Malibu Soap in the Surf
Taylor Jenkins Reid tells the story of the trials,
travails, and successes of the Riva family in Malibu. The book revolves around
a 1983 end of summer party at their Malibu home where Hollywood and the surfer
contingent engages in debauchery along with lots of family drama. We learn of
the Riva family through flashbacks going back to the 1950’s. And we know from
the introduction that it will end with a fire. This is not a serious novel; it
is a light summer beach read.
There are strong, yet flawed women; all of them drop
dead good looking. The men are serial philanderers, especially Mick Riva, a
super star ballad singer. Riva succeeds in messing up his family on many levels
and his four kids and wife suffer for it. His eldest daughter Nina holds the
family and the story together. She exhibits great strength, and her body
enables her to become a pin-up surfer girl that rescues her from her family’s
restaurant. She too follows in her mother’s footsteps by marrying a
philandering tennis star. In the end she rises above the family drama and finds
herself. As I said at the outset it is a beach read.
For the full Amazon URL see: Malibu Soap in the Surf (amazon.com)
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