Monster in the Middle
by Tiphanie Yanique

Monster in the Middle takes the reader on a generational love journey that spans some of America’s most perilous moments. From the Vietnam War to the Challenger explosion to Covid-19, she follows two families over a 50-year stretch of American history in a collection of stories that together form a larger tale of how our time, place and position in the world impacts how we experience love and intimacy. Monster in the Middle is the quintessential novel for 2021.

Yanique calls on themes from some of the best American, Caribbean and international fiction, using her signature lyrical writing style. This historical fiction travels throughout America, from California and Tennessee to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It explores intimacy through a generational, historical and societal lens. It provides a rare look into post-colonialism in America, as well as the divergent experience of being black in America over the last 50 years.

Monster in the Middle challenges everything we know about relationships and how they are shaped by our cultures, our families, our communities, our race, and our time and location within history. Each generation in each location faces their own unique challenges and circumstances. This novel touches on some of the most poignant historical moments, bringing us to this apex moment in the present, where we’re all masked, still searching for love and struggling to reconcile political and cultural differences. This book asks us to rethink what it means to be American during turbulent times, particularly an American in love.