“It was a place so listless and without character, so flat that mirages of water on the road appeared closer than they did anywhere else I’d ever been. How could a young person want to stay there? It was beyond the realm of possibility.”
“The Blackboard looked like it might twirl into heaven with just another double tequila.”
“He reminded me of men I knew in New York who tried to be vegetarians and played recorder duets by Mozart.’’
The plot wandered a bit, and the beautiful writing style didn’t quite help this fact. Sometimes rants occurred, and they were so nicely written that it was just easy to forget where you were in the story and what happened previously. I don’t think this is too bad, for me personally, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend this to everyone. I kind of liked just reading, and not focusing too much on what was truly occurring. If I had to describe what happened in this book I’d say this: lots of trips, you don’t stay in one place for long. Despite its name, the book doesn’t always take place in L.A., and yet it’s undeniably a product of someone who came from it.
Sexuality plays a minor role in this book. There are no sexually explicit scenes, but there are many romances and hints at it. Later on, Shawn is an important personality. He’s first implied to be gay, but then he easily slips into a relationship with Babitz. Babitz also meets someone named Day Tully, who later gets involved with Babitz’s lover William after a threesome. Then comes this quote:
“How could she, Shawn, have gone with William when I wanted her?”
I’m not here to speculate on sexuality, since I don’t know much about Eve Babitz herself. But I enjoyed the way sex — and, by extension, sexuality — was viewed in a casual way. Sex is art, Babitz wrote in this book. And I’m inclined to agree.
Babitz does not stop herself from critiquing men, she claims that chivalry is “just another nefarious masculine scheme to keep women in their place.” Babitz mentions how men don’t appreciate women in the same way that other women do it: “That high gloss, which floored women, went right over men’s heads. It was as though they had no receivers for her particular wavelength.” I don’t think Slow Days, Fast Company is some great Feminist Novel, but I don’t think it was meant to be either. These critiques are casual, but I do think they offer some nice insights and opinions.
“Women want to be loved like roses. They spend hours perfecting their eyebrows and toes and inventing irresistible curls that fall by accident down the back of their necks from otherwise austere hair-dos. They want their lover to remember the way they held a glass. They want to haunt.”
“Men don’t work like that as far as I’ve been able to judge. Men aren’t haunted by the way a woman holds a glass. Men are haunted by women who’re just like the one who married dear old dad.”
Drugs and fame are also talked about. Drug overdoses are mentioned multiple times, and Babitz knows multiple people who have died from them. According to Babitz, success smells like “burnt cloth and rancid gardenias.” I think this book gives a good view of L.A. in the 60s, and its scene of fame, art, and drugs.
I enjoyed this book very much, even though its plot was kind of a wave that passes by without hitting you directly. It gets a little slow at the end, but the writing style makes up for it. Babitz’s style is not only beautiful, but she’s also quite sassy and comedic. The story doesn’t take itself seriously at all, and there are many humorous comments made.
“The idea of an “artistic community” evaporates into the slow days. Inspiration and words like that get hurried along with the fast company; it’s impossible to tell if one’s been inspired, or if it was the cocaine, or what.”