Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Centre

When it ended, I thought I missed something. Premise was interesting but didn’t feel like it landed and the ending was not great. Seemed like they were trying to bring up multiple themes and the author just didn’t follow through enough.

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bloupibloupreads's review against another edition

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funny 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? No

1.25

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crgrace's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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americattt's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

“We spoke then of soft and tender things, damaged and frightened things. I’ll keep our exchange between us for now, as I continue to learn how to care for these very fragile things, and how to translate into words that which has not been spoken.”

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense 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

The Centre falls outside my wheelhouse genre-wise but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Anisa is a Pakistani translator who dreams of translating great works of literature but spends her days subtitling Bollywood movies instead. When her boyfriend Adam becomes fluent in Urdu, seemingly overnight, she convinces him to share his secret. The answer is The Centre, a secretive institution that guarantees fluency in any language during a two week residential course. Anisa applies, learns German, later returns to learn Russian, and develops a relationship with the manager which, combined with her curiosity, helps her uncover the shocking secret behind The Centre’s success. I really enjoyed the discussion about translation early in the novel and liked the slow build up of tension, the increasingly ominous feeling that something wasn’t right but not being able to quite put a finger on what. In terms of the reveal there was one particularly memorable image that will stay with me. I also enjoyed mulling over some of the philosophical and ethical implications of The Centre’s methods. Finally, I appreciated the way The Centre’s methods functioned as a startlingly effective metaphor for cultural appropriation.

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sangsmiles's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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brooketreads's review against another edition

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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.

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anntharai's review

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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)

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