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. 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.
There’s an impeccable sense of balance in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Malibu Rising, a natural order in which every action meets its equal and opposite reaction ... Part of the fun of Reid’s recent novels is the way she reveals the machinery of celebrity life ... Reid’s sense of pacing is sublime as she introduces and dispenses with a revolving door of characters to approximate the chaos of a rager where sloshed A-listers couple up in the closets and waiters pass trays of cocaine.
Structurally, Malibu Rising is tight and propulsive ...Each sibling has their own storyline, subplots that have a gossipy and compelling, if slightly obvious feel ... Their parents’ story is equally engrossing, in a Netflix bingeworthy kind of way ... Malibu Rising is finely crafted commercial fiction, escapism in high definition, a quintessential beach read.
With this book, Taylor Jenkins Reid delivers a multifaceted perspective on family, love, fame and what it takes to start over ... One of the downfalls of the story was that it promised so much with this party, yet the delivery fell short for me. It delved a lot in the shallow side of Hollywood with an emphasis on the excessive drinking, the sex scandals, the drugs and the violence, which almost made me lose track of what was important. It almost made the book lose its substance.Malibu Rising is a fast-paced story that explores what it takes to be a parent, with all its intricacies. At its core, it is about how you can love someone with all your heart and still mess up horribly. What matters, in the end, is that you commit to loving them, you show up each time and you try to do better.
