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A review by bookofcinz
Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique
3.0
When you meet your love, you are meeting all the people who ever loved them or who were supposed to love them but didnt love them enough or, hell, didnt love them at all.
This a love story, but not your usual love story. We meet the two lovers after meeting their entire family line and getting a look at how they both ended up where they are... meeting each other in New York City in 2021. This book is a great mash up of Homegoing, The Vanishing Half, Open Water and Transcendent Kingdom
Tiphanie Yanique's writing is impeccable, I was immediately pulled into the story about Fly and Stela, specifically their back story. As reader, I LOVE the backstory about our main characters and that is exactly where Yanique took this love story. You get to see how and why they behave they do and if they are perfectly suited for each other. I will say, because of this technique I was more invested in the back story than the actual love story. I wanted to know more about the father and why he insisted on having his ex white girlfriend photo on the family wall. I wanted more information on Stela's mom second husband and her life after Martin.
So much is explored in this book, racism, religion, immigration, love, forgiveness, marriage, unfaithfulness and regret. I really enjoyed how religion was dealt with, we see Evangelical dating taking place, how growing up in the church changes you and how you change after leaving the church.
I think the novel could have benefitted from be more direct, it felt a bit all over the place in certain parts. The ending was a bit "what the..." why was that even included... however, overall I think it would be a great read, especially because its a book I cannot ever remember reading.
This a love story, but not your usual love story. We meet the two lovers after meeting their entire family line and getting a look at how they both ended up where they are... meeting each other in New York City in 2021. This book is a great mash up of Homegoing, The Vanishing Half, Open Water and Transcendent Kingdom
Tiphanie Yanique's writing is impeccable, I was immediately pulled into the story about Fly and Stela, specifically their back story. As reader, I LOVE the backstory about our main characters and that is exactly where Yanique took this love story. You get to see how and why they behave they do and if they are perfectly suited for each other. I will say, because of this technique I was more invested in the back story than the actual love story. I wanted to know more about the father and why he insisted on having his ex white girlfriend photo on the family wall. I wanted more information on Stela's mom second husband and her life after Martin.
So much is explored in this book, racism, religion, immigration, love, forgiveness, marriage, unfaithfulness and regret. I really enjoyed how religion was dealt with, we see Evangelical dating taking place, how growing up in the church changes you and how you change after leaving the church.
I think the novel could have benefitted from be more direct, it felt a bit all over the place in certain parts. The ending was a bit "what the..." why was that even included... however, overall I think it would be a great read, especially because its a book I cannot ever remember reading.