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

Los Angeles has a complicated history, and its potential as a setting for novels is well-known. Eve Babitz's "Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A." is one of the city's most important literary works, depicting the complexity and energy of the city through the lives of its varied characters.

"Slow Days, Fast Company" takes the reader on a journey through Los Angeles and its inhabitants. The book is split into two parts, divided by the death of Elena, a prominent figure in the first half. The first part follows various people as they move through the city, engaging with its various communities, art, and culture. The second half tells the story of a group of friends in the Los Angeles art scene connected by their social life and artistic ambitions, each of which will shape the future of their city.

The characters that inhabit this world are diverse and multi-dimensional. At the book’s center are two roommates – Bunny, a bored heiress determined to use her resources to find excitement, and Elena, an ambitious young artist struggling to make it in the Los Angeles art scene. The supporting cast jumps from the awkward hustle of TV producers and advertisers, to pot-smoking ‘boho’ artists, to the old-moneyed and new-moneyed society types, to the neurotic movie star actresses that drive the city’s entertainment industry.

Babitz draws these characters together in vignettes of Los Angeles’s frenetic life. The city is a playground for their hedonistic pursuits and art projects, but also a place to seek profit and gain power. To top it all off, the book is written in a distinctly Los Angeles voice both observant and resigned, often darkly comic.

Underlying "Slow Days, Fast Company" is the theme of loyalty among friends and the inevitability of change. Bunny and Elena’s story brings the book to a bittersweet conclusion as they learn to continually honor and break their promises to each other. The novel’s characters are also forced to confront their mortality and the end of their era in the city. These themes help render the book an enduring portrait of Los Angeles and a celebration of the love and pain of friendship.

"Slow Days, Fast Company" is an unforgettable look at the history, the people, and the city of Los Angeles. Its energy, humor, and insight elevate it to one of the great works of literature set against the city’s sprawling backdrop. Through Babitz’s characters, readers gain a vision of Los Angeles as a kaleidoscope of the lives of those who inhabit it.