The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Yanique, Tiphanie. Monster in the Middle. Riverhead Books, 2021.

Tiphanie Yanique's novel Monster in the Middle is written from a range of first and third person points of view. The novel employs an atypical narrative structure and uses both the past and present tenses. These untraditional formal choices disrupt typical notions of plot and linearity, while also enacting the author's thematic interest the relationship between ancestry and identity. The following summary relies upon the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

Fly grows up in Ellenwood, Georgia with his mother, Ellenora, and father, Gary. Throughout his childhood, Fly often feels alienated and alone. His father's unpredictable temperament, mental atypicality, and paternal unreliability particularly confuse Fly. His mother is constantly preoccupied with her relationship with Gary. She is also consumed by bitterness towards Gary's ex-lover, Eloise. This network of complications challenges Fly's sense of self from a young age.

One summer, he travels to Soulsville, Tennessee. During his stay away from his parents, Fly develops an interest in and attachment to the Christian church. The faith provides him a sense of stability he has never known. Pastor John, the leader of the church group, God's Caravan, also devotes his attention to Fly. Fly feels that Pastor John sees him in a way his father never has. He believes that Pastor John might even be able to save him from his sorrows and loneliness.

However, when Fly returns to Ellenwood, he feels foolish for what happened in Soulsville. Though he wants to detach himself from the church, he also has trouble giving up his beliefs. Over the years, he returns to his religious modes of thought. Yet Fly's notions of spirituality are also entangled with his pubescent curiosity regarding sex. Fly spends most of his time in his room getting high and masturbating while reading the Bible. Though Fly knows his habits are odd, he also relies upon these rituals.

When Fly leaves home for college at Georgia State University, he feels free for the first time in his life. He believes that the new college atmosphere will lend him agency and clarity. However, the culture at Georgia State soon proves as alienating as his life in Ellenwood. Therefore, when two students named Arthur and Suzie invite Fly to church, he accepts. Shortly thereafter, he becomes involved with Suzie, only to discover she is using her sexuality to spiritually manipulate him. When the relationship ends, Fly distances himself from the church, and turns to literature for a new guide.

Stela grows up in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. She lives with her mother, Mermaid, and her stepfather, who remains unnamed throughout the novel. Though she loves her parents, Stela often feels alone. Her friendship with Johann, therefore, becomes a primary source of comfort and stability. Over the years, their relationship deepens and evolves. When Stela is a sophomore in college, she accepts Johann's marriage proposal. Shortly thereafter, however, Stela panics that she does not know herself at all. She decides to do a study abroad term in Legon, Ghana in order to find herself before marrying Johann. During the trip, Stela is raped by her teaching assistant. The traumatic experience further complicates Stela's understanding of self. When she returns home, she breaks up with Johann.

Not long after meeting a man named Steven, the new couple gets married. Stela is convinced that Steven is everything she has ever needed and wanted in a man. However, neither she nor Steven are honest with one another. They eventually get a divorce.

In the spring of 2020, Stela and Fly meet in New York City. They do not fall in love at first sight. Rather, they consciously enter their relationship, aware of all the possible complications. One night while they are having sex, three detectives knock on Stela's door. They bring her to the police station for stealing a cell phone. Neither Fly nor Stela can believe what is happening. In the wake of the incident, Stela thinks Fly will abandon her. Meanwhile, Fly is deciding whether or not to stay with Stela. He eventually realizes that all he wants from life is to face the unknown with courage. He decides to do this with Stela.