real context or a link between them changed to another person or event or whatever. It was hard to keep up with anything she was writing about sometimes, add to that the boring subjects she was talking about in some stories, it was bad...
I think I had way too high hopes for this one and ended up being disappointed af.
One good thing that came out of this, looks like I really love short stories/essay type of books! Will be reading more in this style soon.
Jealousy - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slumming at the Rodeo Gardens - ⭐
Free Tibet - ⭐
Self-Enchanted City - ⭐
Expensive Regrets - ⭐⭐⭐
Tangoland - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weird August - ⭐⭐
Coco - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Black Swans - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I found/read this book as part of the Audrey Hope book club otherwise I wouldn't have found it.
I guess that if someone loves Eve Babitz right now it is a red flag for me. Her writing style was not the problem for me but what she was talking about.
1. The way she was so casual about cheating like everyone cheats and it is normal to do so, it is not and not everyone does it! I feel like dating and relationships didn't evolve at all since the 80s~90s or when was this book written and I am disappointed af. Also, there were no feelings behind the cheating, everyone was cheating. She was sleeping with a married man. The only reason I rated Jealousy, the first chapter, 5 stars is that it was funny how it portrayed the difference between the sexes when they cheat. Everything is fine and everyone is supposed to be happy if HE cheats, but if SHE does it she is a hoe! I find it funny how this mentality is still going even now, and even more because really a woman is a hoe either way after a break-up or in any situation.
2. She was a bad person overall.
3. Everything was about L.A. I'm not from L.A. or even the USA so the L.A. parts really were boring for me, which means 80% of the parts were boring in the end. She talks so much about L.A. about how amazing it is, at least she is aware that the USA is not better than Europe like most think. She really thought she can make her boyfriend move to L.A. because she wouldn't leave it of course! The love for L.A. left me speechless and I'm happy I'm not an American.
4. There were moments when she was writing about something, ex. a person, and then in the next second without a real context or a link between them changed to another person or event or whatever. It was hard to keep up with anything she was writing about sometimes, add to that the boring subjects she was talking about in some stories, it was bad...
I think I had way too high hopes for this one and ended up being disappointed af.
One good thing that came out of this, looks like I really love short stories/essay type of books! Will be reading more in this style soon.
November 19, 2024
a stunning love letter to l.a. and one of my favorite collections
August 14, 2022
privileged white women stories are just so boring and annoying
October 27, 2021
i want eve babbitz to read me bedtime stories
March 15, 2024
El libro más Los Angeles que he leído. Superficial, frío, aburrido. Hace unas semanas leí Just kids de Patti Smith, me parece divertido que ese libro es muy Nueva York, y me gusta muchísimo más. Siempre supe donde estaba mi lealtad.
September 30, 2021
This book about Eve Babitz's relationships/friendships in Hollywood was just the epitome of mediocre. I usually have a lot to say about the books I read, even 3 star-rated books. (You guys have seen my lengthy review of Beautiful World, Where Are You?) But I actually have no thoughts about this. None. It was fine, I guess. Nothing was inherently wrong with it. It was just soooo..... meh.
March 14, 2023
LA women, amen
January 8, 2023
Girl, this book was such a pain in the *ss for me to read.
I can think of at least 2 booktubers who rant and rave about Eve Babitz and how this book is “a hot girl book for hot girls about a hot girl doing hot girl sh*t.” All I have to say to that is that I do not understand the sentiment and praise in the slightest.
The writing is superficial, at best. It’s fine on the surface, but if you look deeper, there’s no depth. And the repetitiveness? I skipped a couple stories as I read on because there was just nothing new or different. Any current news or important things in everyday life were glossed over and redirected immediately to her. And the subject changes were so immediate that they seemed nonsensical at times. The dashes were so numerous it was incredibly hard to keep up with. Finally, the synopsis said this book detailed the 80’s and 90’s, so why were some of these stories written from her perspective in the 60’s and 70’s?
The insensitivity in this book is insane to me. In the story Free Tibet, she seems to almost glorify the black nanny stereotype. In Tangoland, she spouts a ton of insensitive, borderline xenophobic and racist material about Latinos. And at the beginning of Coco, she seems to imply that genital mutilation towards women in Africa is mostly voluntary. Now with all of this being said, it’s hard for me to be concrete about this because I can’t tell whether Babitz was trying to be satirical or if this was genuinely how she thought. If it’s the latter, let me run the other way. Also, how tone-deaf she came off as, especially with the L.A. riots after the Rodney King case, was ridiculous. You’re telling me that you literally miss the riots happening because you were locked away in your own sex paradise and when you finally come out and realize what’s happened, you pay attention to the aesthetics of the fire and smoke? Are you kidding me?
By the way, we get it: she thinks L.A. is the greatest place on Earth.
Now, as for the touted “hot girlness” of this book, I just don’t even know where to really start. I’m pretty sure being a hot girl is rooted in feminism, so I don’t know where or how or when knowingly sleeping with married men is seen as a “you go, girl!” moment. Or belittling other women that are “dowdy”, or “mousy”, or “preppy.” If these are actually her real-life experiences, and some things are fictionalized, I would run away from people like her. The drama and negativity they bring is just unnecessary.
I can think of at least 2 booktubers who rant and rave about Eve Babitz and how this book is “a hot girl book for hot girls about a hot girl doing hot girl sh*t.” All I have to say to that is that I do not understand the sentiment and praise in the slightest.
The writing is superficial, at best. It’s fine on the surface, but if you look deeper, there’s no depth. And the repetitiveness? I skipped a couple stories as I read on because there was just nothing new or different. Any current news or important things in everyday life were glossed over and redirected immediately to her. And the subject changes were so immediate that they seemed nonsensical at times. The dashes were so numerous it was incredibly hard to keep up with. Finally, the synopsis said this book detailed the 80’s and 90’s, so why were some of these stories written from her perspective in the 60’s and 70’s?
The insensitivity in this book is insane to me. In the story Free Tibet, she seems to almost glorify the black nanny stereotype. In Tangoland, she spouts a ton of insensitive, borderline xenophobic and racist material about Latinos. And at the beginning of Coco, she seems to imply that genital mutilation towards women in Africa is mostly voluntary. Now with all of this being said, it’s hard for me to be concrete about this because I can’t tell whether Babitz was trying to be satirical or if this was genuinely how she thought. If it’s the latter, let me run the other way. Also, how tone-deaf she came off as, especially with the L.A. riots after the Rodney King case, was ridiculous. You’re telling me that you literally miss the riots happening because you were locked away in your own sex paradise and when you finally come out and realize what’s happened, you pay attention to the aesthetics of the fire and smoke? Are you kidding me?
By the way, we get it: she thinks L.A. is the greatest place on Earth.
Now, as for the touted “hot girlness” of this book, I just don’t even know where to really start. I’m pretty sure being a hot girl is rooted in feminism, so I don’t know where or how or when knowingly sleeping with married men is seen as a “you go, girl!” moment. Or belittling other women that are “dowdy”, or “mousy”, or “preppy.” If these are actually her real-life experiences, and some things are fictionalized, I would run away from people like her. The drama and negativity they bring is just unnecessary.
April 9, 2018
Thank you so much to Counterpoint Press for providing my free copy of BLACK SWANS by Eve Babitz - all opinions are my own.
I read SEX AND RAGE last year and LOVED IT so much I knew I HAD to read this! First off, I’m obsessed with the new cover! And second, I’m still obsessed with Eve’s writing! She is a keen observer and has a way of drawing you in. She writes without judgment, without apologizing, and with so much confidence.
This is a collection of nine short stories that focus on the 1980’s, 1990’s, and of course, Los Angeles. My favorite stories of the group are Tangoland, Jealousy, Black Swans, and Free Tibet. I love that it’s almost the opposite of SEX AND RAGE as it’s a more mellow and sober Eve, but still captures her amazing effervescent, humorous, and intensely personal style. BLACK SWANS is a beautifully written collection of stories that I highly recommend! I adore Eve Babitz and immediately ran out to buy her other books.
I read SEX AND RAGE last year and LOVED IT so much I knew I HAD to read this! First off, I’m obsessed with the new cover! And second, I’m still obsessed with Eve’s writing! She is a keen observer and has a way of drawing you in. She writes without judgment, without apologizing, and with so much confidence.
This is a collection of nine short stories that focus on the 1980’s, 1990’s, and of course, Los Angeles. My favorite stories of the group are Tangoland, Jealousy, Black Swans, and Free Tibet. I love that it’s almost the opposite of SEX AND RAGE as it’s a more mellow and sober Eve, but still captures her amazing effervescent, humorous, and intensely personal style. BLACK SWANS is a beautifully written collection of stories that I highly recommend! I adore Eve Babitz and immediately ran out to buy her other books.
June 24, 2018
My favourite Babitz so far. I don’t know why it’s categorised as fictional short stories when they are memoir essays; I’m guessing it’s to avoid legal issues since she references real people. Regardless, I enjoyed it even more than Slow Days, Fast Company. Free Tibet is an amazing piece, and the title story/essay is also great. 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.
December 5, 2018
This may be my favorite. It's now the 90s. Jim Morrison is dead in Paris, Babitz has given up drugs and drinking, and the nine stories collected here are reminiscent. Marvelous reflection. Aging, AIDS, friends with big houses with children. Tango. Obsessions remembered, abandoned, revisited. L.A.'s temperature is hot and hazy and so is the prose.
March 16, 2022
INTO IT!
thoughts on the tooooob!
thoughts on the tooooob!
August 2, 2022
this was a great introduction to eve babitz! i really loved her writing style and was highlighting quotes constantly. i cant wait for my library loan of sex and rage by her to come in because i think it will be a 5 star read especially now that i know i love babitz's writing <3
my favourite short stories were jealousy and black swans!
my favourite short stories were jealousy and black swans!
April 2, 2025
Babitz will forever be the queen of hedonism and the bygone era of Hollywood. Black Swans is a fun foray into drugs, sex, and the balmy summer days that made up her formative years. While I don't think some aspects of this collection aged particularly well, it's still a fun romp from the outset. Her best passages are the ones with reflection and sentimentality; she's not afraid to simultaneously glorify Hollywood but also chip away at its artificial facade and people. It's the perfect book to transport yourself to summer and immerse yourself in a very personal perspective of time and place.
I love the charm with which Babitz writes and her counterculture persona. I didn't quite enjoy this as much as Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A., but it's a solid collection of stories regardless. She's shallow, narcissistic, and privileged, but acutely self-aware of the world she lives in. What a writer.
Approaching this with a modern lens will likely lead to disappointment (the sentiments around AIDS and race are particularly...eeep), but it's important to consider how much public discourse has evolved since the time in which these stories were set. Someone considered progressive by historic standards is hard to be critical of 50+ years later.
I love the charm with which Babitz writes and her counterculture persona. I didn't quite enjoy this as much as Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A., but it's a solid collection of stories regardless. She's shallow, narcissistic, and privileged, but acutely self-aware of the world she lives in. What a writer.
Approaching this with a modern lens will likely lead to disappointment (the sentiments around AIDS and race are particularly...eeep), but it's important to consider how much public discourse has evolved since the time in which these stories were set. Someone considered progressive by historic standards is hard to be critical of 50+ years later.
February 4, 2022
Eve Babitz sounds pretty racist in this. Her notions of white superiority and elitism definitely show. I enjoyed reading some of her other works so this was disappointing and I found I had to force myself to finish it.
May 21, 2018
Why should you read this book?
I have to admit that until I read Sex and Rage, Eve Babitz was unknown to me. After reading it, I had that magical and transcendental feeling that I had just discovered an unforgettable and unique writer. Black Swans: Stories left me with no doubt: I am sold.
But who is Eve Babitz? Born in Hollywood, in 1943, Babitz is an American author and artist. Los Angeles plays a main role in her fictive memoirs, but so do the men, the artists, and the drugs. And, if we’re talking men, we should just mention that Jim Morrison was one of her many lovers.
Black Swans: Stories, published in 1993, is a collection of brilliant short stories. Babitz explored the modern society of Los Angeles and its beauty and rottenness. Through her honesty, sensitivity and her singular sense of humour, the author wrote about the human condition.
In stories like “Jealousy” and “Free Tibet”, Babitz dealt with our most profound flaws. I asked myself: “how can we be so flawed, so blind, so mean and so self-absorbed…?” “Slumming at the Rodeo Gardens” and “Self-Enchanted City” portray the vanity of Los Angeles and brings into discussion what Babitz calls the ‘self-enchantment’ and the ‘self-enchanted people’. According to her, “Hollywood is a fiction that happened, a tornado of fabrication, a comedy of publicity. (…) Whatever it is, it’s not over yet. Not yet”.
One of my favourite stories is “Black Swans”. What a standout! In this text, Babitz is hopelessly in love with a writer called Walter and is as close to getting married as she would ever be. However, after a magazine that rejected his stories buys one of hers, he abandons Babitz. Although she reconsiders the moment she sent the piece more than once, she had decided she would “become art, not decoration”.
And, in spite of all the plights and the nasty people, Eve Babtiz has always envisioned life like a tango (“Tangoland”). After all, we just can’t turn to mush, we cannot leave, we must stay and resist. I had this constant feeling like Babitz was this older and wiser sister, teaching and revealing me the amazing secrets of life. She doesn’t mind rottenness and impoliteness. She thrives on that and transforms it into beauty, into experience, into learning, into literature, into art.
I also think Eve Babitz knows how to start a short story as few writers do. The beginning of her texts are poetic, beautiful and simple. But all of her writing is, after all. In Black Swans: stories, her words exude wisdom and clarity. Even if sometimes she is insecure, Babitz knows herself. Her sobriety suits her so well.
Eve Babitz became one of my muses, undoubtedly, and one of my favourite female writers. There was this moment, she mentioned that when we admire an author, we think we become that same author; we believe we wrote ourselves those words. Oh my, didn’t I feel this with both of her books…?
Lastly, I’d like to thank Counterpoint for the galley.
For more reviews, follow me on Instagram: @booksturnyouon
I have to admit that until I read Sex and Rage, Eve Babitz was unknown to me. After reading it, I had that magical and transcendental feeling that I had just discovered an unforgettable and unique writer. Black Swans: Stories left me with no doubt: I am sold.
But who is Eve Babitz? Born in Hollywood, in 1943, Babitz is an American author and artist. Los Angeles plays a main role in her fictive memoirs, but so do the men, the artists, and the drugs. And, if we’re talking men, we should just mention that Jim Morrison was one of her many lovers.
Black Swans: Stories, published in 1993, is a collection of brilliant short stories. Babitz explored the modern society of Los Angeles and its beauty and rottenness. Through her honesty, sensitivity and her singular sense of humour, the author wrote about the human condition.
In stories like “Jealousy” and “Free Tibet”, Babitz dealt with our most profound flaws. I asked myself: “how can we be so flawed, so blind, so mean and so self-absorbed…?” “Slumming at the Rodeo Gardens” and “Self-Enchanted City” portray the vanity of Los Angeles and brings into discussion what Babitz calls the ‘self-enchantment’ and the ‘self-enchanted people’. According to her, “Hollywood is a fiction that happened, a tornado of fabrication, a comedy of publicity. (…) Whatever it is, it’s not over yet. Not yet”.
One of my favourite stories is “Black Swans”. What a standout! In this text, Babitz is hopelessly in love with a writer called Walter and is as close to getting married as she would ever be. However, after a magazine that rejected his stories buys one of hers, he abandons Babitz. Although she reconsiders the moment she sent the piece more than once, she had decided she would “become art, not decoration”.
And, in spite of all the plights and the nasty people, Eve Babtiz has always envisioned life like a tango (“Tangoland”). After all, we just can’t turn to mush, we cannot leave, we must stay and resist. I had this constant feeling like Babitz was this older and wiser sister, teaching and revealing me the amazing secrets of life. She doesn’t mind rottenness and impoliteness. She thrives on that and transforms it into beauty, into experience, into learning, into literature, into art.
I also think Eve Babitz knows how to start a short story as few writers do. The beginning of her texts are poetic, beautiful and simple. But all of her writing is, after all. In Black Swans: stories, her words exude wisdom and clarity. Even if sometimes she is insecure, Babitz knows herself. Her sobriety suits her so well.
Eve Babitz became one of my muses, undoubtedly, and one of my favourite female writers. There was this moment, she mentioned that when we admire an author, we think we become that same author; we believe we wrote ourselves those words. Oh my, didn’t I feel this with both of her books…?
Lastly, I’d like to thank Counterpoint for the galley.
For more reviews, follow me on Instagram: @booksturnyouon
September 7, 2021
really enjoyed this, although not as much as slow days, fast company but i think that's because i have a thing for the vibe of 60s/70s california. but eve babitz is just so witty and i always have a great time reading about all the things she got up to back in the day. don’t quite understand why this is labelled ‘fiction’ and why it also says that on the back cover, because to me it’s clearly memoir essays about her life, but maybe that’s just for legal reasons as she’s talking about real people.
Read
January 28, 2022dnf at 55%
I'm sorry but I don't think this is for me
I found this extremely boring 😬
I'm sorry but I don't think this is for me
I found this extremely boring 😬
January 31, 2024
eve babitz cannot disappoint. her storytelling is a gift. do you know how special an author has to be for their words to physically place you within their stories so intricately as if you are there and can see every detail? how she places you in her beloved LA is remarkable. how she takes you by the hand and feeds you her life in anecdotes that enable a bond to form between you and her, despite the differences between you, is like no other. i love being a woman. i love our stories, i love our adventures, and i love how we always feel like a friendly face. there is no work more comforting than hers.
September 25, 2022
Rich people having rich people problems, but in a good - gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss - kinda way
January 10, 2022
This read like if Kit from Pretty Woman, or ummm Vivian, played by Julia Robert’s character in the film, wrote stories of their lives and their friends before she meets Richard Gere and goes nowhere.
It felt very Melrose Place, except with more drugs and.. as I can remember it.. and I can’t remember it too clearly because I was a youngin when that show was on but from what I remember this was giving me heavy Melrose Place vibes.
You know, there were some moments in here that just felt like navel-gazing, pimping-myself-out (which I love), rich-bitch nonsense. And then there were moments of extreme clarity and hyper-focused lucidity delivered with a cutting twist.
Her viewpoints on certain situations re: men and the continuous pursuit of youth and beauty when it comes to women, which we watch these days from famous men like Leo DiCaprio, Kanye West, and trash bag Scott Disick, felt very current and accurate. I felt attacked in their accuracy. Especially towards the end. I love how unwaveringly she states that
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. Like, pretty standard fare.
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.” — I’m paraphrasing but: ma’am… WHAT? Anyway.. you know what.. I’m just gonna continue on..
I got a little bit of Léon Bing vibes from her as well. Voyeuristic type, weirdo vibes. Didn’t surprise me that Babitz thanked her in the thank you/acknowledgments.
It wasn’t too bad. I’d read some more of her work.. RIP to Babitz.
I read this work alongside some Janet Malcolm and Joan Didion to see whose writing style I enjoyed the most. Random reading game. Malcolm represents the East and Didion and Babitz represents the West, North West and South West respectively.. the contrasts in their writing styles, it was like an older white lady East Coast v. West Coast beef in my mind, and I’m not surprised that I’m rocking with Janet Malcolm so hard.
I don’t know how I feel about “the writer” being involved in the observation. Observing themselves in the observation of an event/making both things the focus? It’s a unique writing style apparently popularized by Didion. However, as I’m reading The White Album right now — I just feel like give me the goods, I don’t wanna hear about what you were doing at the same time. Just tell me that story or tell me yours. My brain is tired and I can’t do no mo’!
RIP to the OGs lost since December.
It felt very Melrose Place, except with more drugs and.. as I can remember it.. and I can’t remember it too clearly because I was a youngin when that show was on but from what I remember this was giving me heavy Melrose Place vibes.
You know, there were some moments in here that just felt like navel-gazing, pimping-myself-out (which I love), rich-bitch nonsense. And then there were moments of extreme clarity and hyper-focused lucidity delivered with a cutting twist.
Her viewpoints on certain situations re: men and the continuous pursuit of youth and beauty when it comes to women, which we watch these days from famous men like Leo DiCaprio, Kanye West, and trash bag Scott Disick, felt very current and accurate. I felt attacked in their accuracy. Especially towards the end. I love how unwaveringly she states that
"I’ve always noticed that once you let your looks take over your life, you’re going to spend all the livelong day talking about being too fat, having the wrong hair, and otherwise reducing yourself to the most sluglike common denominator—and if you ask me, someone looking back on the middle class of America during the twentieth century might be horrified to know that all the beautiful girls did nothing but hate their asses, legs, stomachs, and breasts. And what really is shocking about it all, too, the men who committed incest on their own daughters told a lot of them “You’re so fat, no wonder nobody will ever love you.”" — 77% in 'Black Swans' by Eve Babitz
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. Like, pretty standard fare.
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.” — I’m paraphrasing but: ma’am… WHAT? Anyway.. you know what.. I’m just gonna continue on..
I got a little bit of Léon Bing vibes from her as well. Voyeuristic type, weirdo vibes. Didn’t surprise me that Babitz thanked her in the thank you/acknowledgments.
It wasn’t too bad. I’d read some more of her work.. RIP to Babitz.
I read this work alongside some Janet Malcolm and Joan Didion to see whose writing style I enjoyed the most. Random reading game. Malcolm represents the East and Didion and Babitz represents the West, North West and South West respectively.. the contrasts in their writing styles, it was like an older white lady East Coast v. West Coast beef in my mind, and I’m not surprised that I’m rocking with Janet Malcolm so hard.
I don’t know how I feel about “the writer” being involved in the observation. Observing themselves in the observation of an event/making both things the focus? It’s a unique writing style apparently popularized by Didion. However, as I’m reading The White Album right now — I just feel like give me the goods, I don’t wanna hear about what you were doing at the same time. Just tell me that story or tell me yours. My brain is tired and I can’t do no mo’!
RIP to the OGs lost since December.
February 5, 2021
I don’t normally write reviews and don’t think I’m an authority to do so. Consider this as more of a stream of consciousness jotting that would just otherwise be in my notes app taking up dwindling phone storage space. Mostly me talking to myself in line with my new years res to write out my thoughts more, not to share or *shudders* blog, but to be intentional, give them space, and be able to look back on something concrete. Rather than just guessing a year from now how I felt about the book lol. Here goes.
Painfully and wonderfully vain, Black Swans is filled to the brim with nostalgia for, you know, Hollywood baby!! The 90s post-Chateau-Marmont-Balazs-renov LA my parents boogied in, told in that awfully (and I say this with a hint of affection) romanticized and glossed over manner true to Eve’s breezy cool girl reputation. Though it spans a period of ...much tumult, this is not a critical read of that Los Angeles — the racist, splitting at the seams, earthquake-y one. It is a clever and coquettish personal account from an “unabashed hedonist” steeped in the easy glamour of the other LA. The one with famous friends, endless parties, sunny poolside lounging, and artsy indulgence. It is like driving a collectible convertible with the top down and nary a care about breathing in the smog — though the smog is very real and quite pertinent. This book is emphatically about Eve’s LA, the one that is authentic and true to her, not the LA of marginalized communities. So pick this up if you want to feel the same kind of smooth wistfulness you would when flipping through faded vintage black and white photos of strangers at a soirée. 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. Overall a pleasure of a read, but minus one star because I couldn’t shake that latter feeling.
Painfully and wonderfully vain, Black Swans is filled to the brim with nostalgia for, you know, Hollywood baby!! The 90s post-Chateau-Marmont-Balazs-renov LA my parents boogied in, told in that awfully (and I say this with a hint of affection) romanticized and glossed over manner true to Eve’s breezy cool girl reputation. Though it spans a period of ...much tumult, this is not a critical read of that Los Angeles — the racist, splitting at the seams, earthquake-y one. It is a clever and coquettish personal account from an “unabashed hedonist” steeped in the easy glamour of the other LA. The one with famous friends, endless parties, sunny poolside lounging, and artsy indulgence. It is like driving a collectible convertible with the top down and nary a care about breathing in the smog — though the smog is very real and quite pertinent. This book is emphatically about Eve’s LA, the one that is authentic and true to her, not the LA of marginalized communities. So pick this up if you want to feel the same kind of smooth wistfulness you would when flipping through faded vintage black and white photos of strangers at a soirée. 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. Overall a pleasure of a read, but minus one star because I couldn’t shake that latter feeling.
August 20, 2021
i really wanted to enjoy this book because of gg reboot. although eve babitz's writing style is fun and confident, writing so casually about certain topics like cheating as if it is normal ticked me off. it's not wild or adventurous to cheat on your partners, it's just something a horrible person would do. i guess it lacks empathy, it is shallow, and it is too self-absorbed throughout the entire book. i really had a hard time reading it. since these are based on her real-life experiences, i would probably run away if i met someone like her in real life.
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