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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
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:
No
dark
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
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
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
Odd book. I had higher hopes coming into the book based on the premise and felt it a little lackluster at the reveal. I appreciated hearing from the author at the end of the audiobook and her writing process and experience with this piece. Still an interesting, unique story but I hoped for maybe more sci-fi/horror than what it offered.
The single star is for the beautiful cover. I HATED everything about this. And I can't recall the last time I had faeelings that strong about a book. The main character is just insufferable. I don't understand how she lives life because she finds offense in everything around her where none should exist. It must be horrible to be that unhappy. I stopped reading this about 50 pages from the end and I'm sorry I even read that far. I just didn't care anymore. I gained nothing. The writing wasn't interesting or smart. The plot was fairly nonexistent. And the characters were detestable. This may be for some people, but it is clearly not for me.
I think I kind of loved this overall. It was very interesting and weird and well written. But then it just ended and (I may be alone in this) I wanted MORE WEIRDNESS.
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cannibalism
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Anisa Ellahi is a privileged 30-something Pakistani native who’s been living in London since her move there for university. She has a love for language and translation, but wastes her days writing subtitles for Bollywood films while she dreams of translating great literary works. One day, her boyfriend Adam surprises her by speaking fluent Urdu — better than even she can, in fact. Instead of being delighted, she’s suspicious. How did he master the language so quickly when he couldn’t even say more than a few words despite months of trying to teach him?
Adam reluctantly reveals his secret. It’s the Centre, an exclusive top secret program, that, upon completion, guarantees perfect fluency in any language that one chooses. Excited, Anisa contacts the Centre and signs the NDAs. She completes the program, and accomplishes feats that she had once only dreamed of doing. But still she’s not happy. Because there’s something unsettling about the Centre. Something…not right. And Anisa is determined to figure it out.
~~
This book is described as being “darkly comic,” with “twists as page-turning as they are shocking.”
Those are lies.
There was nothing remotely comedic about this, dark or otherwise. Anisa is grating and childish and self-centered. She complains about everything all the time. Sometimes she briefly ponders class differences, poverty, and racism. But it’s never for long, and she never comes to any life-changing revelation. Really it’s just more along the lines of, “I’m at a rooftop bar and there are starving people at the entrance and isn’t that horrible? But I’m still going to drink and eat chocolate because why shouldn’t I?”
Anisa only cares about herself, which she demonstrates over and over again throughout this short (but seemingly endless) story. There’s her boyfriend Adam, to whom she almost gets engaged only to realize that she never even liked him in the first place. In all the time they spent together as a couple, she never once went to his apartment. She didn’t even know he doesn’t like chocolate. Here, Anisa has a moment where she thinks, Maybe I should change. But as is custom for her character, she quickly brushes that thought aside and continues on with her narcissistic tendencies.
Then there’s her best friend Naima, for whom she expresses lots of affection and caring. That is, until Naima meets Azeem. Then she rants about how horrible Azeem is, how lazy and stupid and just a typical man. And how could Naima be so foolish to fall for him, to fall into such a typical patriarchal relationship! And maybe I could understand those arguments, the struggle of feeling your friend slip away as they immerse themselves into a new relationship. But the main issue for Anisa is that Naima now spends all her time with Azeem, and why does no one recognize the significance of that relationship, that friendship? Ugh. It’s all very woe is me, don’t you feel bad for me? And no, Anisa, I really don’t.
Now for the story itself. Yes, the concept itself is dark. Basically,you go to the Centre, eat people and somehow absorb their languages and experiences, and voila! You’re fluent in the language. Of course, you don’t know you’re participating in cannibalism, that’s the big twist! Not groundbreaking, but I also didn’t see it coming (I was too blinded by Anisa’s boring monologue). The issue is that that is not the focus of the book! You’d think it would be, but no. The things you want to read about (the actual time at the Centre, the discovery of Anna being “sick” and then later dead, exploring the secret rooms at the Centre is all glazed over, pushed to the side. The actual focus is Anisa and her crush on Shiba, the lady who runs the Centre. And neither concept (the cannibalism and the queer relationship/crush ) is fully explored. They’re both mentioned a few times, just laid out there, and then the story ends.
Actually, the REAL focus is Anisa’s burning desire to check her email. Both times that she enrolls at the Centre, she struggles immensely, ranting for paragraphs how she just wants to check her email and insta and whatever other social media. Like girl, it’s 10 days. Calm down. I could see if she had a legitimate concern that someone desperately needed to contact her. But literally she would weep because she just wanted to check her socials. So fucking annoying.
I wanted to like Anisa. I really did. I could even relate to some of the things she said. I even highlighted some quotes that I liked:
Adam reluctantly reveals his secret. It’s the Centre, an exclusive top secret program, that, upon completion, guarantees perfect fluency in any language that one chooses. Excited, Anisa contacts the Centre and signs the NDAs. She completes the program, and accomplishes feats that she had once only dreamed of doing. But still she’s not happy. Because there’s something unsettling about the Centre. Something…not right. And Anisa is determined to figure it out.
~~
This book is described as being “darkly comic,” with “twists as page-turning as they are shocking.”
Those are lies.
There was nothing remotely comedic about this, dark or otherwise. Anisa is grating and childish and self-centered. She complains about everything all the time. Sometimes she briefly ponders class differences, poverty, and racism. But it’s never for long, and she never comes to any life-changing revelation. Really it’s just more along the lines of, “I’m at a rooftop bar and there are starving people at the entrance and isn’t that horrible? But I’m still going to drink and eat chocolate because why shouldn’t I?”
Anisa only cares about herself, which she demonstrates over and over again throughout this short (but seemingly endless) story. There’s her boyfriend Adam, to whom she almost gets engaged only to realize that she never even liked him in the first place. In all the time they spent together as a couple, she never once went to his apartment. She didn’t even know he doesn’t like chocolate. Here, Anisa has a moment where she thinks, Maybe I should change. But as is custom for her character, she quickly brushes that thought aside and continues on with her narcissistic tendencies.
Then there’s her best friend Naima, for whom she expresses lots of affection and caring. That is, until Naima meets Azeem. Then she rants about how horrible Azeem is, how lazy and stupid and just a typical man. And how could Naima be so foolish to fall for him, to fall into such a typical patriarchal relationship! And maybe I could understand those arguments, the struggle of feeling your friend slip away as they immerse themselves into a new relationship. But the main issue for Anisa is that Naima now spends all her time with Azeem, and why does no one recognize the significance of that relationship, that friendship? Ugh. It’s all very woe is me, don’t you feel bad for me? And no, Anisa, I really don’t.
Now for the story itself. Yes, the concept itself is dark. Basically,
Actually, the REAL focus is Anisa’s burning desire to check her email. Both times that she enrolls at the Centre, she struggles immensely, ranting for paragraphs how she just wants to check her email and insta and whatever other social media. Like girl, it’s 10 days. Calm down. I could see if she had a legitimate concern that someone desperately needed to contact her. But literally she would weep because she just wanted to check her socials. So fucking annoying.
I wanted to like Anisa. I really did. I could even relate to some of the things she said. I even highlighted some quotes that I liked:
- But this other feeling—this feeling of a life not fully lived—that was worse, practically unbearable. I felt constantly thwarted, and I didn’t even know by what. (Ch. 1)
- It made me wonder whether I was simply an insatiable pit, never to be fully satisfied. (Ch. 5)
Okay I thought there was more. Anyway. These lines were so relatable. I felt like, yeah, Anisa gets it. But no, not really. The woman just likes to complain. And that was just the beginning of it.
And finally, the ending. I was just so happy it was done that I didn’t really care all that much that it was so vague and unsatisfying.So basically you figure out that this book is based on Anisa’s recordings from her work as a Storyteller (why she continued to do that, knowing that it meant she’d be eaten is beyond me). So she’s planning on releasing a book detailing her whole experience at the Centre and her conversations with its founders, but calling it fiction. How that’s helpful to anyone is still to be determined. Don’t you feel like you should be doing something to stop what’s happening at the Centre? Releasing a fictional novel is not the way to go. Anyway, Shiba comes to Naima’s wedding and tells Anisa that one of the founders, David, is dead and she invites Anisa to join her in “receiving” him (aka they’re going to eat him to “absorb his wisdom”). Anisa says no at first, but then it ends with her answer seemingly up in the air as she contemplates how she and Shiba could possibly “consume the Centre itself”. So basically no one knows what actually ends up happening.
I had this book on my “to read” list for a long time. I almost deleted it off there, but changed my mind at the last minute. What a shame. Almost saved a few hours of my life.
And finally, the ending. I was just so happy it was done that I didn’t really care all that much that it was so vague and unsatisfying.
I had this book on my “to read” list for a long time. I almost deleted it off there, but changed my mind at the last minute. What a shame. Almost saved a few hours of my life.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense