Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A.

Written by Eve Babitz

Narrated by Mia Barron

Eve Babitz captured the voluptuous quality of L.A. in the1960s in a wildly original, totally unique voice. These stories are time capsule gems, as poignant and startling today as they were when published in the early 1970s. Eve Babitz is not well known today, but she should be. Her first hand experiences in the L.A. cultural scene, translated into haunting fiction, are an unforgettable glimpse at a lost world and a magical time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501926525

Eve Babitz

Eve Babitz was born and grew up in Hollywood. She began to write in 1972 after designing album covers for such artists as Linda Ronstadt, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, and Lord Buckley. Her articles and short stories have appeared in Vogue, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The New York Times Book Review. Her books include Eve’s Hollywood, Slow Days, Fast Company, Two by Two, and Sex and Rage. She died in 2021. 

Reviews for Slow Days, Fast Company

[tommcgreevy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Babitz at her best is a great writer, and there are a number of essays in here that are compelling and pack a serious punch. They look at the world, dissect it, and look some more. Unrelenting, but not cruel, curious, not vicious. Read it.

[jphamilton-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved Eve Babitz’s novel, Eve’s Hollywood, which came out in 1974 and captured her fans of all sorts, as she exposed the 1960s through mostly the L.A. scene, all from the inside. In that book, she casually dropped famous names from rock music, the art scene, as well as some of the biggest film stars, not as dry reporting, but from her personal and legendary experience. She was linked “romantically” (as the press of that time wrote) with so many stars. She was drinking heavily, partying hardy, dropping all manner of drugs, and very active sexually, as she was on her way to becoming a legend. The style of that previous book was looser and much more scattered than Slow Days, Fast Company, which while still describing the excesses of the 1960s and 70s, is better written. Yet, while containing a more refined style of writing, I have to say that if I’d read this title first, I’m not sure I would have read more of her work, as I so loved the wildness of what she was living and writing. In a way, I miss some of the excesses and the pure chaos of the first book, but I still loved this book. She will be in the middle of describing and explaining a scene, when she will drop killer lines that are so clever, wild, and unexplained, but that fit the story perfectly. I’ll come back to this review after I reflect on the book some more.

[encephalical · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Vignettes based on the author's life in LA during the mid 60s through mid 70s. Perfect. I'd never heard of Babitz, had no preconceived notions of what to expect and was gobsmacked by how great the writing was.

[ivanborodin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book delivers on its promise--and then some. I read it twice in a single month, and participated at a local Hollywood book club (which added to this novel's mystique, as we discussed places mentioned in the book that are still alive and kicking). Eve's (and yes, I feel like I can speak of her using her first name, because of the intimacy shared within the pages of her novel) passion for life is something I both admire and respect.