Malibu Rising
A Novel
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4.1 • 385 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Malibu 1983. Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of one night, each of their lives will be changed forever in this propulsive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six.
Malibu is buzzing with anticipation for Nina Riva's annual party. Everyone wants to be in the company of the famous Rivas: Nina, the surfer and model; her brothers, Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other his renowned photographer; and Kit, the adored baby of the family. As if that picture-perfect family isn't enough, their father is Mick Riva, the legendary singer.
By morning, the Riva mansion will have burned to the ground. And no one will know how the fire started. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play and the loves and secret yearnings that shaped this family across generations will all come bubbling to the surface to make for a night no one will ever forget.
This is a story about family: about what you choose to keep from the people who made you, and what you must leave behind.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Do you love soapy historical dramas, but are getting tired of Regency fashion and world wars? You need Taylor Jenkins Reid. The author follows up her dishy love letter to ‘70s rock, Daisy Jones & the Six, with a beachside melodrama set over one August weekend in 1983. Even though her failed marriage is all over the tabloids, supermodel Nina Riva feels obliged to throw her annual blowout party. All three of Nina’s siblings are dealing with romantic baggage, too—including a love triangle involving both of her brothers. Reid also flashes back to the whirlwind 1950s romance of the pack’s parents—teenage waitress June and aspiring rocker Mick Riva—and tracks them through the implosion of their marriage. And we’re treated to vignettes of the bad behaviour of guests at the Riva’s boozy-druggy-sexy bacchanal. Malibu Rising is a gleeful melodrama that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reid (Daisy Jones and the Six) unfurls a fast-paced and addictive story of a group of celebrity siblings in Malibu. There's model Nina Riva, pro surfer Jay, photographer Hudson, and Kit, an aspiring professional surfer. The Rivas' absentee philandering father, Mick, won over their mother, June, with a sultry singing voice that propelled him to stratospheric fame in the 1950s. This setup launches the novel's two braided timelines: Mick and June's love story and tragic unraveling, and the narrative of what happens on Saturday, Aug. 27, 1983: the day of the Riva siblings' legendary annual party. Everyone who's anyone in Los Angeles attends, the rule being, "If you were cool enough to know about the party, you were cool enough to come to the party." The author capably tracks the siblings' emotionally fraught journeys—especially that of Nina, whose husband has run off just before the party—and evokes a bygone Malibu's natural and social hazards in sharp, descriptive writing, connected by a leitmotif of fire. "Malibu catches fire. It is simply what Malibu does from time to time," the opening lines read, foreshadowing disaster. Reid's handling of the various arcs is impressive, but the novel's climactic scenes verge on melodramatic. Still, this page-turning indulgence hits the spot.
Customer Reviews
Awesome Read
Keeps you interested
A MUST READ
Blown away by Taylor Jenkins Reid’s ability to transport readers. Loved every minute of this read. Do yourself a favor and read it!!
Easy read
Enjoyed the family of complicated characters