My first two reads of 2022 were Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reids, and Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. Both these books gave me very different reading experiences. This blog post will contain spoilers for these books.

Malibu Rising focuses on the lives of the Riva family in two different timelines. It follows Mick and June in the 1960s as Mick pursues his career in music and falls in love with the beautiful June. And in the other timeline their Children, Jay, Hud, and Kit in the 1980s as they deal with the repercussion of their absentee father and alcoholic mother. I found the first two-thirds of this book to be engaging, beautiful, and thought-provoking. I found myself thinking a lot about what writers must think when writing. I found Jenkin Reids managed to subvert my expectations a lot with the things she didn’t write. So she must have known how I would interrupt her words. That is to say it isn’t about what you write, but what your audience reads. The second half of this book I found disappointing. While in the first half you are engrossed in the Riva’s family’s story, and marveling at the complexities of those 6 characters, the second half has many Point of view switches that take you out of the story unnecessarily. There were characters that were introduced too late for me to form an emotional bond with. I ended up rating this book 7.8/10. 

My favorite quote from this book was “Must be nice. To be able to be weak. I wouldn’t know.”

Under the Whispering Door was a very different experience. From the first page, I was engrossed with not only the characters and plot but the world that was created. The character development of the main character, Wallace Price, is truly beautiful, and it all happens after he dies. When the audience meets Wallace he is a ruthless lawyer, with no regard for anything but the bottom line. And then he dies, and our story really begins. I have read a couple of books that speculate on what happens after death, like First Five People you Meet in Heaven, Lovely Bones. But what I feel set Under the Whispering Door apart is that it tackles themes of grief, and loss, while still feeling warm and safe. I think a lot this comes down to the tea shop Wallaces goes to after he dies. Here he meets a colorful cast of characters he meets here, Including Nelson, and Apollo, a dead Grandfather and Dog respectfully, Mei a very cheery grim reaper, and Hugo with whom Wallace forms a deep bond. We see Wallace slowly and realistic change into a better, kinder person. This was honestly one of my favorite books I ever read, and one of only three I have ever rated 10/10. 

My favorite quote from this book was “It’s never enough, is it? Time. We always think we have so much of it, but when it really counts, we don’t have enough at all.” or “But a river only moves in one direction, no matter how much we wish it weren’t so.”

Work Cited

Klune, T. (2021). Under The Whispering Door. New York: Tor Books.

Jenkin Reid, T. (2021). Malibu Rising. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.

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“Malibu Surf – IMG_4032” by jeroen020 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse&atype=rich

“Furzey Gardens 22-09-2012” by Karen Roe is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse&atype=rich

“Wall of Books” by benuski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse&atype=rich