Malibu Rising

Malibu Rising was the first book I read by Taylor Jenkins Reid. As soon as I finished, I read three more of her novels. All of them made me feel great. Hers are stories you can lose yourself in and come out feeling refreshed and optimistic.

Malibu Rising centers around the adult Riva siblings, children whose parents stopped parenting long before the kids were equipped to care for themselves. Particularly impacted is Nina, the oldest, who has spent her life making choices that prioritize the well-being of everyone except herself. 

This is a book about dealing with old wounds, the… show more.

I love all of Taylor Jenkin Reid’s books, but Malibu Rising is my favorite. The novel follows the complex history of four close-knit siblings and explores their relationships from each perspective. Although the story is set against the backdrop of a single twenty-four-hour period, the storytelling spans multiple decades, switching seamlessly between past and present. Additionally, Reid draws loosely on characters from her other books in a clever way that makes readers of her other works feel like they are in on the secret.

Malibu Rising is a novel that captures the glamour, the empty façades, and the excesses of a celebrity-oriented surfing family. Malibu is part of the L.A. scene, a mix of money, sport, beach culture, and make-believe, in approximately equal parts. Jenkins Reid focuses on the events of a single day when four siblings are throwing the end-of-summer party. Hundreds show up and the party catalyzes the individual and family tensions, until excess turns into mayhem and disaster. The four siblings are surfers and one gathers that the waves and their consequences are a proxy for lives lived on the edge:… show more.