Reviews with content warning for Racism - Monster in the Middle

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique

3 reviews

caitlinwoodington's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I would have DNFed this had it not been a book club pick for a book club I have not attended before (had I attended before I would have DNFed). First of all I do not enjoy books that are described as one thing, but are actually about something else. This is described as a love story. However, the majority of the book is the back stories of the main characters plus their parents. And the portion where the main characters are together just sounds like some people who have been randomly hookup up now forced together by COVID. The book reads like vignettes and honestly feels really disjoined.

My biggest issue with the book is how sexually explicit it is. I read a lot of open door romances with no issues, but this felt uncomfortable, bordering on forcing voyeurism. It was gratuitous and unnecessary.

I also felt the way disabilities are portrayed and rape were handled poorly.

I thought I was getting a love story about two people from different religious backgrounds. But this is not it.

Content Warnings

friendlypoet's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

dashes101's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I picked this book up at my local library, where the blurb shaped it as a love story between Fly and Stela that was influenced by their entire family histories. As a sucker for generational stories and character driven books, I was excited. After reading.... mannn. The book is everywhere, which is okay! I did really like some of the stories, like the first chapter following Fly's dad as a teenager. However, other simply didn't add anything to the plot. I also felt like they were great stand alone stories but they really didn't influence the actual goal we were trying to achieve. When Stela and Fly do meet, the actual inception of their romance and growth as people who genuinely love each other is skipped over! I felt like there was this expectation that because we followed their childhoods and parent's love lives, their romance would just click. But it doesn't !! As characters, they really have no chemistry or commonalities, and we never get to see them actually fall in love, which again, is the thing the blurb starts with !! I think this book was marketed completely wrong: it's not a romance between Fly and Stela as much as it is a look into the way culture, gender, and location shape our lives. I think the book would have actually been better if Fly and Stela were never forced to have this love story imposed onto them.

Other, smaller (subjective) things I didn't like: the amount of extremely graphic sex scenes that were written with the expectation to be hot / poetic (?) but were really just extremely gross to read. The

rape storyline that was put in and never actually discussed or dealt with.

The sudden shift into New York when the pandemic started. I understood what it was going for but it really came out of nowhere and didn't really add anything to the plot except the shock we all felt when the pandemic started. The absolute mess of a plotline that follows a sexy, risque, lying, artist of a bisexual woman who destroys a relationship that is completely founded on stereotypes.

Content Warnings

More...