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A review by inherbooks
Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique
4.0
“The question you must have is, what is at the middle of it all? I’ll tell you, even though I shouldn’t. Doesn’t matter. You’ll still have to do the thing to know it. What’s there, at the middle? Myth and magic, both. No shame in that. We all know it takes a village to raise a child. But I can tell you honestly that it takes an ancestry to make a man or a woman.”
✨
Officially, 'Monster in the Middle' is a love story between Stela and Fly, a teacher of Caribbean background and an African-American musician, each with their own tale/battle with religion.
The story I read was less about Fly and Stela but about their pieces (parents, loved ones, lovers) and their respective pieces.
This story is a palindrome about a love rooted in descent and in the fluidity of our choices. Each chapter details a finely tuned step in carving a puzzle piece, as each corner is cut and reshaped by desire and religion and the identical passion both of these cruxes bring about.
Beyond the love story, Tiphanie Yanique has us exploring lovers (pick your word of choice: sinners? Pastors? Wives? Husbands? Students? Artists?) and asking Is there a difference? Are we not all driven by a passion we come to learn of, then study, and then journey to satisfy (within ourselves, through others)?
I enjoyed the exploration of faith, religion, love, passion, secrecy – driving forces we often hear of – as both builders and destroyers. Often perceived as *pure*, Tiphanie portrays them as they truly exist, in juxtaposition with the rest of the world’s perceived immoralities and sometimes itself a "pure" vice (ex. Fly’s stack of adult magazines and *that tape* topped off with the Bible? Yeah, I’m glad she took it there.)
The last 20 pages or so felt like a rushed commentary on the current state of the world and had me skimming pages. The novel could have ended sooner and I would’ve been okay with it.
✨
Officially, 'Monster in the Middle' is a love story between Stela and Fly, a teacher of Caribbean background and an African-American musician, each with their own tale/battle with religion.
The story I read was less about Fly and Stela but about their pieces (parents, loved ones, lovers) and their respective pieces.
This story is a palindrome about a love rooted in descent and in the fluidity of our choices. Each chapter details a finely tuned step in carving a puzzle piece, as each corner is cut and reshaped by desire and religion and the identical passion both of these cruxes bring about.
Beyond the love story, Tiphanie Yanique has us exploring lovers (pick your word of choice: sinners? Pastors? Wives? Husbands? Students? Artists?) and asking Is there a difference? Are we not all driven by a passion we come to learn of, then study, and then journey to satisfy (within ourselves, through others)?
I enjoyed the exploration of faith, religion, love, passion, secrecy – driving forces we often hear of – as both builders and destroyers. Often perceived as *pure*, Tiphanie portrays them as they truly exist, in juxtaposition with the rest of the world’s perceived immoralities and sometimes itself a "pure" vice (ex. Fly’s stack of adult magazines and *that tape* topped off with the Bible? Yeah, I’m glad she took it there.)
The last 20 pages or so felt like a rushed commentary on the current state of the world and had me skimming pages. The novel could have ended sooner and I would’ve been okay with it.