The photo of her in a white bikini that she doesn’t realize is see-through makes her feel “uneasy,” yet, “it was that photo that became a sensation. She doesn’t enjoy the attention, often feeling objectified and over-sexualized by the media. Nina modeling career takes off because she is the daughter of Mick Riva, though she doesn’t pursue being a celebrity. After spending the first half of his life being pulled in two directions, wanting to be famous but also wanting to give June everything she wants, he chooses his life as a celebrity, returning to his children only when his fame is ending and he is alone. But his craving for attention, wealth, and fame is much stronger than his commitment to his wife and children. Mick has a domestic side, which comes out when he and June first marry, and when he comes back after leaving her the first time. It takes place over the twenty-four hours leading up to Nina Riva’s infamous Riva Party, but it is also a culmination of generations of secrets and traumas. This rollicking, powder keg of a novel follows the infamous Riva siblings over the course of one life-changing night. Mick’s fame makes him “both inescapable and never there” (115)-he is absent as a father, but his family cannot get away from his image in the media. Malibu Rising is the story of the Riva familysurfer siblings Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit, as well as their mother June and their father, the famous singer, Mick Riva.
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