Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid – Episode 125
The Buddies hit the waves with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s “Malibu Rising”. If you enjoy family drama with deadbeat dads, cocaine platters, and specialty seafood sandwiches that sound absolutely disgusting, this book is for you! The Buddies got to chatting about sympathizing with terrible fathers (because of diet failures), the economics of therapy vs. longboards, salmon polo shirts, and whether almonds taste like vanilla. So grab your longboard, your three model-looking siblings, and join us as we blaze through Malibu Rising.
Intro/Book Report (0:00-2:50)
Stock Up/Down (2:51-32:49)
Favorite Scene/Character (32:50-40:20)
Love/Hate (40:21-46:44)
Lingering Questions/Casting the Movie (46:45-48:59)
Conclusion (49:00-52:21)
NEXT BOOK: The Art of Winning by Bill Belichick
Transcript for SEO Purposes 🙂
Alright. Welcome to the book club. I’m Dylan, here with my brother from another mother, Keith. What’s up, buddy? I’m here with Dylan, but Nina to this pod.
I don’t know how that’s true at all. Yeah. Carrying a whole family. No. I’m I’m way more like Jay.
A little bit just, you know, in my own way and just doing my own thing. Then you’re gonna come in my house and steal Caroline from me and put a baby in her. Getting ahead of ourselves here. At the Buddy Book Club, we’re breaking down some best sellers. And this week, we’ll be discussing twenty twenty one’s Malibu Rising by our girl, T.
J. R. Taylor Jenkins Reid. If you’d like to recommend a book for us to read or reach out to those past episodes, you can visit our website buddybookclub.com or slide into our DMs on Twitter or Instagram, Buddy Book Club Podcast. You can listen to us iTunes, Spotify, wherever you hear podcasts.
Download five star reviews are nice. Malibu Rising. I didn’t do a book report, and I think it’s on me. And and and honestly, you know, hand up. What can I say?
My bad. And if we’re in the trust tree right now, I cut the last book report because it was so bad. Oh, really? You did? I listened to it, and I was like, what the hell?
Who said that? Oh oh, I said this. Oh, that’s pretty bad. Oh. So I just got it.
Why? It just didn’t make any sense. It was just funny. That’s why. It was so good.
Well, if you had just shit on me more, it would have been funny and I would have kept it. But you didn’t you were just like, that’s a d. And I was like, yeah. And then then we just went on. Nothing else said about it.
So it wasn’t funny either. It was just, like, sad. I was like, alright. I think you’re cutting those. Oh, that’s too bad because I think that was the only, like, failing grade we’ve given.
Yeah. I needed you to almost shit on it more. I think I didn’t realize how bad it was until I listened back and I was like, oh, yeah. Yeah. It makes sense.
Yeah. I mean, I didn’t want you to pull a June Riva here and take a bottle of whiskey into the bathtub. Oh, I edit it. I do that every time I edit. I’m like, Jesus Christ.
This guy sucks at talking. And I realize it’s me the whole time, you know? So that’s fine. Malibu Rising. 403 on Goodreads.
I feel like probably one of her lower Taylor Jenkins reads lower books. I also didn’t realize she has a bunch of other books besides the big ones, which is Seven Husbands and Daisy Jones and the Six. I didn’t realize she had a bunch of other books. This has been kind of sitting on our waiting list just because we love the other Taylor Jenkins Reid books that we’ve read before. It’s getting a bit summery, kind of has a summery vibe to it because we’re talking about Malibu here.
So, we went with it. But for those that haven’t read it, you should probably go grab it and, download Five Star Review, all that stuff and then put this on pause. But, we got the Riva Kids and it’s really a story about them during one night in Malibu, but then naturally flashbacks to to how how they all got there. Without further ado, let’s just get into some stock up, stock downs. Keith, what do you get for stock up?
Stock up. Sympathizing with the worst character. Okay. Mick Riva, pretty despicable. Pretty pretty terrible person.
The fact that they gave him any time at all at the party, that was annoying to me. Obviously, we needed some sort of confrontation in the book. But if I’m them, I’m just like, bro, I don’t even know who you are. Like, I’m I’m at a party. I I’m not wasting my good time with you coming in here and making it all negative.
Not that everything was positive at the party and there’s a fight currently going on, but that’s I just didn’t like that they were like, he’s like, I need some of your time, and they’re like, alright. I’ll be like, no. Go fuck yourself. Yeah. I think at one point, he says, you’re not gonna call me dad or something along those lines.
Calling him dad, which I the other thing I didn’t like. I was like, no. Nina’s your dad. He you know, like, that you’re not allowed to call him dad. Yeah.
Maybe Nina doesn’t call him dad or someone doesn’t. He’s like, you’re not gonna call me dad. It’s like, you have to be present. Like, fathering a child doesn’t make you dad. You know what I mean?
You have to actually show up and do something. Right. But that’s not the reason I sympathize with him. But his mindset when he was taught like, when you’re in his head, it’s familiar to me. And the reason why I realize it, and it’s not because I wanna leave my kids and any responsibilities, which if I had kids or responsibilities, I would.
But it’s because his mindset is very similar to what I my mindset is when I start a diet or workout routine. It’s exactly the same. You go through this whole, like, this whole elevated state of happiness and everything’s gonna change and you’re gonna be, like, a good person. I’m gonna start eating healthy and I’m gonna work out more. Three weeks later, I’m six slices deep in a pizza and I’m like, I’m a good person though.
It’s okay. You’re you’re okay. You you tried. And then two months later, I tried again and the same thing happened. So it’s just that similar routine that you just keep on going back to and that was what he was doing.
And I was like, oh, I I’m Mick Reeva. So, it’s pretty pathetic for both him and me, but, at least I could sympathize with that. Stock up. Interesting. Yeah.
I I could see I could see where you’re going with that, and it seemed like he felt he should be forgiven or let back into the fold because his mindset was, oh, I’m trying now. But, like, showing up to a party unannounced granted, Kit did invite him, so I get that. But she’s invited him every other time. And then his terrible excuses for how he just let Nina take over as as, like, as custodian for the kids, it was all pretty it was pretty terrible. He is just probably just so selfish and so narcissistic and vain, all those factors because I really don’t care who you are.
If you have kids, you have to do something to support them. So if he doesn’t wanna be in their life and he just wants to live his own personal stardom life, go for it, but financially support them at least. Yeah. I was thinking it would have been more of interesting if he had supported them financially throughout and then showed up and he’s like, well, I gave you money, but then their thing was like, you weren’t a dad. We would rather have you as a dad than money.
That would have been more of an interesting because he’s it’s black and white. He’s the worst person of all time. Like, there’s no, like, there’s no like, you’re not gonna be there. You’re like, well, maybe they should figure out. I was just like, no.
This guy sucks. Like, I don’t I don’t care. He could say literally anything here, and it doesn’t matter. You know? Yeah.
Plus he burns the house down. You know? He just burns the whole house down and then burns Malibu. Like, what what a terrible guy. Yeah.
I’m with you there. My first stock up speaking about burning Malibu, my first stock up is SALT, Stock up for salt. I guess specifically salted almonds, which is the difference between salted almond and a raw almond, is salt. I’m sure that surprises no one. But, one mistake by a hotel staff by putting out salted almonds instead of raw almonds for Carrie So to has a butterfly effect that ultimately leads to Malibu being lit a fire.
Because if she had just gotten raw almonds, she would have never freaked the fuck out over the salted almonds which would have never had Brandon, Brandon, I don’t remember what her, Nina’s ex husband or separated husband’s name was. But it would have never kicked him into realizing, holy smokes, this Carisotto is not for me. I gotta get back to Nina, which then started the whole thing that eventually led to Mick Riva flicking a cigarette that night. So Yeah. Because he stole his car Yeah.
Which wouldn’t have Yeah. Exactly. So it all came down to salt. If the other guy, Brandon, or I don’t even remember what that guy’s name was if he instead was so scared of Kerry Sotto that he saw the salted almonds and sat there and licked all the salt off until they were raw almonds once again Yeah. Everything would have been fine.
But, the salt is what did it. Also, who who eats raw almonds? Oh, I was gonna say the opposite. What? Salted almonds.
Yeah. I have I have a bunch of raw almonds downstairs. K. You don’t like a raw? I love it raw.
Oh my god. It’s just What do you need? It’s not peanuts. It’s it’s almonds. Almonds don’t need to be they’re like vanilla flavored.
Why don’t you put salt on them? No. They’re almond flavors. Oh, but but almonds taste like vanilla to me. Does that not taste like that to you?
No. I think you’re having a stroke. Well, neither here nor there. They don’t taste like vanilla to you? No.
Like, almond extract, if you’re around that, that would taste like almond. Yeah. I don’t know. Have you ever had the s shaped cookies or, like, an almond croissant? Yes.
Those taste like vanilla. Yes. Because there’s vanilla in them. Yeah. No.
That’s because the almonds taste like vanilla. They’re parallel. I I don’t know. I’m gonna go get some almonds. I think all nuts are better salted.
Ever everything is better salted. There’s nothing that’s not better salted. But you wouldn’t want well, I was gonna say, like, you wouldn’t want something that’s sweet, which to be salted as much. Got salted herbs, maybe. But even, like, I make ice cream.
When I make ice cream, you put salted. Oh. Yeah. Alright. I stand corrected then.
Fair enough. I do have almond butter, which we got because, the baby, we’re trying to get the allergies, the allergens in her, and it’s just ground almonds, you know, almond butter. Mhmm. It’s quite delicious. There’s no salt in it.
It is quite delicious. Oh, okay. Do it taste like vanilla? Kind of, actually. No.
You’re staying around. No. Oh, we’re back. No. But I do sprinkle a little salt on.
I don’t know. Whatever. The point is everything’s better with salt. And, yes, you’re a psychopath. That’s as simple as that.
Yeah. My god. Potentially having a stroke. What else do you have for stock up? Being told you have a good outfit, stock up.
Kit dresses up at the party and everyone is telling how good she looks. Yeah. I mean, this is huge. Big. Getting gassed up about your outfit or what you’re wearing, it’s such a big confidence booster.
And the three or four times that’s happened in my life, let me tell you, that’s probably the best times of my life. You know? When you come in, I would be like, holy shit. That’s like, I didn’t think you could, like, rock that. Like, sure.
Like, wow. Right? All of this happened before the age of 12. It was like, nice Ninja Turtles t shirt, Keith. Well, I can literally tell you on on that one hand the times that happened.
I went to a party once and I wore salmon polo and I think you probably noticed this that at work I wore salmon all the time. I got complimented on it. People are like, holy shit that’s a really good color on you from, like, I think it was a girl, maybe a guy too said it, and I said, this is the only thing I’m ever wearing again. I bought, like, five of those polos. Do you know how I know that this memory really was important to you?
You’ve told it on the podcast before. Yeah. So that’s one. How about you? Do you have any?
No. Not necessarily. I gas myself up. You know what I mean? That’s just Good for you.
That’s just the kind of person I am. So That’s pretty nice. Whether it’s true or not, you just you just gotta, you know, be like, dang. I’m looking good today. But, if you say it in front of the mirror every morning, it just it works.
It’s words of affirmation. But I will wanna finish up on this point. So I did like that she was gonna have a good night because she was getting gassed up so much. But kid goes to Nina and she’s like, how do I look better? And Nina’s like, are these your favorite jeans?
She’s like, yeah. Alright. Great. Let me cut them down and make them jorts. I’d be so fucking pissed if someone did that to my I have two pairs of jeans.
That’s it. Yeah. I have, like, eight other pairs that I never wear because they don’t fit right. So give me these shitty take the other six shitty ones I have that are either too big or too long or, like, don’t fit comfortable and cut those. Why will you why are you taking my best jeans and cutting them?
Also, it’s Nina’s house. Just give her some clothes. But she just Or that. Yeah. She takes scissors to her entire wardrobe as opposed it was really a she’s all that moment.
You know? Oh, that’s true. Yeah. Takes the glasses off and lets the hair down. It’s like, oh my god.
Kit’s hot all of a sudden. But they’re in Nina’s house, and, presumably, there’s well, they’re definitely sisters. That’s not presumably. But, presumably, they’re of similar sizes because they’re both athletic build. Nina may be smaller, whatever the case is, but that’s because she’s less sporty Spice.
But there’s still then it’s okay. It’s a little tighter. Like, you must have something. Why just start taking scissors to your your daughter’s clothes? Or your daughter.
Your sister’s clothes. It makes it makes no sense. So Right. But at the same time, it was a it was a makeover, a quick makeover that worked. I don’t know why it took Nina so long because Nina’s such a maternal figure to step up and help Kit out here.
It’s like if your if your buddy’s still wearing pleated khakis, you say, okay. Hey. You don’t wear a pleat. Like, pleats are that’s 1990 stuff. You know?
Get the flat fronts or or whatever the case is. Kate Kate got lost in the shuffle a lot, so it seemed. And I understand. Nina was hard at work, like, actually working and then being a public figure slash, like, eye candy for gross disgusting men. That takes a lot out of you.
And then having a husband that doesn’t really care for you that you’re then having to support as well. So, yeah. Nida had a tough road. Tough road for her. Speaking about tough roads, my next stock up.
This was a stock up or stock down a year, so you’re gonna have to fill in the second part. But the first part is fool me once, shame on me or shame on you. Fool me twice? What what happens at fool me twice again? Then you won’t be fooled again the next time that you’re fooled?
Yours is much longer and more complicated. But, yeah, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And and that’s you know, I hate to blame the victim here, but but here we go. Why the hell is June taking Mick back?
Or the whole continues to want him back even after she kicks him out again for cheating. Are people familiar with the idea like once a cheater, always a cheater? And this guy who really has never shown you the love that you’ve shown him, why are you thinking it’s all gonna be good? Just because he wrote a song that was about you like Sweet June or something like that? Nothing about his life.
He missed the birth of his child to go for a concert. Granted, I understand he was still coming up in the world at that point, and it’s a big deal. And there are NFL players or whatever the case is that will play in the game and then fly and get there. I understand it, but at the same time, he didn’t do anything. Once again, we’ve already talked about how terrible of a person Mick is, but it it it just makes June’s character and I know she’s supposed we’re supposed to be really like, sad for her, and she’s definitely a victim here.
But she’s also, like, making her own bed, so she’s gonna have to lay in any kind of situation. How did you feel? How’d you feel about their relationship in general? Yeah. No.
I was more on June’s side. I think Well, obviously. Well, I mean, I’m saying I I’m more sympathetic to June than I think you are you’re giving her credit for. She has raised four kids when they’re all, like, infants, you know, by herself. She doesn’t have any extra money.
She’s also operating her own business while this is happening. She doesn’t really have time to, like, find new love interests or or, like, doesn’t really have friends. It’s a pretty lonely, terrible world. The idea of someone that your sweetheart was when when you were, like, were in high school and, coming back who’s a rich famous person that you actually still have feelings for coming back and saving you. Obviously, like, she’s gonna hold on to that because there’s no other way out of her situation.
So I I mean, I’ll put her into that situation. That whole situation What she’s supposed to do? Well, not take him back. Like, abandon the the kids? No.
Just not take him back and not But what she was gonna do after the fourth kid? What could she do? The sec she still wanted them back after the second time, which I I see where you’re saying, but what could she have done? Like, what’s what’s her next move? Well, you definitely don’t sorry, kid.
But you don’t have another kid. That’s for sure. You know? Kid, when when Mick Mick Rivas walks in the door, can you you’re not stopping him. I’m sorry.
What what are you gonna do there? He’s he’s the dreamboat. Like, what what are you trying to do? He just walks in with one of those old style microphones, like, crooning no matter where he goes. Fuck that guy.
What else do you have for stock up? Stock up plus one, pressure creates diamonds. Oh. Or in this instance, pressure creates supermodels. Since Nida Nida’s, like, having the most pressure on her than any person, she’s raising three siblings, dropping out of school, all these anxieties.
I thought that, like, stress and anxiety, like, caused people to look less good and make them have wrinkles and health problems. But turns out, you create Super Mario’s out of out of pressure. I mean, and there is some evidence to this. We all know that stressed out causes like gray hairs and things like that. And gray hair is the most beautiful version of hair.
We all know that also. So that’s super cool. Gray hair is the most beautiful version? Yeah. Yeah.
That’s right. Yeah. That’s correct. Okay. Cool.
And I was thinking about it too, like when you’re back when you’re in your twenties, young twenties, you’re spending an irrational amount of money doing dumb stuff and, like, you’re putting pressure on yourself, right, during those times. Mhmm. But that is the best time, the most carefree you’ll ever be. Now we’re, like, in a better situation, but we have more responsibilities. We gotta, like, respond to things.
This is this is, like, the we’re getting ugly now because of that. So I think it’s more that we need pressure of that she’s, you know, adapting to and not the pressure we have currently. Does that make sense? No. It makes zero sense.
No. It makes perfect sense. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it.
So the pressure of trying to support her family at a young age Yeah. Allowed her to be hot? That’s what it sounds like it happens. Right? I think she was just hot and someone happened to see her.
They have to work it’s like being an athlete, like being hot. You gotta Well, you definitely have to be god given for sure. Yeah. Someone’s god given. People that are typically stressed out and I think of, like, football coaches.
Right? They’re under pressure all the time. They’re under scrutiny. They’re eating, like, fast food every day. You know?
They’re, like, not able to maintain, an attractive figure for most part. Yeah. You know what I mean? Okay. So but she has been able to do it.
But they’re under pressure too. Yeah. But they’re I don’t know. Don’t just just don’t worry about it, though. Like, pressure creates diamonds.
Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Sure. I’m I’m I’m go I’ll I’m good for it.
I I like it. I’ll stop it for it. Keith. Alright. Anyways.
I also think it’s just creepy that people that go around looking for talent, you’re just approaching teenage girls being like, you’re beautiful. Here’s my card. That’s, like, that’s normal. I know. It’s just so gross.
It’s so creepy. And she she explains the guy as not being creepy. You know, he said it as if she was, like, a a painting or something like that, which I don’t know how someone does that. Well, if you’re like, this person has a really good voice, it’s I guess I can see is your body. Like, you have really nice tits, and it’s like, You know?
You can’t. It’s gross. Yeah. I can I think if you’re maybe of, like, the we’re we’re all prudes here? So I think if you’re, like, you know, a French persuasion, you know, you’re you’re just, like, the the human body is beautiful, and some people have, you know, or god crafted a better version of it.
So I gotta I gotta show this off to people. Yeah. Well, you’re close to LA. You should walk around and see what happens. Well, I told you to have your gray hairs out.
So I’m I got the I got the the pressure’s already turned my my beauty out here. So my last stock up is specialty sandwiches. I love I love me a specialty sandwich in general. You know, a place as a signature sandwich, I want in. It’s on the menu.
This is everyone gets to hear of specialty sandwich. Cool. Mhmm. Great. Lots of fun stuff in it.
But the sandwich at Riva’s Seafood, I’m Gross. I’m not so sure about it. Gross. Fried clam strips, cold shrimp, cheese, and tartar sauce on a roll. So, I assume the fried clam strips are hot because they’re fried, then the cold shrimp, which in general I’m okay with hot and cold things on a sandwich or anything, but these don’t glue together.
And then just talking about glue. You got cheese as the glue and tartar sauce. Is that for you? Absolutely not. I thought the way that they first described it was, like, it’s just a bunch of fish things thrown together.
That’s why I first created it, and I was like, yeah. That sounds awful. Like, that that’s gross. Yeah. It it seems like if you’re at a and I get the idea.
You’re at a seafood shack. You know, you have carte blanche to do whatever you want, then make something creative. But this don’t seem like it. Because you can also get the, like, the fisherman’s platter, you know, which is the fried clams, the fried scallops, and the fried shrimp. If you wanna throw all those together on a roll, I’m okay with it because you’re kind of eating them all together in a patty anyways.
But, yeah. And, also, clam strips. Come on, people. Get the bellies. It’s all about the full you want that hot juice in the belly coming at you when you’re getting the fried clams.
At least that that’s for me. But but as I recall, you once submitted an idea for a signature sandwich at the cafe that we had at the office. Yeah. That’s right. And and as I recall, it was a turkey and cheese with Oh, woah.
Woah. Hold on. Hold on. Let me just finish, then you can print it. It was a turkey and cheese with honey mustard, and it was called the Everyman.
How much of that is accurate? That’s I think it was, chicken. With cheese and honey mustard. Yeah. That’s right.
And with bacon. And bacon. Oh, of course. Yeah. Club.
It was a club. Yeah. And it was called the Everyman. Right? Yeah.
That’s right. Yeah. So the the premise here for those listening was the the company had set out, like, we’re gonna put a new sandwich on the menu, a specialty sandwich. Everyone submit your ideas. And Keith thought it was the greatest thing ever.
And It was the greatest thing ever. Yeah. What do you mean? And Wait. Everyone tried everyone’s thing, and people are like, well, yours is obviously the best, but we can’t have this one.
We’re all like, wait. What? Exactly. Because everyone put all this highfalutin stuff on there with tons of ingredients, and Keith presents a a chicken sandwich with cheese and bacon and honey mustard and says, this is it. It’s the everywhere.
We we’ve had this discussion before, and I think it’s the one the exact same way. But this is, I’m walking watching rewatching Parks and Rec right now. But this is the exact same example of, the the health nut on there. It does, like, a turkey burger and he puts, like, 17 ingredients in it. He has a special sauce.
He has, like, a roux you know, it’s all this, like, accoutrements on this thing. And Ron Swanson, who I have based my life off of, shows up. He says, here’s a burger. Nothing on it. He goes and gets it to people, and everyone’s like, this is way better.
This is a thousand times better. That was what I did. Yeah. But no one wanted to vote for it, kid. It’s it’s a tra a travesty, honestly.
I think I voted for it. I I like it. I appreciate it. Yeah. Alright.
But, but, yeah, I remember it, and you were, like, so smug. You know? But I was smug? Not like like I don’t know if that’s the right word. You were so sure that this was the greatest thing.
And it it is like Fighting for a principle you believe in strongly Yeah. And then being proven wrong. Right? And then also being proven wrong. Like, people are like, well, we would agree that this would be way better and this is the right decision and you’re right, but we still have to vote against it out of principle.
So that that type of thing makes me the most angry and smug. Yeah. So yeah. Fair enough. What about stock downs?
Modern day parties, stock down. What is a modern day party? Like, the parties today. Yeah. I mean, in our late thirties, I go to, like, a barbecue here and there.
So I don’t know what you’re talking about. Either way. Yeah. Either way. Just just parties in general today.
The seventies and eighties were simple. You just mean there’s no Coke platters. Well, let me get it out. No phones, no invites, just good vibes and cocaine on past that on platters. K.
Is that too much to ask for? What what are we doing here? Couldn’t happen today. For shame, sir. For shame.
That’s all I have for that. That’s a good point. I had a similar stock down, which is house parties at your house. That’s a big stock down. Who doesn’t like a house party over I mean, I know we’re of the same mindset.
Like, a house party over going out to a club or a bar or something like that. Just so much better, especially if, you know, the the right mix is going on of of things to do, whether that be some flip cup going on, maybe some yard games. People that wanna be involved in that kind of thing is is what I’m looking for. So I’m not talking, like, you know, you go to a house party and there’s, you know, finger sandwiches that have, like, roasted red pepper on it. And not not the everyman, but, like, you know, I’m talking like a house party.
The only problem is when it’s at your own house, and I know this from, like, experience, like, in college when we’d have them, the next morning is terrible. Because you’ve had a great time. You know you’re not driving or what not so you imbibe fully and then the next morning you step out of your bedroom and your feet stick to the floor. And you’re like, Oh no. Now I’m hungover and I have to clean this entire place up.
Granted, there weren’t any chandeliers in any houses I was in, so people weren’t swinging from them. There wasn’t any firearms, so people weren’t shooting them. There wasn’t any fine china that people decided to use as frisbees or just intentionally smash on walls. So we’re good there. I did go to a house party once where someone upper decked the toilet.
I think that was a while. Yeah. I think you told me that. Yeah. Your your friends are animals, though.
This wasn’t They’re spitting on people, shitting on This isn’t a this is an acquaintance. Alright? This wasn’t, like, a friend. Okay. It’s not gonna be That’s what you say now.
Doing a speech at the time. But, but, yeah, house parties at your own house stock stocked out. The Riva party, that so that’s something that you would have wanted to be present at throughout the entirety of it or just before it got crazy? Yeah. Before it got crazy.
I think I mean, the problem was the people start throwing the plates and shit. Yeah. What are you doing? Like, not only is that not that funny or cool, it’s someone’s actual plates. And then also, that’s dangerous.
It’s just gonna ruin the party. People have to, like, leave the house. It’s like, yeah. I can’t walk around here. There’s a glass everywhere or, you know, stuff that’s gonna shard and break off.
Yeah. That make sense. Similarly, we’ve been swinging for the chandelier. I mean, cocaine is a hell of a drug as has been well stated. So I I guess that’s what caused it, but it just seems like Well, there’s men in there, kid.
So the men in this book, every book that TJ writes are not. Like, the best if you’re the average man in the her books are, like, the shittiest people I’ve ever like, you know, just average shitty, just terrible people. And then there’s, like, the the below average or the McReaver. Yeah. I think there’s only one nice guy, Hud, but he steals his brother’s girlfriend or ex girlfriend.
So, like, maybe that precludes him from the list. It wasn’t a stealing. It was also, like, cheating while they’re dating. I’ve been fine with it if he if they broke up. I don’t know.
Whatever. I don’t care who gives a shit. That was a little bit much. Yeah. The only nice person was the guy that Kit kissed.
Right? Yeah. That guy was that’s not a real person either. That that was the one character I was like, this is the only person who doesn’t seem like a real human. Yeah.
He he She’s like, I, that kiss is fine. I just don’t ever wanna kiss you again. And he’s like, that’s cool. And I’m like, you know, I would be we talked about it in the last episode where you go torture yourself. I would be torturing.
There’s no way I’m like, yeah. That’s fine. No big deal. I thought, Jesus Christ. Yeah.
You say, oh, that’s fine. No problem. Did I hear there’s a handgun around this house somewhere? How much cocaine can I take before I die? Great.
Cool. Thanks. Give me more than that. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, it’s especially because it’s not, oh, that was a kiss, and I’m and I don’t think I’m down. But she went from kissing you to, no. I’m a lesbian now, which is, you know Well, she didn’t say that. If she just said I’m a lesbian, I’ve been like, oh, well, I can see what you’re doing. It’s not a big it’s not a big deal.
You’re you’re trying it out. Now you know it for sure. But she was like, no. The kiss was fine. I’m just not ever gonna kiss you again at all.
She never explicitly said anything about and it was like, oh, okay. Well, I think she insinuated. Right? She was like, I’m not into you. Like, I’m not into men.
That’s yeah. Maybe I’ll But then you don’t know what the chicken or the egg is. Was she a lesbian before she kissed you or was she a lesbian after she kissed you? Because Yeah. You know, if you you’d, like, Costanza them.
Or Costanza does the other way. He turns lesbians. Either way. Yeah. Not not great.
But he was the only redeeming male in this. Every man at the party was a total piece of shit. Started out just being bros, and then the next thing you know, they’re just destroying the house. Obviously, we have Mick Riva. He’s a terrible person.
We have her, Anita, Nina’s ex husband or separated husband who’s a terrible person. And Jay was the worst of the the kids by or by far too. So Jay was terrible. Yeah. And then Tereen’s husband, the, like, record producer, he was probably the only other good person.
He I remember him. DJed at the party, basically. That that was his job. He just DJ’d at the party. So, yeah, not not a great look for for the guys in this one for sure.
Granted, there’s not a ton of redeemable characters. Obviously, Nina Nina is like a saint. Yeah. Nina’s I thought Juno was great. Juno is fine too.
So Yeah. Juno’s just You didn’t like Juno. I thought I think Juno was put in a tough situation. She For sure. Made the most of it.
For sure. No question. But just her character, she just didn’t have a lot. I appreciate that she made she remembered the cakes for her kid’s birthday and made the cakes all the time. And, you know, to do it all being a functioning alcoholic could That’s what I was gonna say.
I respect anyone that could be a functioning alcoholic. Let me put it out there. Respect. Yeah. It it just, I don’t know.
I feel like her character lacked some of the depth that the other characters had. So that’s just me. Did you have any other stock downs? No. My last one was therapy, stock down.
Okay. Okay. Who needs it? You know, just grab a longboard instead and hit the waves, bruh. Simple as that.
So your dad left you when you were born and you were raised in destitution by your alcoholic mom who eventually accidentally killed herself, and now you either are being ra are being raised by your sister or you’re the sister and you’re raising your siblings and you have no money and life’s extremely stressful, just grab a longboard. Simple as that. You don’t need to deal with your trauma any other way. Hit the waves. I assume you’re doing the, Shaka right now as you’re saying.
Yeah. I am Shaka right now. Yeah. But based on my extensive research, a longboard costs around, like, $800. You know, it’s under a thousand.
Really? Yeah. Is that expensive? Yeah. Jesus.
Well, they’re they’re technical. How much did you think it would cost? I mean, I’m sure you can get one for a couple hundred bucks. But I guess I don’t even yeah. I guess I didn’t.
I would think, oh, you get a cheap one for, like, a hundred $50. Yeah. You probably could. But I’m talking I’m trying to do a comparison. So, like, you get a nice long board because that’s what you’re gonna be doing.
$7,800. That’s, like, four therapy sessions. You know? Therapy’s like $200. So it’s Oh, I see your sound.
Four sessions. You’re barely scratching the surface of your trauma after four sessions. You know? You’re you’re basically you haven’t even opened the tissue box yet. So instead, you can take that $800, and you have unlimited use of the ocean, and you just hit the waves and you never have to deal with your trauma, which is basically what all these kids did and to seemingly pretty good success.
Most trauma is, like, hidden. Right? This is not it’s pretty obvious. She was just, like, hitting the waves being, like, my dad sucks. That’s it.
Therapy session over. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, I think. Yeah. I don’t know if most I have no idea. What are what are we what are we doing?
I don’t know if it’s necessarily, like, hidden or if it’s there, but working through it can be the difficult part. Yeah. That’s the same with the wave. Working through it is difficult. You gotta Yeah, exactly.
You gotta hit that pipeline, bro. You gotta hit that tube. So, yeah, you don’t need therapy. Just grab a surfboard, basically. And you have to I mean, you have to live close to a beach, I guess, or else you eat if you grab a a surfboard in Omaha, Nebraska, you might not, you might not be getting exactly what you’re looking for.
Did you have a favorite part of Malibu Rising? I remember a particular scene or part. I think just the the culmination and the buildup. I really liked it. I I like any sort of, oh shit, we’re coming to the the climax, the peak where everything meets.
And we all knew after, like, the third or fourth chapter. I was like, oh, so her dad’s coming to this party at some point. Like, I knew that was happening and, like, and that was fine. I just love the build up. I like the the sequence.
I I did like how we kind of were able to get into every character’s head or at least kind of understand where everyone’s character is coming from. Really just appreciated that breakout. So I know I’m pretty good at seeing it, but just the format. Were you thinking at all during the book, like, how is who’s gonna start this fire and how is the fire gonna get started? Were you was that at all going through your head?
Because the opening, they talk about how Malibu burned all these different times, and then it burned this one night of the party. And I didn’t I think I didn’t catch that. I knew the the the burning thing is an analogy, and I was like, I’m sure there’s smarter people that at a real book club would tell us what that means. But, yeah. Nice.
I didn’t know that. I think it’s like when you get an STD, it’s like it’s burning. Like, it’s crotches burning. Yeah. But you go to the doctor, get that all cleared up.
That’s CCP’s what you know. You would know. Yeah. For me, I don’t I don’t know favorite part. I thought about it a lot.
I’m not just like, oh, I’m showing up here. But there wasn’t really, like, parts. It was a very interesting book for me where I’m still kinda trying to figure out how I feel about it overall. And I think probably once June died, that for me was like, oh, crap. So this is kind of why Nina is the way she is that we’ve been, you know, seen up to this point.
Because then she goes through having to be a parent to all these kids and basically take it on still being in high school or having to drop out of high school so that she can do it. So, I think that part was was interesting at least to me where, like, that was the that was, like, the point of the story where it kinda shifted. And then part two being the entire party. I thought the party was fun. It’s always cool in TJR books when she just drop like, name drops celebrities, like real celebrities or fake celebrities.
I don’t know why, but it for me, it works where it makes it seem realer even though we know it’s not real. So I liked I liked the party. It was obviously absurd and, like, totally got out of hand, but I kept reading it. You know what I mean? It it kept kept me glued.
So I think both of us. Funny is I think she’d be, like, an incredible sci fi writer because she’s such good at world building. Like, she creates these characters in this world that are somewhat real but not real, you know, where it’s like, oh, yeah. That makes sense. So I think she’d be, like, great at that that if she wanted to.
Mhmm. So Jay’s thing was weird, his heart thing. I don’t know why I just thought about that, but it’s kind of an unfortunate wrinkle. It’s like this, like, the Achilles heel for this pro surfer. Maybe that was would, like, be, like, why why he’s actually mad at his brother.
I don’t know. There’s probably some symbolism there. Right? Because I didn’t understand why he would be that upset with yeah. At one point, he’s like and then he was heartbroken.
I’m like, heartbroken? Would you be heartbroken? You’d be upset. Heart heartbroken would be, like, if if this is his love of his life and he found found out Well, surfing is the love of his life, and he can’t surf it. So maybe yeah.
So maybe he’s taking his anger out on maybe that’s what it is. Alright. We’re we are smart. Speaking about these characters, what are did you have, like, a best character in this? You know, maybe a a favorite sibling.
And if if you have, like, a non Reva honorable mention, I’ll allow that as well. I actually I mean, you already said you didn’t like it, but I thought June was my favorite just because I thought I felt bad for her. And then I thought, a pity party. Yeah. That’s right.
I also thought the character of Malibu was a good character. Like, that guy guy. You see that? There you go. This guy.
Do I really appreciate it? It was a guy that showed up. He’s kind of a dork. He’s a nice dude. He’s actually probably the best guy in the book, now that I think about it.
And he just went up to some girl, and he was like, hey. Like, I’m this. And they’re like, you know what? I really like you. And then he’s like, I brought 17 kilos of, of cocaine.
Yeah. And I was like, this is a nice guy. That’s all he’s about. He wasn’t trying to drug people. He was just trying to let everyone have a good time, and he wanted to be part of the party.
Yeah. And I really appreciated that guy. That’s a good guy right there. I think we we don’t get enough love for Wendy either who worked for Riva’s Seafood. I presume, you know, stinks like shellfish at the end of every day.
Wanted to be an actress or something, and it didn’t work out for her. And this was her her whole dream, and her dream didn’t work out. And instead of going into drugs or whatever the case is, she said, I’m gonna go home back to Nebraska, wherever I’m from. But before that, I wanna do two dudes at the same time. And she went to a party with that, did it, and got arrested also.
But at the end of the day, she got what she came for and is able to go home happy. So I respect it. That’s beauty. That’s and that’s right there. That’s like the the French persuasion, K.
Like I said, that’s just beauty. That’s all that is. So good. Did you have a favorite Reva? Probably KITT.
Yeah. Yeah. I think yeah. I think it it has to be KITT. Although, I didn’t really care if her KITT was like it wasn’t her turn, for the wave, and then she’s, like, took the like, cut everyone.
It was, like, yeah. That’s, like, dumb badass. That’s just kind of a dick move. It’s not, like, showing that you’re assertive. Yeah.
That’s the opposite of that. It just means you’re a dick. I didn’t get that part. Yeah. I’m pretty sure.
Show that you didn’t wanna be stepped on anymore, I guess. I don’t know. Yeah. Exactly. I think that’s that’s understandable.
You’re still supposed to wait in line until you’re sure to surf thing. Right? In wave culture, I think the idea is once someone has caught the wave, that’s their wave. Like, a bunch of people can go for a wave. Okay.
Gotcha. I didn’t know that. I thought there was a line that was like, alright. I got the next wave and it could be a good wave or a bad wave, but if it’s just your whoever is up. So if, like, a really good wave comes, you can’t just be like, I’m cutting the line because I’m better.
You know? You can’t just do that. But from what I’ve seen of surf events, not like competition, but people surfing, is, like, a bunch of people might paddle into a wave. Some may catch it. Some may not.
But if someone catches it You bet. Then there’s kind of, like, a right of way as as well. You know? Like, the wave’s going one way, so you go with that and you don’t, like, cut in front of somebody on the wave. I don’t know exactly, though.
Someone Right. Someone let us know how what what, like, the, the rules and regulations are of waves in in surfing. But, yeah, I I think Kit Kit was probably the best. She just she had an arc. She was the no one looked at her as really anything, and she was probably the best surfer out of all of them.
I think that’s probably what it culminates to at the end that, you know, Hud’s now gonna go and film Kit and Kit’s probably gonna have she’s gonna be the Goldilocks situation where she’s not only the star athlete surfer, but she’s also the babe that can be, you know, the model as well. I thought for sure that Mick was gonna show up and hit on her. That that was gonna be hilarious because I’m like, oh, yeah. He’s such a piece of shit that is definitely happening. Like, that would’ve put the cherry on top.
He just says, like, who are you? And she’s the only person I guess this might be worse, to be fair. Yeah. Way worse. Who is Gross.
Who are you? Yeah. Oh, terrible. What a terrible guy. What about loves?
Love, hate, Malibu Rising, which love? I’ve I’ve said this before on the other T. J. R. Books.
What can I say? I just like her as a writer. It’d be once again, if you describe this plot or this just this concept to me, sounds like my worst nightmare. It’s like a movie trailer voice comes out and it’s like, four siblings fight to survive on their own in this coming of age story with zero plot. Like, that’s what the movie trailer would be.
Right? Yeah. And then it culminates in the one wild party. I’d be like, pass, hard pass, don’t wanna read, don’t wanna see that, nothing. But then you read it and you’re like, it’s a it’s a page turner.
I like every part of it. I, you know, I was happy to be in this world. There’s a lot of shitty characters and you’re angry at them. There’s a lot of good people that you’re rooting for. Just a lot a lot going on and we already talked about it.
And even with the fact that every dude in there, I’m like, oh, that could be me. And then they’re like, oh, it’s the shittiest person of all time. I’m like, well, I can’t really relate to any of these dudes. I hope not. So but yeah.
You said you already said you related with Mick Reeva. Well, yeah. Right. She puts a mirror up to my face, which I don’t really care for. I don’t I don’t like it at all, honestly.
I like the way the story was told. I like this idea that it’s all in one day, but then flashes back to tell the family history and give depth to the character. So we’re experiencing it in terms of a timeline from that morning of the party until midnight or whatever the case is. But after a few hours, we go backwards in time and we get the the rest of the story. So I thought that worked for me.
I I I enjoyed that way of telling a story, and it’s not novel by any means. But, I think it it worked for this one. And I feel like she’s done it’s similar with Seven Husbands and Daisy Jones and the Six. Right? Well, I know Daisy Jones are, like, doing interviews and then there’s flashbacks.
So yeah. So so so for that. Did you have any other loves? I kinda liked, Carrie So to. That’s her next book.
And I was like, I I don’t wouldn’t hate wouldn’t hate hearing more about her. She’s kind of basically, I don’t know if you saw that tennis movie with Zendaya in it. She’s basically Zendaya in the movie. No. I didn’t say was it good?
It wasn’t for me. Okay. A lot of people really liked it. I was like, this movie’s not for me. I’m not gonna say anything else about that.
She’s like it, and you wanna know more about Zendaya’s character. The movie that you think it’s like. I can get that. Caroline said she liked Carrie Sotto’s back. I thought Carrie Sotto was a psychopath, which is which is great.
Out there. Yeah. Which is good. Yeah. That’s what I liked her.
Right? It’s could be a it’s a compelling and interesting character for sure Yeah. Who’s the rub rub some dirt on it when you’re hurt. You know, you have a bone compound fracture bone sticking out. Just rub some dirt on it.
Go play some tennis. And I think it takes that. I did see there was like the John McEnroe Conners. Maybe it was Conners or Bjorn. Whoever the Bjorn or something like that.
There’s a movie that was good that involved the two of them and it just showed how different they were and their training and whatnot. But tennis is crazy like that where you really do have to be because it’s a solo sport, you really do have to be kind of a psychopath to some degree. So it could be interesting. I could I could be in for for Carrie Sotto. What about hates?
If she calls back Celia Saint James, who I like to call back for the other books, but I remember hating Celia Saint James. So that’s a hate right there right away. That’s fair. I already mentioned too that Jay kinda sucked. He didn’t really like the girl that broke up or broke with him, but he was just, like, kind of a, like, I never get broken up with and I’m the man kinda thing.
And he was, like, pretending he was heartbroken. Come on, bro. I feel like he was just he’s supposed to be angry, so he was angry. He didn’t really make sense. So I I didn’t like Jay.
What about you? Yeah. I I get that. I didn’t the more I think about it, I’m not sure I really felt that they had super fleshed out all of the characters. It definitely wasn’t in the the the top like, this is three out of the three TJR books we’ve read.
And that’s probably of, you know, piece of what I was saying, of course, because, you know, Daisy Jones was so good and so was Seven Husbands. But I think there’s a big gap between them and this one. And I’m not saying I didn’t like the book, but and I I agree with what you said. It was a page turner. Like, I never point at at no point did I feel like, oh my god.
Let me just get through this book. And considering the premise is so whatever, you know, it’s like four rich white kids in Malibu don’t deal with their trauma and have a party. It’s it’s like, alright. I’m not I wouldn’t be interested in that. But it it was interesting.
It just didn’t feel like it was fully fleshed out. And they provided some character depth, but I didn’t really understand a ton of the I just understood the motivations, but I didn’t understand why she didn’t go deeper with it to some degree. Okay. Yeah. I can see that.
Yeah. It was all just like it was just so like you said before, you knew that the dad was gonna show up at the party, and we all know Nina is gonna have a moment of, alright. I’m gonna flip the turn the other way. I’m not gonna allow myself to be walked on and to have to tow the line for this family anymore. I need to she needs to break it off.
So it’s like, okay. Cool. She goes to Portugal. Like, okay. Got it.
It was fun. It it was you know what I mean? It was like a fun book, but it was like an watching a airplane movie where I just sat there and I watched a movie on a plane. I was like, okay. Cool.
It passed time, but I didn’t really get Okay. A ton out of it. That’s fair. I will also say just to close on the Jay thing I forgot to mention, that he did make up for it completely when, the dad showed up. And the dad’s like, something about, like, Jay can’t be mad at Hutt or something like that.
And Jay is like, yo, shut the fuck up. Like, Hutt can sleep with 10 of, of my ex girlfriends. I’d still like him more than you. And I was like, oh, fuck. That’s Barnes.
Yeah. That was a good point. That’s a line. There you go. We’re back.
That was the one only redeeming thing Jay did the whole book. But other than that Yeah. It’s so good that the dad steps in to be, like, the arbiter. Yeah. He’s like, shut the fuck.
And they all hate they all can agree to him. I’m like, alright. Respect that. You’re not gonna do is tell us what to do or give us moral decisions here because you’re a total piece of shit. What does it all mean, Basil?
Did you have any lingering questions? I feel like we always cover them in the or I’ll bring them up if I don’t know what to do. Yeah. But one thing I was kind of, didn’t directly ask because it was a really good question was, How is Mick not paying child support? How is he not?
It makes zero sense. And I know that there’s a lot of men out there who don’t pay child support and they’re terrible people. I get that. But he is so famous. His ex wife is struggling so much.
He is raising a kid that’s not even hers but it’s his and they’re pretty much destitute. It seems like you would do your best to at least attempt to talk to a lawyer and say, Mick Mick Riva is my husband and he’s not paying me any child support. Like, what’s like, get him in jail. And it would be very easy for Mick’s business manager to just say, okay. Let’s sign a check and just get them off our back.
I think June was a proud Italian woman and said out of out of principle, I’m not taking money from this person. That’s I don’t know. I don’t know if she’s a proud Italian. Yeah. Yeah.
I remember her being Italian. She’s a proud Italian and she said, no. No. No. I’m not taking money from this dickhead, which I respect.
No. You take the money. Of course, you Well, obviously, I take the money from the kids. But Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, the kids, I’d have, like, one. But I respect her principle. Of just not doing anything and buying mad dogs. I don’t need anything from you, bud. I don’t need anything from you.
Yeah. Easy peasy. Let me squeeze you. Did you have a cast for it? Do you wanna cast anybody?
Ella Pernal for Nina. Do you know her? No. She’s, like, in, that what’s it called? Fallout TV show.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Girl. I know her.
She’s also in, Yellowjackets. She’s good in that too. And then the three other kids, I couldn’t really think of any. I’d wanna find more young actors. And then for Mick Reba, I did Bradley Cooper.
I feel like he’s like super likable. You even like in Wedding Crashers, you’re like, this guy’s kind of likable even there’s a dickhead. So I think that’s what you need. Someone that’s like Who? Super super likable.
Bradley Cooper. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But you don’t know why he’s likable, but at the same time you can see him being a dickhead. Mhmm.
And then Jun Riva, I did or do you have people? I’m sorry. No. I don’t. No.
Steam rolling it. Oh. I did I don’t know why this one I don’t think this one makes a lot of sense, but made sense in my mind. Cameron Diaz. Who’s the book for and what do you rate it?
Well, I think it’s for I mean, if I can like it, like I already mentioned, this is the plot of Mason is the anti Keith book. Then I think most people would like the book. I I would think. I think you said I think you didn’t like it as much as I do. I actually really like I get a 4.25.
So I was a big fan. I I liked it. I liked the character. I just like her writing. So yeah.
What about you? 025. Yeah. That’s right. That’s like I mean Even as we talk about it right now, a lot of times I’ll change my scores.
I get angrier if they gave about it. But this is like I’m like, no. I still like it. Yeah. I think I’m getting angrier thinking about it.
Not that I’m getting angrier. I’m just my score is going down and down because Yeah. Sometimes I have this whole hour chatting, and we didn’t really chat a ton about the, like, what’s going on in the book because there wasn’t that much. That means it’s a good book. Maybe.
Maybe. Yeah. I think the book is for it’s it’s quick. So I think it’s for someone that is a great on a plane book where you’re just reading and passing time, maybe pick it up, read a few pages, put it back down, pretty good beach book. I think this book is for men and women.
It’s not just like I feel like sometimes people think Taylor Jenkins read books for some reason or like chick lit, but Oh, are they? I I think that’s the general sentiment. I guess the men thing probably makes it 34 off. Yeah. But this one, you know, I feel like it it’s for anybody, but I give it I give it a three, three out of five.
So like I said, I I’m not upset that I read it. It moved along. Fine. Fine. Fine.
But it’s not gonna stick with me. And I’m not gonna I wouldn’t recommend it to someone. If they had said, I love Taylor Jenkins Reid. Oh my god. She’s my favorite author.
And I haven’t read Malibu Rising. I’d say, well, you should probably read Malibu Rising. But outside of that, I don’t think I’d be recommending it. Well, the what’s the one that we like? Daisy Jones in the six?
Yeah. That’s in my top 10. Daisy Jones in the six was awesome. Yeah. That’s in my top 10.
This one is, probably equal to or maybe slightly below Seven husbands. Hugo. Yeah. Yeah. Seven husbands one.
So, yeah, I didn’t think it was that far below. I thought it was right on borrowed that. Works for me. Where, where where we go next? Next, a little bit of diversion from what we just read and what our typical books are.
We are going The Art of Winning by Bill Belichick. So, grab your your book, your self help book. Maybe you’re a football fan. Not Chick Lit. That’s for sure.
Water is warm. And you finished it. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
I’m almost done. But well, I’ll just gonna quickly spoil my initial thoughts, which is I’m surprised there’s so much he talks about how it relates to business. Yeah. I’m gonna have a few negatives on that. Okay.
Yeah. There’s so yeah. So we’ll be doing Art of Winning by Bill Belichick, and we’ll have that out soon. It’s hey. You know, we did a hundred and eight for y’all.
We’re doing one for us, and we’re just we’re just gonna see what happens. It’ll probably be short. And then we’ll get some other fun stuff come up after that. It is it’s summer beetroot season, so it should be exciting. Alright Keith, well that was Malibu Rising.
Thanks for rising with us to the occasion, and I’ll catch you for, Art of Winning. Alrighty. Sounds good. Alright. Bye now.
Bye now.
