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A review by imme_van_gorp
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
5.0
|| 4.5 stars ||
Wow. What a gorgeous and heartfelt story.
This was such an incredibly interesting portrayal and exploration of family dynamics. It showed the immense effect parents have on the way their children turn out (good or bad), but it also focused on the importance of siblings.
This book really showed how much of a difference it makes which role you hold in the family. Even when it comes to something as simple as whether you are the oldest, the middle child or the youngest; such a relatively insignificant fact can truly have an insane amount of effect on the kind of person you will eventually grow up to be and on how you will hold yourself while meeting others. It even has a major effect on how you see yourself. All because you were either born first, middle or last. It’s pretty strange to realise that such an irrelevant fact can help shape you into who you are. Of course, there are also other roles you play in your family that will have a major effect on your personality, and this book explores it all really well.
What I really loved about this book was the vividness of all the characters. We jump into so many different lives, and get to hear the stories of so many different characters, yet they never felt shallow or simple. Everyone felt real and like they all had an important voice.
Kit, Jay, Hud, Nina, June and Mick were all such distinctly different people and I’m so impressed that the author managed to write such unique characters while creating very realistic and important relationships between them. It really felt like I was inside the head of this whole family, and I understood where everyone was coming from and how they felt about the other, and why. They all their own flaws, their own hopes and dreams, their own struggles, their own frustrations, their own talents, and their own personality; and we got to see it all.
Last but not least, I want to talk about my favourite character here: Nina. Whereas all the other characters often acted on selfish desires (which, of course, is their right; you really do need to choose yourself once in a while) or were simply not strong enough to step up, this girl did everything for everyone. She has been through hell and back, but never gave up and never let anyone down. She saved her siblings: Plain and simple. She was the backbone who held everything together, and she has been an absolute saint for what she has done and how she has continued to put herself second for so long.
I was so happy to finally see her do something for herself in the end and I really hope she will be able to live the life she has always wanted to live now. She honestly deserves the whole world.
All in all, I felt very emotionally invested in these characters, the writing was amazing, the presence of generational trauma was shown really well, the effects of grief and neglect were explored in depth, and the story flowed naturally and engagingly. Overall, this book was simply great.
Wow. What a gorgeous and heartfelt story.
This was such an incredibly interesting portrayal and exploration of family dynamics. It showed the immense effect parents have on the way their children turn out (good or bad), but it also focused on the importance of siblings.
This book really showed how much of a difference it makes which role you hold in the family. Even when it comes to something as simple as whether you are the oldest, the middle child or the youngest; such a relatively insignificant fact can truly have an insane amount of effect on the kind of person you will eventually grow up to be and on how you will hold yourself while meeting others. It even has a major effect on how you see yourself. All because you were either born first, middle or last. It’s pretty strange to realise that such an irrelevant fact can help shape you into who you are. Of course, there are also other roles you play in your family that will have a major effect on your personality, and this book explores it all really well.
What I really loved about this book was the vividness of all the characters. We jump into so many different lives, and get to hear the stories of so many different characters, yet they never felt shallow or simple. Everyone felt real and like they all had an important voice.
Kit, Jay, Hud, Nina, June and Mick were all such distinctly different people and I’m so impressed that the author managed to write such unique characters while creating very realistic and important relationships between them. It really felt like I was inside the head of this whole family, and I understood where everyone was coming from and how they felt about the other, and why. They all their own flaws, their own hopes and dreams, their own struggles, their own frustrations, their own talents, and their own personality; and we got to see it all.
Last but not least, I want to talk about my favourite character here: Nina. Whereas all the other characters often acted on selfish desires (which, of course, is their right; you really do need to choose yourself once in a while) or were simply not strong enough to step up, this girl did everything for everyone. She has been through hell and back, but never gave up and never let anyone down. She saved her siblings: Plain and simple. She was the backbone who held everything together, and she has been an absolute saint for what she has done and how she has continued to put herself second for so long.
I was so happy to finally see her do something for herself in the end and I really hope she will be able to live the life she has always wanted to live now. She honestly deserves the whole world.
All in all, I felt very emotionally invested in these characters, the writing was amazing, the presence of generational trauma was shown really well, the effects of grief and neglect were explored in depth, and the story flowed naturally and engagingly. Overall, this book was simply great.