Stuff I Read: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

It’s the end of summer, 1983 in Malibu, California: time for the last days on the beach, the end of tourist season, the end of tourist season, and the annual bash thrown by a surfing family of local celebrities. But when that family’s secrets bubble up through the course of the day and the party, will it be the end of the celebration and that family’s bond? Taylor Jenkins Reid explores one family’s legacy in her 2021 novel, Malibu Rising.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Malibu Rising follows the Riva siblings: bubbly surf supermodel Nina; cocky and suave pro surfer, Jay; Jay’s (sorta) twin and photographer, Hudson; and headstrong youngest child, Kit. As the summer of 1983 winds to a close, the entire town looks forward to the party to end all parties. It defines and reflects your social standing in town; no one is uninvited, but only those “in” enough to know about the party know its location. And this year’s party is at the palatial home that Nina shares with her pro tennis player husband. However, the family looks forward to the party as a distraction from issues both public and private. Nina’s husband has left her—very publicly—for a mercurial tennis pro. Jay has a health secret that could derail his surfing career. Hud has a secret love that would severely damage his relationship with Jay if it ever got out. And Kit secretly deals with figuring herself out while trying to be taken seriously as a surfer. The various dramas crash and roll over the course of a single day, as flashbacks delve into their collective childhood and the background of their parents: Malibu native, June, whose family ran a local seafood restaurant, and 60’s pop icon, Mick Riva. That rise-and-fall love story (tragically) plays out parallel to the main plot, and shows how these kids’ complex relationship with their parents still affect their lives.

Taylor Jenkins Reid understands who her characters are, even better than they do, and it’s impressive and fun to see their relationships take shape over the course of the narrative. The siblings’ pack dynamic is effective and—coming from a large family, myself—feels realistic and familiar. Families are complicated and fickle things, and this one is handled beautifully. Also, the specter of their famous father looms large over their lives, even though his presence is sporadic at best. June Riva is a good parent in that she never actively spoke ill of her ex-husband, and that’s another thing that feels accurate. I enjoyed June and Mick’s tragic story, and the role it played in binding these people to one another. Lastly, I appreciate the effort to make this family, who are nearly revered by the locals, seem almost normal. They don’t care who their friends are, in the sense that some were famous, some were not, but everyone was who came to the party was welcomed. Little things like that make me thoroughly enjoy characters.

I generally try to find something, a flaw or detail that I didn’t 100% love, to make the case that I’m being objective. Nothing is perfect, art least of all. I can’t find it in this one. It was marvelously executed and I loved it wire-to-wire, as I did with her previous book. What I can say (though with not the least bit of seriousness) is that I found out about an Easter egg from a previous book of hers, and now my completionist ass has to read that book to get the full, 100% understanding of Malibu Rising. Not cool, TJR.

That said, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is on my 2022 reading queue. I’ll review that ASAP.

Look, when the mind behind Daisy Jones & The Six puts out a new book, you buy and read the book. It’s that simple. Buy the damn thing.

Pros: Strong family dynamic, fun plot, well-paced, fascinating character study.

Cons: Reference to one of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s previous novels forces completionists to fork over more money for more brilliant writing, adding one more thing to an already overloaded TBR list.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.