Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2021
Malibu Rising is a stand-alone novel that is part of what I’ve heard called the Mick Riva universe: a series of four novels that delve into the domestic and public lives of Hollywood celebrities in the 20th century, and how they are—ever so slightly—intertwined with each other. For example, Mick Riva, A-list celebrity in Malibu Rising, is a small character in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as one of Evelyn’s 7 husbands.
Mick Riva is the star of Malibu Rising’s secondary story line, set 1956 into present day 1983. In this progression of time, we see how his and his first wife’s actions affect their 4 celebrity adult children, who he abandoned in their youth. Mick’s eldest daughter, Nina Riva (25) is the protagonist of the main storyline sequencing the events of the 24 hour day (7am-7pm) she throws her annual end of August celebrity bash.
The complexity of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s characters is astonishing. Nina Riva has a perpetual guilt complex and spreads herself very thin for the sake of everybody else. She works as a celebrity surf model in Malibu—despite hating the sexualization of her body—because her beauty made easy money when she was young and essentially raising her younger siblings Jay, Hud, and Kit (24, 23, 20), who are all in the surfing industry as well.
The narrative swaps between Nina’s party preparation in 1983 and Mick Riva’s rise to fame in 1956. When he met their mother June in 1956, the two were desperate for each other. Mick was quite the gentleman and earnestly devoted himself to June despite his popularity catching on. Mick, however, is just a man—which I say ironically but I also do think this is one of Reid’s main points. After he gets famous, he cheats on June again, and again, and again. Two lovely marriages and two heartbreaking divorces later, he abandons not only June, but his four young children altogether (this is right after Kit is born).
When June dies by heartbreak and alcoholism in 1975, Mick doesn’t even send a sympathy card. He approves a teenage Nina’s file for custody of her siblings, and that is all. But the beauty of the story is in the complexity of the character. The thing about Mick Riva is he isn’t a bad guy—he loves June, and in his absence, he aches for her and his children but as an A-list celebrity on tour, he is constantly tempted on the road. And then, having the big heart that he does, he believes he’s in love again and again and again. His intention has never been to hurt anyone.
And then after June dies, he just can’t face his children. It’s just too many years that have gone by. Until, that is, around 2am on the night of Nina’s party, which, by the way, is completely out of hand with hundreds of celebrities hanging off chandeliers, throwing China on the floors, and doing blow in the bathrooms (and doing blowing in the pools).
The kids’ storylines are as follows: Nina’s renowned tennis player husband Brandon Randall has just left her for renowned tennis player Carrie Soto (Carrie Soto is Back is one of the four novels in this interconnected series). Nina is alone, living in his cliffside mansion, thinking that she misses him. Jay is in love with a girl he’s just met, Lara, after having just been dumped by his ex-girlfriend Ashley, who he wasn’t too bummed about anyway. He will be, though, when he finds out his brother (and best friend) Hudson has been sleeping with her for months. Hudson and Ashely are nervous to break the news to Jay tonight at the party. Kit, the baby of the family, feels like the black sheep—young; not taken seriously; less beautiful, she thinks, than her model sister Nina; a little boyish; has never been kissed.
All of these characters—and incredibly, even like 10 small characters whose names and one-page snippets we get without much else—go through such lasting changes about themselves during this 24 hour period. It’s an impressive craft of dynamism that Reid is able to fit so much into one cycle of day and night.
And, naturally, the many lessons to be learned from this novel. It’s okay to choose yourself first. It’s okay to let go of anger. You aren’t wrong just because your decision is hurtful. Be your total self. Be untraditional. EVen through Mick Riva, the kids learn the complexity of humans—that their father, though never a good dad, is somebody with a soul. And, further, they learn that it’s okay not to forgive him, but they don’t have to live with hatred for him.
You come out of this book thinking that life is so uncertain. Life is so uncertain and all you’ve got to do is live it. And there’s no shame in love, even when it hurts! And god, it does. Their mother died from it! Love hard but learn to let go of it too.
The main genre of Malibu Rising is historical fiction. I’m not sure how historical this feels, other than that it takes place between the 50s and 80s. It does talk about Malibu fires—which historically happen again and again and again. This was the novel’s perfect beginning and end. Fire burns—but in destruction, things are born again.
5/5. I would give this one a 6/5 if I could.
Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism and Death
Quotes: (Did I mention how beautiful TJR’s writing is?!)
Instead, Nina Riva stood on the edge of the cliff she’d never wanted, and looked out onto the water she wished was closer, and for the first time in her quiet life, screamed into the wind.
Beautiful but maybe a little bit awkward. Awkward but maybe beautiful.
“You will be,” he told her. He would tell her whatever she wanted to hear. That was the way that he loved her.
“The thing that upsets me the most,” June said, plainly, “is that I think I knew it, already. That you weren’t being faithful. But I put it out of my head because I trusted what you said more than I trusted myself.”
I will be more than this, June thought to herself, I am more than just a woman he left.
