Reviews

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Only show reviews with written explanations

tandem_tricycle's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

paradise_library's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

As someone who wishes she spoke more languages, the concept of this book really piqued my interest – becoming fluent in a language in just a matter of days would be incredible.

Anisa seems to share this dream, desperate to be a translator of great works of fiction… I could relate to her a lot as she wanted more from her life.

I felt that the time spent with Adam is merely to create a way for Anisa to get to The Centre. Their relationship isn’t particularly interesting and these chapters dragged down the book somewhat; I also question how Adam could afford so many visits when it’s £20k per language! I was just as keen as Anisa to get to the crux of the story.

And what a story it is.

Even if it’s fairly obvious what the twist is, it’s a wonderful concept, the time at the Centre is well done and some of the relationships are endearing. Naima is an excellent character, especially her attitude towards life. Anisa does not deserve her as a friend and is extremely unlikeable; she’s a privileged, whiny person who is self-centred and quite rude. Her shock at discovering the Centre’s secret is undermined by the fact that she just drifts home without much concern.

I do feel that the Centre itself plays a relatively small role in the book as a whole, with too much time devoted to Adam and a lot of other time to Anisa’s visit to India (massive conflict of interest here too). I did enjoy the time in India, but it did not add a lot to the story and I would have liked more about etymology and language, as well as the psychology about this and the people whose stories she discovers.

It’s a good book - and I read it in one sitting - but it does have a lot of flaws and doesn’t live up to expectations. However, I for one would still enrol at The Centre. Make of that what you will…

colorfulleo92's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

sharkybookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Anisa dreams of translating “great works of literature” instead of writing subtitles for Bollywood films - a dream which feels unachievable, especially in the face of her boyfriend Adam’s remarkable ability to acquire new languages, until he reveals his secret…

This was an interesting concept - the ability to acquire an entire language to the level of native fluency (which of course means fully understanding the associated culture) in an absurdly short space of time is a fascinating idea to explore. But the story took a strange turn towards the end which I just couldn’t quite get behind - things got weird and pivoted away from what I was most interested in (the actual learning of languages and everything that entails).

There were some interesting observations around friendship, belonging and insidious racism. I particularly enjoyed Anisa’s reflections around our relationship to the different languages we speak and our relationship to ourselves when speaking those different languages (themes which are basically catnip to me). But it was not enough to carry the book.

I found the chatty tone rather painful to read, particularly the inclusion of verbal tics that just don’t work when written (listening to the audiobook might make this more tolerable, but I cannot confirm). I eventually understood the reason for it, but that didn’t make up for the irritation.

An intriguing story of the power of languages, gatekeeping of knowledge and friendship, that takes an odd turn and doesn’t quite live up to its potential.

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Yippee out of my reading slump :D I would say the pros of this book are that the story itself was really interesting and it was honestly fast to visualize and get through. I would say this comes off less as a sci-fi and more as a thriller in my opinion (similar to Get Out the movie), but with a lot of diversity and some really smart moments. This was a blind purchase for me, and I think that is the best way to go into this book.

Content Warnings

philosophicellie's review

Go to review page

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was an amazing read. I've highlighted more than I ever thought because it kept making me think, or laugh.

While no character is particularly lovable I think that is sort of the point, they feel realistically flawed which helps the story to flow in the right way

Content Warnings