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Malibu Rising

Book by Taylor Jenkins Reid · 29 quotes · Malibu Rising, Nina Riva, Family

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Malibu Rising Quotes

“It felt as if Jay would always be the one who had made it to the sand and Hud would be the one thrown off the wave. But even before 10 years old, Hud was managing this, redirecting his interests. ‘Nice one!’ Hud said, giving Jay a thumbs-up. This was some thing Hud took pride in, his lack of ego, his ability to appreciate the success of others, even when he had failed. His mother called it ‘good character’.”

CompassionKindnessEgoIntelligenceAltruismGood CharacterOld Souls
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“Jay was now past the breakers, but he was having trouble handling the full weight of the board. It was hard to turn, hard to control. And then he couldn’t get his legs around it quite right. The deck was wider than his straddle. Nina grew more and more anxious with every second. He could fall off, he could lose the board, he could break his leg or his hand or go under. Nina quietly calculated how she would save him, or what she would say if the owner showed up, how she could handle all of this if it went south.”

ResponsibilityWorryingBurden Of LifeEldest Child
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“Carrie knew, that in a few years, the memories would begin to fade. She might forget whether her father had spilled mustard or ketchup. She might lose the ability to recall the exact smell of Wind Song. She might even forget about the reading glasses altogether after a while, as much as it pained her to admit it. She knew that she could not sustain her life fuelled only by the memories of those she once loved. Loss would not propel her forward. She had to go out and live. She had to find new people.”

Moving ForwardMoving OnGrief And LossMemories Fade
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“She cried until the sun started to set, until the birds settled into their trees. She’d have to tell her siblings he was gone. She felt embarrassed, thinking of how excited she’d been to take them to Bora-Bora. She grew cold, sitting outside in Brandon’s underwear. And then she stood up and dried her eyes. And she thought of June. She’d lived this all before, of course. Watching her mother go through it. Family histories repeat, Nina thought. For a moment, she wondered if it was pointless to try to escape it. Maybe our parents’ lives are imprinted within us, maybe the only fate there is is the temptation of reliving their mistakes. Maybe, try as we might, we will never be able to outrun the blood that runs through our veins. Or. Or maybe we are free the moment we’re born. Maybe everything we’ve ever done is by our own hands.”

ChoicesDestinyGeneticsHistory Repeating Itself
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“Then you clean it up! I’m sick of cleaning it and having you come in and mess it up again,’ Hud would say. ‘I’m not your maid.’ ‘You are, though,’ Jay would say. ‘Just like I’m the fluff and fold around here.’ Jay was in charge of the laundry. He handled his sisters’ underwear and bathing suits with chopsticks, unwilling to touch them whether they were clean or dirty. But Jay quickly became a wiz at stain removal, each mark a puzzle to solve. He threw himself into searching the right combination of liquids that would unlock the dirt from Kit’s soccer shorts. He found the golden ticket by asking an older woman in the laundry aisle what she did to get out grass stains. Turned out it was Fels-Naptha. Worked like a charm. ‘Look at this, motherfucker!’ Jay called out to the rest of the house one day from the garage. ‘Good as fucking new!’ Kit peeked her head in to see her white shorts bright as the sun, unblemished. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘Maybe you can open Riva’s Laundry.”

IndependenceResponsibilitiesGrowing Up Too Fast
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“These two had no real understanding of doing anything alone. They had come together at such a young age that they knew of no world but the one they inhabited alongside each other. But they were not twins. And they had no illusions that they were, despite what their mother pretended in polite company. Each one of the children knew how Hud had joined the family. June had always told the kids the story with a sense of awe and destiny. She told them sometimes wild circumstances help fate unfold. Jay and Hud. An apple and an orange. They did not have the same abilities or wear the same virtues. And yet, they still belonged side by side.”

AcceptanceEqualityInclusionAdoptionBiological Family
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“That goddamn restaurant had claimed her from the day she was born and now she understood that she would never outrun it. /June rested against the hood of the car, crossed her arms, and continued smoking, taking stock of the new shape of her life. She was overworked and overtired and lonely. She missed the parents who had never truly understood her, missed the man who had never truly loved her, missed the future she thought she had been building for herself, missed the young girl she used to be.”

NostalgiaBitternessFate DestinyPowerless To Change Things
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“Christina died of a stroke in the fall of 1971, at the age of sixty-one. June watched the nurses take her mother's body away. Standing there in the hospital, June felt like she'd been caught in an undertow. How had she ended up here? One woman all alone, with four kids, and a restaurant she had never wanted. The day after the funeral, June took the kids to school. She dropped Kit off at the elementary building and then drove Nina, Jay, and Hud to junior high. When they pulled into the drop-off circle, Jay and Hud took off. But Nina turned back, put her hand on the door handle, and looked at her mother. 'Are you sure you're OK?' Nina asked. 'I could stay home. Help you at the restaurant.' 'No, honey,' June said, taking her daughter's hand. 'If you feel up for going to school, then that's where you should be.' 'OK,' Nina said. 'But if you need me, come get me.' 'How about we think of it the other way around?' June said, smiling. 'If you need me, have the office call me.' Nina smiled. 'OK' June felt herself about to cry and so she put her sunglasses over her eyes and pulled out of the parking lot. She drove, with the window down, to Pacific Fish. She pulled in and put on the parking brake. She took a deep breath. She got out of the car and stood there, staring up at the restaurant with a sense of all that she had inherited. It was hers now, whatever that meant. She lit a cigarette.”

Irony Of LifeSingle MothersBroken FamilyBroken FamiliesInheritance CycleBroken Families Family Life
Book:Malibu Rising
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“You guys are late,” Hud said. “Nina’s probably waiting for us.” “Jay had to run some secret operation,” Kit said. “Kit had to change her clothes four times,” Jay offered. “Once. I changed my clothes once.” “What secret operation?” Hud asked as Jay looked at passing traffic and then gunned it into the right lane. “It’s nothing,” Jay said. “Lay off.” And that’s when everyone knew it was a woman. Hud felt his shoulders loosen. If Jay was interested in someone new, that would soften the blow. “Consider me officially laying off then,” he said, both hands up in surrender. “Yeah,” Kit said. “Like anyone gives a shit anyway.”

SurfingTaylor Jenkins ReidMalibu RisingNina RivaKit RivaHud RivaJay Riva
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“She thought she looked cool. Like, actually cool. She could feel herself starting to well up. Nina came up behind her, put her arms around her, and said, “You look like a million bucks, babe.” This outfit made her feel like there were parts of herself she was just meeting for the first time. Kit could barely contain the smile on her face. She hung her own arms around her sister’s and said, “Thank you.”

Taylor Jenkins ReidMalibu RisingNina RivaKit Riva
Book:Malibu Rising
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