Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

99 reviews

dkgreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The thing about Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books is that they sink their claws into you. They’re ridiculously engaging, her characters are whole and terribly real, and you can’t help becoming so invested in the story unfolding on the page in front of you that you can hardly breathe. This might be the only TJR book that hasn’t made me cry, but it made my chest ache in a way that only deep connection and an abundance of feels can.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

s_caldecott's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

dannythestreet's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, Stalking, Abortion, and Classism

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage, Car accident, and Abortion

amgarrido's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

TW: alcoholism, abandonment, death (of parent), drug use, cheating, addiction, sexual harassment, divorce, violence, fire, injury, sexism, parentified child, childhood trauma

Oh to be a Riva! On the surface, the four Riva siblings seem to have it all: fame, fortune and each other. But by the end of the night, everything's changed. This is what drew me in, that the whole book was set over the course of one night. The character analysis started off well and I enjoyed the switch between flashbacks and present day as we learned more and more about the Rivas.

I was expecting 80s beach-babe Malibu vibes, but I wasn't expecting this book to approach and handle some heavier topics like death, grief, divorce, betrayal, alcoholism and family issues. Although it is a TJR book, so actually that's on me for not thinking this would pack an emotional punch. I thought these topics were handled well, and the characters struggles felt realistic. I was able to empathise with them despite their sickening level of wealth (rich kids 😔🥲).

The first part was setting up for something massive—secrets revealed and people exposed. I was excited to watch it all unravel over the course of a night. However, what followed was an underwhelming and understated second half. New characters were introduced too frequently to fully care (which I admit is truthful of large parties) and so much more could've been done when a certain character arrived. I was left disappointed and sad. The ending was emotional but not in a cathartic way–although I guess life is often like that. These characters deserved better endings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

juvonh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, and Vomit

guivx5's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I find interesting that every Jenkins book I've read so far differs quite a bit in their formats. "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" bases itself in an interview recording scenario; "Daisy Jones & The Six" is centered around an actual interview transcript. "Malibu Rising", on the other hand, is centered around what happens when the cameras are turned off. 

The book is divided in two very defined parts, a very bold move. It was, together with her cutting-edge writing style, risky: if the story was not well supported, it would fall upon itself. But it didn't, because it is a hell of a story. Maybe missing some bits here and there, but very consistent. The consistency between her books is a prime indicator of the care and passion put in these stories. You can feel, with every line, Jenkin's efforts to honor these characters. 

About the inconsistencies, they're truly not the biggest deal. Not even that big of a deal.

I personally feel she should've developed more on all siblings other than Nina. Of course, Nina is the center, but Jay's disease plot felt a bit... flat, the treatment it got in the storyline didn't match it's importance. And the same goes for Kit's sexuality (that got a mere two pages worth of development) and Hud's relationship with Ashley (This is the one lacking the most. Jay's beef with Hud for their relationship is so <i>dull</i>, so unexplained. Jenkins has a very straightforward writing style: she tells you what is going on, what that means and how the characters involved feel. If she simply addressed the sexist and idiotic nature of this conflict, it would be enough. But she chose to use it as a narrative point for forgiveness). But, after all, this is a story about an absent father, so I feel like she could've also left these side plots out of the story.

The book's two parts are very different, with the first one focusing on the past and the second one truly devoting itself to express the wild nature of an out-of-control party. Again, risky. But I like it.

Although I felt like a couple of side stories in the second half of the book were kinda useless.

In the end, the story handles well pretty much every aspect it proposes to elaborate on: parenting, abandonment, sexist men and their never-ending urge to fuck everything up... The list goes on, for the nuances Jenkins shows in her stories are many. I surely didn't expect it would be such a good reading experience, and I'm proud to announce that Taylor Jenkins still is one of my favorite authors of all time!

The most heartbreaking thing for Jenkins's fans after reading "Malibu Rising" is realizing that Mick Riva appeared in almost every recent book of hers. He was everywhere, but never where he was needed: with his children.

...

I swear to God, this woman puts crack between the lines of her books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

men are terrible lol.
i most enjoyed the plots concerning the core four siblings and, later, their plus-one. you'd think they be the majority of the plot, but there are a lot of subplots that have little-to-no bearing on the main storyline, and i understand wanting to make this gigantic party with all these interesting people feel more alive, but after a while i stopped caring and just wanted to skip to the Rivas. it was overall pretty good though
book cover discussion: the British one is so much better than that of the United States, like the pretty sunset/fire (👀) colors, the serif font. unfortunately it doesn't carry over perfectly to the square aspect ratio for the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

anniefwrites's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved diving into this world and the lives of the characters, who all felt so real. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing style is so attentive to the minutiae of everyday life and also the incommunicable parts of Big Feelings.

But the ending to me felt contrived, almost too saccharine. I found it hard to believe that SO many plot lines would all be resolved in one night. I wanted things to be more open-ended than they were.

I also started getting confused by the sheer number of characters toward the end. But I loved the core family members—especially Kit—and would have been happy just to live in a world with them where nothing really happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail