Reviews - The Centre | The StoryGraph

3.53k reviews for:

The Centre

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

3.56 AVERAGE

vrinda_01's review against another edition

1.75

mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Anisa is addicted to her phone. She likes making vague generalisations about the "immigrant struggle". She's self centred to the point of ruining the relationships around her. She's ambitious but directionless. She's lazy. She's naive, and a little stupid. Her parents pay the rent for her London apartment. At one point she blames her personality on the "trauma" caused by her mother getting a c-section instead of having a natural birth. Mind you, she's in her mid-thirties.

Basically imagine the most annoying person ever being your protagonist and put them in a sci-fi mystery. Pair that with immature interpersonal relationship drama, weird time jumps, surface level world building, and you have a a story that has you going "...ok?" for 300 pages. This book tries to tackle bigger topics of colonialism, racism, and misogyny, but does it at such a superficial level that it feels performative and rings hollow. The sci-fi elements and approach to cannibalism receive the same vague treatment that just left me feeling annoyed. What was the point? It really felt like the author couldn't commit to one thing, so they did a little bit of everything and did it poorly. Also the cover is ugly.

Content Warnings

elinorprodger's review against another edition

4.25

challenging mysterious 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

kiwisandher's review against another edition

5.0

Excellent. Complicated main character who I related to and cheered for and then cringed at and despised at times. A spooky, reflection of reality

kt_timms's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

I enjoyed this book! If I hadn’t read the content warnings before diving into this book, I would have been much more surprised with the twist at the end. However, I will say that I predicted *how* the ending would come about having read the content warnings. I thought the topic of language was really interesting to discuss in this way, and I don’t think I would have thought of this outcome for really “taking in” the language to happen on my own. That said, I actually liked that connection! It was a dark, somewhat gruesome way to describe language learning.

I felt like some of the content was a bit meandering, and some plot lines were a bit unfinished. I felt like things kept going back and forth with Adam, and I wonder if he was ever told the truth about The Centre. It was a bit of an interesting plot device to bring in a new love interest for Anisa, but I also felt like things were kind of back and forth there as well, and the ending was a bit unresolved.

All in all, the story was really interesting and I finished the book in about a day. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

Content Warnings

mimsyansy's review against another edition

2.5

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

nomad_nostalgic's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

loveinthethymeofcollards's review

4.5

dark mysterious reflective 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: Complicated

maldamom's review against another edition

4.75

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mair_mcc's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I thought the reveal was going to go very sci fi but it ended up going very gothic horror - loved the surprise of that.

I found the prose to be meandering at times, wandering off on tangents that don’t quite matter and/or feel unfinished. But then, I think that was quite intentional on the author’s part, so I can’t really hold it against it. But it did damped my enjoyment for a large chunk of the middle section.

malgalpal's review against another edition

1.75

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

this just didn’t feel like it went deep enough

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