Book Review: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: June 1, 2021
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.
The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.
Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.
And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.
By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.
Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.
Malibu Rising ostensibly takes place on just one day in 1983 at a party thrown by Nina Riva, a famous surfer and model. However, there are flashbacks throughout filling us in on the Riva children and their parents. Their absentee father is the famous singer Mick Riva. Nina, the oldest, raised her younger siblings – Jay and Kit also surf and Hud is a famous photographer. The party at Nina’s gets wilder and wilder as the night goes on, eventually spinning completely out of control. The Riva children’s lives have been pretty chaotic over the years as well.
This is the first Taylor Jenkins Reid novel that I’ve read. Everyone raves about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six. I can only assume that they are a lot better than Malibu Rising. This book fell flat for me. I understood what Reid was trying to do but she didn’t quite get there. It was the party that got to me the most. I think it was supposed to be a satirical and perhaps humorous statement on how famous people lack self-awareness and can be quite horrible. But the antics of the party-goers were too over the top for even me to suspend disbelief and I didn’t really find them to be funny. I also thought the dialogue was stilted and simplistic. I did like the plotline about the siblings’ childhoods and their relationship with one another. That could have been developed more and the entire party thing scrapped and it would have been great. All that being said, I will try either Daisy or Evelyn at some point so don’t @ me Taylor Jenkins Reid stans! (Just kidding – feel free to tell me why I’m wrong.)
