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brooketreads's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
3.0
Cozy horror?
I am so conflicted on my overall feelings on this book. I really like the concept, but the reason for learning a new language felt so low stakes and uninteresting. The idea of the Centre though I loved, but I needed more. We got so much more of time not spent at the Centre. There was a surprising revelation that made me scream (around 76%). The pacing felt really off though. Some things feeling slow and then others feeling rushed. All the Adam stuff felt very irrelevant, other than the fact that he told our MC Anisa about the Centre. The characters felt underdeveloped. I needed more getting to know Anisa, her job, likes, dislikes. I didn’t like that Anisa seemed and implied having feelings for Sheva (spelling? listened on audio) but then made out with Sheva’s dad. It just felt icky to me. I did like the ending. It wasn’t a traditional ending. It felt like there should have been more or there can be more in the future, but there doesn’t have to be.
This story touched on some very important topics of race, racism, privilege, consent, misogyny, and familial and gender expectations. Although I will say, I felt at times some of these topics were discussed in a way that may be seen as insensitive.
Content Warnings: withholding of information not allowing for informed consent, topic of sex, discussion of explicit sexual acts, cannibalism, and death.
I am so conflicted on my overall feelings on this book. I really like the concept, but the reason for learning a new language felt so low stakes and uninteresting. The idea of the Centre though I loved, but I needed more. We got so much more of time not spent at the Centre. There was a surprising revelation that made me scream (around 76%). The pacing felt really off though. Some things feeling slow and then others feeling rushed. All the Adam stuff felt very irrelevant, other than the fact that he told our MC Anisa about the Centre. The characters felt underdeveloped. I needed more getting to know Anisa, her job, likes, dislikes. I didn’t like that Anisa seemed and implied having feelings for Sheva (spelling? listened on audio) but then made out with Sheva’s dad. It just felt icky to me. I did like the ending. It wasn’t a traditional ending. It felt like there should have been more or there can be more in the future, but there doesn’t have to be.
This story touched on some very important topics of race, racism, privilege, consent, misogyny, and familial and gender expectations. Although I will say, I felt at times some of these topics were discussed in a way that may be seen as insensitive.
Content Warnings: withholding of information not allowing for informed consent, topic of sex, discussion of explicit sexual acts, cannibalism, and death.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Cannibalism, and Alcohol
Minor: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, and Classism
displacedcactus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This is a speculative literary book about a place where people can become fluent in a language in just two weeks through deep immersion -- but of course there's a catch! Like most literary books with a speculative element, if you read speculative books the twist probably won't surprise you at all*, and there were a couple of weak points, but overall it was a pretty strong debut book -- really really readable and intended to make you think about privilege, greed, and instant gratification.
I'd definitely like to see what this author does when she has a few more books under her belt.
*The twist is also probably spoiled in the SG content warnings, so maybe don't check them unless you need to avoid specific triggers.
I'd definitely like to see what this author does when she has a few more books under her belt.
*The twist is also probably spoiled in the SG content warnings, so maybe don't check them unless you need to avoid specific triggers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Racism, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Racial slurs
anntharai's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Normally if I guess the twist it can't be a 5 star book for me, but even though I got it early on I thought this book was fantastic. Its also one of the best applications of audiobook production I've heard. Tiny bit obsessed.
It's the layering that gets me, it's not just about one thing. The esstereggs are there (including on the cover art, IMO but no idea if that's intentional or not)
It's the layering that gets me, it's not just about one thing. The esstereggs are there (including on the cover art, IMO but no idea if that's intentional or not)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
typedtruths's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Cursing, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Body horror, Medical content, and Classism
I’m putting ‘cannibalism’ in the graphic section because it is quite shocking without prior knowledge (which is all well and good but holy hell, I shouldn’t have been listening to this on my lunch break).feministmidwife's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and Classism
kirstym25's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Cannibalism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Classism
kylieqrada's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Bananas, but so thoughtful and thought-provoking. Not always the most likeable main character, but in the best way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and Classism
Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Acephobia/Arophobia
escapismforlife's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thanks to Zando Projects for accepting me to read the eARC for The Centre, it was a ride and unexpected one for me to but I enjoyed this ominous and modern story. This book had me conscious and reflective of how varied or similiar the lifestyle of protagnist Anisa's, is. It's often tied down by her selfish mentality and vaules that come from living in this case London and the unfamiliarity of her ethnicity there.The relationships she has are not stable in a country that is not completely hers and she therefore makes a lot of her proximity to anyone more distanced.
Anisa wants more when in comes to her job that she does translating Bollywood movies,which like almost everything has become a thing to improve upon or move on from. That is of course until she is a told about the highly exclusive language school The Centre which she is told about from this guy Adam. Its a place you can go to learn to speak fluently in ten days and is meant to be kept a seceret by those who know about it. Anyways while they have a complicated date relationship to each other she goes after receiving her invite. And along the way discovers a whole lot and builds relationship with the very top person and manger Shiba . Its very obscure about what's happening until the very end and did so along the formation of them growing closer.
I definitely had no clue how this mystery or thriller ended. It was so dark but made the most sense to why everything around The Centre was so private.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
hannahdotmay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Centre was a book made to be devoured. An odd, offbeat story following a young Pakistani woman unsure of her self in more ways than one. When offered the chance to transform her professional life from translator of Urdu, working on Bollywood film subtitles from bed, to a translator of great works of literature, in less than 2 weeks, she jumps at the chance.
At the centre, the language acquisition process is kept under close wraps, and the immersive program is run by an enigmatic woman, Shiba. The two grow close, a complicated friendship & a little bit more, starts to emerge.
The reveal in this book was impeccable, I had an inkling but I still wasn’t disappointed. The chatty authorial voice made dialogue easy to read but the depth of questioning our characters contemplated regarding the politics of translation, inequalities between European and Global south translated works, class systems in Pakistan and India, misogyny in startup culture - all were well integrated.
Really, this book was lesson in subtlety when conveying complex socio political themes - many current new releases could take note.
One for your beach bag or weekend in bed, either way - easy to devour ❤️🔥
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Cannibalism, and Classism
joreneereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? Yes
4.0
the premise of this book gets a solid 5/5 from me, such an interesting concept and subject for a book. as someone obsessed with languages, the whole "learning a language" aspect of the story was so interesting to me that i had no attention issues over the first half of the book like some reviewers have described. i firmly believe that language learning is an underserved plot or subject matter for books. the ideas here are also so interesting - do you take on something of the culture, personality, or values of the group or individual that you learn a language from? why is it so valued for english speakers to learn another language, but only expected for speakers of other languages to learn english? (obviously we all know the answer to that.) how does the brain assimilate language?
the commentary from the narrator was casual and varied in style - at times a bit "opinion dumping" - but that does not bother me at all. The dialogue was odd... one character says "lol" out loud? but again, not something that bothers me.
where I think this book had some unfulfilled potential is the development of all these ideas. of course it IS all connected - colonialism, classism, racism, exploitation, language, etc. - but the first 2/3 or so of the book is dedicated to throwing all these pieces into the ring, and then they are kind of just left there, and the book ends. i found the premise and idea behind the book stronger than the final execution, but ultimately i did still enjoy reading this so much (despite its disturbing content), and I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.
one note - the main character spends a fair amount of time disparaging a partner who seems to have little to no libido. i'm not sure what the intended reading of this is - if it is supposed to be a statement on the main character, on the partner, on race dynamics, other?, but it was a bit uncomfortable to read. it is fine to have low libido. it is also fine for that to be something you don't want in a relationship, but it doesn't make someone a bad partner because they have a libido that doesn't satisfy your preferences.
eARC received through netgalley, thank you.
the commentary from the narrator was casual and varied in style - at times a bit "opinion dumping" - but that does not bother me at all. The dialogue was odd... one character says "lol" out loud? but again, not something that bothers me.
where I think this book had some unfulfilled potential is the development of all these ideas. of course it IS all connected - colonialism, classism, racism, exploitation, language, etc. - but the first 2/3 or so of the book is dedicated to throwing all these pieces into the ring, and then they are kind of just left there, and the book ends. i found the premise and idea behind the book stronger than the final execution, but ultimately i did still enjoy reading this so much (despite its disturbing content), and I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.
one note - the main character spends a fair amount of time disparaging a partner who seems to have little to no libido. i'm not sure what the intended reading of this is - if it is supposed to be a statement on the main character, on the partner, on race dynamics, other?, but it was a bit uncomfortable to read. it is fine to have low libido. it is also fine for that to be something you don't want in a relationship, but it doesn't make someone a bad partner because they have a libido that doesn't satisfy your preferences.
eARC received through netgalley, thank you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Classism
Moderate: Misogyny, Islamophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia