Reviews

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

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eardeluca's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

4.0

lady_bountiful's review against another edition

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Meh

kay_chan's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

My only thoughts at the end of this book is that I just wish it was more. Either darker to make it eerie, or more psychological to make it interesting.

Disappointed that it just kind of fell flat and I had to keep going back each time I picked up the book to get reoriented. Themes were incredible!

LGBTQ FMC
Pakistani FMC
Women in STEAM

Content Warnings

monycadianne's review

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

kjurewicz's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

This book was a disappointment. It reminded me of Nine Perfect Strangers (but not as good). First of all, the main character was completely unlikable. Anisa was annoying and pretentious while also making a lot of dumb, nonsensical decisions, especially in her relationship with Adam and when it came to finding out the truth about The Centre and its founders. The book moved at a glacial pace to get to the big reveal about The Centre’s true process. That was definitely the best part of the book, as well as the memory that was induced by Naima’s tea near the end and Anisa’s tension-filled exploration of the staff areas. However, there were not enough tense/exciting moments; in fact, there were a lot of missed opportunities for tension, suspense, and symbolism (I thought the plants would be a lot more significant!) And the ending was vague and unsatisfying (although there was a clever attempt to break the fourth wall). And the whole situation with Arjun - ugh, just why?

Overall, this book had a lot of potential to be an awesome modern day Gothic novel, but missed the mark in a lot of ways.

Content Warnings

mdelao630's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sarahspages's review against another edition

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3.0

the way I thought this was gonna be a new all-time favourite in the first half :( i was really loving the concept of this book — I'm always drawn to the exploration of languages and translation, and being from a Muslim pov was just the cherry on top. for me this book had so much potential and then completely flopped.

minor spoilers here // most of my complaints revolve around the main character and her choices, and the thing is, I get that she's supposed to be an unlikeable character and that she can't see past her privilege, despite being pretty self aware and intelligent.. but it was pretty frustrating when time and time again she uncovers more sinister things about the Centre and then quickly allows herself to be talked out of any valid concern she has. like it happened so many times, until the very last page. the book accomplished making a commentary on this type of selfish, can't-take-any-criticism, type person - but she was SO CLOSE to having agency that I was rooting for her to have any growth and character development and it just never happened. maybe that was the point? but how boring and unsatisfying to read about.

also, I completely agree with nahid’s pekoe ☪️'s review (on goodreads), particularly regarding the absurdity of including an Israeli, former IDF character with no commentary about that. It could have fit in easily with the author's critique of the islamophobia in India, I just do not understand why this character was given this identity and she even went so far as to make duas for him? just.. what the fuck.