Reviews tagging Chronic illness

Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

19 reviews

kaitlynnnng's review

Go to review page

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

3.0

Mick Riva is a piece of garbage.

Spoiler I found myself incredibly angry every time Mick and Brandon’s infidelity was brought up. I hate cheaters in real life, and I hated reading about cheaters.


Some of the chapters about other people at the party were interesting, but I found most of them to be confusing and unnecessary.

To me, this book didn’t have a “wow” factor, but I did enjoy reading it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

guivx5's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.
Spoiler 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.
Spoiler 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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

marieos's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful sad slow-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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

violetsonata93's review

Go to review page

emotional funny sad
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A great book. Well worth a read. I enjoyed the characters and themes, the flashbacks and play by play of the night. It made me feel a lot. The ending kind of disappointed me though, which is mostly why I couldn't rate it as high as Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

brashcandicoot's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sunny_not's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As always Taylor Jenkins Reid's books are such fast, complex and interesting reads. This one was my favorite so far since I really enjoyed the different dynamics between family members and I really felt for June
Spoiler her becoming addicted to alcohol and her death were just devastating after seeing how much she worked to give her kids a great life.
This book deals with how abandonment can ruin a whole family essentially and it's so sad and so real. Overall I really enjoyed this story and I'm excited about Cassie soto's story
Spoiler I hated Brandon he was awful I hope she gets rid of him in her book

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

danajoy's review against another edition

Go to review page

  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ninahuynh's review

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective fast-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? No

4.75

Would have been 5/5 except for one part where the character names were written wrong and details got confused.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cepbreed's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I sooooo love books set within a day. There's so much compact action and drama it makes everything just a bit more ridiculous. I would love to see this turned into a movie one day (it reminds me of Project X to a degree). After catching a few references to her other books I'm kind of disappointed I chose to pick up Malibu Rising first, no one told me they were interconnected 🥲 Its wonderful that a book can be so fun, include so many characters and debaucherous behavior, and still hold lots of meaningful character development. When we were introduced to Nina Riva I felt a connection in my SOUL. I so badly wanted to rate this a five, but somehow my is heart just is not into it.

Song: 
  • Heatwaves - Glass Animals 
  • Dancing On Quicksand - Bad Suns 
  • the  last great american dynasty - Taylor swift 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings