On August 27, 1983, the four children of Mick Riva are getting ready for the annual party at the eldest’s — Nina’s — house. The party, starting as a small surfer gathering on the beach, has grown a reputation for being an event that everyone who’s anyone will be at. Yet, Nina has recently been told her husband wants a divorce, Jay is facing the end of his career, Hud is trying to find the words to share a secret with his brother, and Kit hasn’t managed to kiss a boy yet, despite entering her junior year of college. They hope to change their lives by losing themselves in the ritual of the party, but it soon becomes apparent that all the things they were trying to ignore are the very things that will burn the whole house down around them.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a historical novel set in California during a fire whose origins remain a mystery. The story diverges across the four perspectives of the children, as well as the story behind their mother and father’s relationship. Mick and June Riva are relatively minor characters whose impact on the lives of the children reach through the decades and comes to a head the night of the party, which makes it a feat of storytelling from a technical perspective, but doesn’t let that get in the way of telling a compelling story.
Most of the narrative is focused on familial trauma; Mick cheats on June multiple times, and Reid delves into the implications of that through June’s increasingly tenuous mental health and the kinds of protective measures that her children take to deal with the fact that Mick is unreliable. This exploration leads the reader to a place where one might expect, and then turns it on its head: hurt people, hurt people, but that doesn’t mean you have to let them keep doing it. The enforcement of boundaries and the value that brings to the lives of the characters feels like a satisfyingly modern end to a story set in the 1980s.
For casual readers, there are several elements that would likely appeal, depending on interests. There’s a heavy emphasis on family, even if the main characters’ one is a little rough around the edges, and that would make it perfect for anyone who enjoys the kinds of stories that deal in this kind of topic. There are a lot of strong women as well, depicted in June, Nina, Kit, and the love interests of Jay and Hud, which makes it easy to recommend for readers who enjoy stories that center the female experience. There are also some LGBTQ+ elements to the novel, so it may appeal to some audiences who are looking for stories that incorporate similar themes without making them the primary focus of the story. Aside from these areas, readers who enjoy Reid’s other works, especially The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, or historical fiction set in the 1980s would likely enjoy the book as well.
For writers, there are several technical elements that would make Reid’s novel a good one to add to any reading list. The first is the use of multiple perspectives and time lines, which can be complex for any writer to manage effectively because it risks confusing the reader, but Reid manages the transitions pretty well, which is something every writer could benefit from learning. The next major lesson is in the characterization itself, as each player in the story feels fully fleshed out, even if there isn’t a lot of time to accomplish that, and that makes it far more likely for audience members to engage with the text effectively. Lastly, Reid has an interesting way of managing the relationships, such that certain tensions aren’t immediately apparent until almost then end, which is unique for most stories as foreshadowing tends to be used heavily to portend what the final action will look like; writers who are interested in taking a lighter touch for their own writing would likely find Malibu Rising instructive on this point.
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Next Up: The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness
A Final Note
The Coffeehouse Creative is a place to flex creative muscle while working on other projects. That means that alongside book reviews, you’re likely to find:
Travel pieces that have brought joy the writer’s life
Reflections on writing and the life that it brings with it
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Notes from a graduate student looking to survive the studies
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