A review by pk4
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I think this was an overhyped book, but I found myself annotating several pages. There are themes of female friendship and love; colonialism, class, and cultural appropriation; and identity and conformity, with the overall concept of language tying all of these elements together with the plot. The main character is found often victimizing herself in the sense that she's able to tell you exactly what's wrong with all those around her, but rarely, if ever, herself. This was a twisted book, but the ending wasn't very good, and the twist itself was alluded to the entire time.