Reviews

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

rubius_pepperwood's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

izzyvb023's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I think more people need to be worried about prions diseases. 

I liked this book well enough. It was paced pretty slowly, but the reveal was good. The narrator was unreliable and oftentimes even unlikeable, but I still wanted her to succeed. 
There was also some very thoughtful commentary about translation, colonialism, and feminism. I was especially interested in the way the author described the act of translation and compared it to prayer. 
The ‘meta’ bit at the end was good. It definitely achieved its goal and had me questioning the author and her lived experiences. 

Overall, it was a good mild horror read. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for any of the following:

- dark academia 
- plot twists
- mild body horror
- unreliable narrator
- meta
- translation/linguistics/language learning

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

harleyjoyful's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

sdeeim's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

elysareadsitall's review against another edition

2.0

"The Centre" had great potential and a disturbing end. Unfortunately, I found a lot of the book slow and repetitive, and if I had been reading it in print instead of a sped-up audiobook, I wouldn't have finished it. There were several things I liked about the book, but the pace made it just an okay read for me.

hwest's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

hoodleyrootz's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this read. I was expecting a more sinister reveal about the Centre's workings, maybe because I just read another book that had cannibalism, the cannibalism reveal wasn't as shocking to me. I kind of wanted something more dramatic. Ultimately, my favorite sequence didn't have to do with the Centre at all. I adored the scene where the author takes us through the two options for Anisa's relation with Shiba's dad. Its commentary of the responsibility put on women in those situations and how both could have negative repercussions was tastefully done. The overall social commentary was my favorite part of the book. I enjoyed how I constantly assessed whether I would eat a human to learn a language so quickly. Main reason I rated four stars over five is that I felt the ending was really abrupt. I wanted just a few more pages into what the final decision was. Would recommend overall.

fates_fables_golem's review

challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

wattsey11's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.0

perffectplacess's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.0