Reviews - The Centre | The StoryGraph

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3.53k reviews for:

The Centre

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

3.56 AVERAGE

teyn's review against another edition

5.0

reflective tense medium-paced

Content Warnings

startjpw23's review

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is set in modern times. Anisa is a young woman living in England. Her exact age isn't given. She is an immigrant from Pakistan. Her parents are wealthy and still live in Pakistan. Anisa does translations for Bollywood films. She is in a relationship with Adam. Both her job and her relationship aren't particularly fulfilling. Adam recently went to an exclusive, secretive language school called The Centre where he fully learned a language in a few weeks. A person can only get in this language school if they get a recommendation from a person who previously went there. Anisa decides she wants to learn German. She gets Adam to give her a recommendation despite the fact that they break up at the same time. The story goes from there. Anisa is struggling to find her way in life. There is a fair amount of tense moments. I really enjoyed the gradual explanations of how The Centre worked. The book talks about what it is like being a Pakistani immigrant to England. What it is like being a woman in England, Pakistan, and India. Views that citizens of India and Pakistan hold toward one another. Classist views held by people in India and Pakistan. There is racism, sexism, and classism in this book. There are some short, slightly graphic sex scenes. There is a consent issue in one of these scenes. I recommend this book to someone who wants to read a story about a woman who is struggling with various thing while trying to find her way in life. A book with an undercurrent of mystery. If any of the issues I mentioned are problems for you, you may want to avoid the book.

Content Warnings

davieshj's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny reflective fast-paced

uncannycanuck's review against another edition

3.75

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kghckmn's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kg18's review against another edition

1.25

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Go girl, give us nothing!

I should have known this book would be absolutely nothing when the entire first chapter was about her ex boyfriends erectile dysfunction only for it to have nothing to do with the plot or character development.

We are in the narrator's pov and she sucks! This book promised social commentary when in reality, the narrator would spend a couple sentences thinking about the actual problem and then saying, "Oh well" or "Anyway" and just moving on. No actual discussion. She would think, "Racism exists and it affects me. Anyway, I went back to work."
Anisa is so unlikeable and immature. She would explain her words and actions by calling the other people selfish and stupid. I was so sick of hearing from her. She reveals the secrets and mysteries in such a nonchalant way. It's supposed to be scary and disturbing, but the way she describes it makes it feel like she's reading her grocery store receipt. There's no urgency.
I'm really disappointed because the premise sounded so interesting. I wanted more. It gave me barely anything.

Content Warnings