Book Review: “Malibu Rising” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

She had me with the opening sentence, “Malibu catches fire.”

This is the story of a remarkable family, which has endured a weird combination of awfulness and good fortune.  I mean, the kids were abandoned by their father, and then their mom died.  But they had a Malibu beach house to live in, and quickly came into money from surfing and modelling.  So, bad stuff, but astonishing good fortune.

The events in the story center on a climactic party, which attracts all kinds of people, from the local grocery clerks to Hollywood A Listers.  Obviously, this is the Malibu we all dream of!

Jenkins Reid has fun getting inside the heads of these beautiful, famous, and wanna be people.  Almost everyone is looking for love, and to be seen as they really are.  And when people put aside all the Hollywood posing, and really see each other, they find love and happiness.

So, this is about love. It is also about parenting, and, boy, parents don’t come off all that well. Especially fathers, or men in general.

But there seems to be hope in the next generation, who seem to maybe, finally, got something of a clue.  We can hope.

I wonder if we might here from some of the Rivas in future stories.

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1. Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising, New York, Ballantine Books, 2021.

Sunday Book Reviews