Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

26 reviews

hmatt's review

emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I was a little skeptical going into another TJR historical fiction novel after Daisy Jones, which it seems like the whole world loved but which I found a bit too cliche (I rated it a 4 though? idk perfect example of why I try to actually write reviews now). In any case, Julia Whelan is by far my favourite narrator, and I have been known to read books sight unseen if she's narrated them, so I knew I'd eventually get around to this one.

And I really enjoyed it! It felt like every scene was important to the story - nothing dragged on, the whole novel really kept to pace. I think there was potential for this not to be true with how many different perspectives were incorporated. Most importantly, I felt connected to all the perspective characters, even the minor ones (Not saying I felt for them all, to be clear lol). TJR has always been really good at writing complex, flawed, real people characters.

The one-day structure of the story was also well-executed. I appreciated that, even though we're told about how the 24 hours ends right at the start, the foreshadowing throughout isn't overbearing and there's room for other storylines to breathe and play out. Plus, while a number of predictable events happen, I was relieved to not come out of this reading feeling like I had been fed a cookie-cutter/play-on-real-life novel.

[April 9, 2022 update: I can't get these characters out of my head so I think that merits updating the rating to 4.75]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment

Moderate: Police brutality, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Classism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexism

Minor tags are predominantly just "mentions of"

itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Much like Daisy Jones & The Six, I flew through this read. I absolutely adore TJR's writing style and the way she transports you to a different time period so effortlessly. This story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, as it focused heavily on Mick and June's relationship prior to the children being born and less on the "party of the year" that ended up in flames, but it was still enjoyable! I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a read that is centered around a family's interpersonal relationships.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Abortion, Miscarriage, and Racism

mention of heart condition, drowning and child abandonment

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Racism, Gun violence, and Forced institutionalization

madpayne'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Drug use

Minor: Racism and Sexual harassment

linesiunderline's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

For a book that has been aggressively marketed as the “It Book” of the summer, Malibu Rising sure has ended up garnering mixed reviews.

What I liked:
• TJR can write. I enjoy her prose. It has energy.
• Although I felt like the characterization was uneven, there are characters here who felt alive and memorable (June and Nina especially).
• Malibu came to life vividly - love me a strong sense of place.

Howevers:
• So many people - I wanted to know more about the Riva kids in the present day.
• Somehow I was expecting the cause of the fire to be A LOT more dramatic. This isn’t to say that I don’t like TJR’s choice the more I sit with it, but it did seem like we were building towards this giant climactic fire-lighting moment that never came.
• A lot going on for a relatively short novel, told in dual timelines. I enjoy her writing so maybe overall this would have worked better for me if it was a bit longer.

Very well narrated on audio by Julia Whelan.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Drug use, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Car accident, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Outing