Driving Under the Affluence Author:Julia Phillips From the Publisher — What's it like to be admired, acknowledged, admonished, reviled and fired by Kim Basinger, Tom Wolfe, Goldie Hawn, Don Henley and David Geffen in a single 24-hour period, adjusting for bicoastal time differences? What's it like to be No.1 on The New York Times bestseller list and owe six figures to the Internal Revenue Servic... more »e? What's it like to be outraged by Rodney King's beating, then to be physically attacked by black street people? What's it like to fight fires, flood, earthquakes, mudslides, riots and power failures when you're on a deadline? What's it like to be the only reporter covering a Dress Rehearsal for the End of the World?
In this riveting sequel to her 1991 debut, Julia Phillips answers all those questions and expands the bright light of her brutal wit and frank observation beyond the electric-gated, celebrity-studded, five-star-restaurant world of You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again to shine relentlessly on all of Los Angeles, particularly its darker corners.
Grinding her teeth and ferociously lane-changing through gridlock, though she can barely stand to leave her bed, Phillips brazenly navigates from Brentwood to the Barrio, Carmelina Avenue to Crenshaw Boulevard, Outpost Road to the outskirts of Malibu, Washington Boulevard to the Watts Towers to Hightower to the Men's Club to Club Louie to Club Fuck.
Travel as Phillips' invisible passenger on an exhilarating -- often hilarious -- heart-pounding spin she calls "A Deal in Search of a Story", and meet a compelling and eclectic cast of suspects she's dubbed "Those Boys/Those Girls," artfully captured candid shots displayed remorselessly in a cyber-spatial gallery: the addicted nurse, the abused bodyguard, the bisexual trainer, the sober bartender, the waiter who delivers left-behind glasses to a favored customer, and the murdered and the murderers.
Keep your seatbelt tightly clasped as Phillips, pedal to the metal, negotiates acts of God, parenthood, root canal, liposuction, back surgery, instant infamy, IRS collectors and the undying enmity of a humorless, unforgiving male Hollywood establishment. Searching for a solution to her tax problem, not to mention the hero of her mythic novel, a talking dog named Crackers.« less