The Surfboards in Malibu Rising: Symbols of Freedom, Sibling Bonds, and Refuge

What the Surfboards Are in the Story's World {#what-the-surfboards-are-in-the-storys-world}The surfboards in Malibu Rising are both a specific set of objects and a recurring motif. The most significant instance is the four boards June Riva gives her children—Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit—on Christmas morning in 1969. They appear stuck lopsided in the sand beside the family's Christmas tree on the beach, four boards lined up in a row: yellow, red, orange, and blue. Each child receives their own board, color-coded and individual, a gift that arrives months after a single transformative afternoon on the water. Beyond that Christmas gift, surfboards appear throughout Nina's adult life. Her personal board is a yellow-and-white Town & Country 6'2