I cannot overstate how much I loved this book. Babitz is such a sharp writer, and hilarious. She writes about the LA that the world imagines it to be, glamorous and sexy, hedonistic and privileged, and yet she imbues it all with an existential reflection that makes you realize just how frail and flawed and human all these people are. Their skin may glow in the golden sun, but the hard shadows cast from it create an abyss into which they cannot help but stare.