Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - Malibu Rising

I'm always shocked at how cinematic Taylor Jenkins Reid makes her work. Honestly, if the film adaptation is looking for a director, call me up, because I have so many ideas and can already picture the shots of so many scenes.

Job application aside, I did really enjoy this work. The way that Reid explores love and self-limiting beliefs and just family in general was so complex and raw. Allowing us as an audience to experience so many different times and places and perspectives provided us such a helpful wide scope of understanding. The build up of the story as a whole was so well done that even though the end of the story is revealed in the introduction, I still completely forgot how we were going to end up because of how captivated I was in the present moment of each chapter. But the thing that I loved the most was the incredible way that this book discussed generational trauma. It is such a fragile, nuanced topic and Reid's layered approach, manipulating it to slowly build up over time, allowed for it to be such a profound discovery by audience and character alike.

Though Reid's writing style isn't my preference, I do think it is objectively near-perfect. It's accessible and palatable yet deeply detailed and emotional. I feel there are few people I could recommend this book to who wouldn't like it, if any. Reid's books will become classics one day, I'm sure of it.

Content Warnings

kikicochrane's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was my first book by TJR as it came highly recommended through BookTube, and I was not disappointed. The array of characters and the hardships that the Riva siblings went through together hit close to home for me which made it easy to relate to their hardships. I enjoyed how captivated I was by the heartache and sadness of the story with June & Mick and how their relationship played a role in how their children grew up.

The tone of the story is focused heavily on sadness and anger, but there are uplifting moments and overcoming fears.

Overall I enjoyed this summertime read.

Content Warnings

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad slow-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

At its core, Malibu Rising is about 4 siblings who are the children of famous singer Mick Riva and how they have grappled with abandonment, loss, and actively breaking the patterns of their parents before them. It takes place both over one night at the "Riva party" with flashback chapters (which i loved) throughout that detail their parents meeting and ultimately the early lives of the children. I personally think that chapters like this are one of TJR's main strengths. It made the book give me similar vibes to Evelyn Hugo, which makes sense given that one of the characters is one of Evelyn's husbands in that book. Speaking of which, I loved the ties the book had to its predecessor. Ever since I finished Evelyn Hugo two years ago, I've wanted more, and this felt a lot like that, though I have to say I'm more of a fan of its predecessor.

My favorite characters were definitely Nina, Kit, and June. Mick Riva deserves no rights and that's all i will say about him. I loved the family dynamic between the siblings, how they found strength in each other even in the worst circumstances. It made me really happy even when the book got sad. Something that bothered me about the book and made me take off some "points" I guess, is that there were POVs outside of the Riva family that I simply didn't care about. They didn't end up having any real relevance and filled up pages unnecessarily - in my opinion. I'm sure there were reasons for this, but it just took me out of it.

Content Warnings