Bianca

Dec 21, 2021

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: 4.5/5

What an amazing read. Honestly. I wish I could put into words how great this story is but this novel is 10x more eloquent than I could ever be. It's not often that you read a wonderful story about sibling dynamics. At least for me, I tend to reach more towards the romance genre but this non-romance-centred story was captivating and I couldn't put it down.

This story is set in 1983, and even though it is before my time and I didn't understand all the references I was still able to fully invest myself in this novel. I think by no means do you need to understand 80s culture to enjoy this book. The story follows the four Riva siblings Nina, Jay, Hud and Kit and their upbringing. It follows these four sibling's life in malibu before the location became famous for celebrities and what it was like to be the kids of the famous singer Mick Riva. It does a great job of describing family dynamics and creates great storylines for all the siblings following their family secrets. I love how each character in this book is grounded and there is no real villain, just people making mistakes. I like how in-depth in went which each one of the Riva's.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys psychological fiction with a bit of mystery. Or anyone whose favourite part of reading is getting to know the characters. I think Taylor is an excellent author of our generation and will be known as a great author for the generations to come. Now I'm going to go into a spoiler section but please before you judge go pick this up and give it a read-through and form your own opinion on Talyor Jenkins Reid's writing.

*SPOILER SECTION*

Now if we are going through favourite character storylines I especially liked June's. Her storyline was tragic yet inspiring. I was mad at her, to be honest for becoming an alcoholic instead of being there for her kids but, not every story is perfect and she tried to give her kids the best that she could. What she went through was terrible and a long process and I liked how she is the perfect example of someone who is just human. And humans make good and bad decisions. This novel showed realistic characters that are not meant to be perfect and there isn't going to be the perfect happy ending for everyone. I love how this story flowed and kept you engaged. I think it did a great job switching between timelines and switching between character perspectives. I never got bored reading from the different character's points of view and found each storyline for the siblings beautiful. I like how sometimes Jenkins added a random story from a side character's point of view. My favourite time she did this was at the party since it add a different twist to the regular storyline. It makes the story feel more real and it makes me think about my own life of how everyone around me is their own main character. This book was able to make the reader understand each character's choices they made even if they didn't agree. I liked the full-circle moment with the fire. I loved how she started the book by saying a fire would burn down the house cause it kept you turning the page right until the very end figuring out why and how the fire started. I didn't think anything was placed on the back burner when talking about the story. The plot was well thought out and the characters were relatable with human qualities that made you root for them. I think that this story is unique and would be a good read for anyone to enjoy. Taylor Jenkins just knows what she is doing when she is writing and it shows in this book.