Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

44 reviews

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Yippee out of my reading slump :D I would say the pros of this book are that the story itself was really interesting and it was honestly fast to visualize and get through. I would say this comes off less as a sci-fi and more as a thriller in my opinion (similar to Get Out the movie), but with a lot of diversity and some really smart moments. This was a blind purchase for me, and I think that is the best way to go into this book. 
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cassielaj's review against another edition

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fast-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? It's complicated

1.0

At 20-30%, I kept reading because I thought it might eventually go somewhere. 
At 50%, I thought we were finally getting to something decent. 
By 75%, I was finishing this out of spite. 
This book is all kinds of confused about the story it’s telling. The majority of it is just the story of a woman unhappy with her life and striving for more. There’s a whisper of a “thriller,” until it smacks you across the face at about 85% and then ends so abruptly and with such an obvious cop-out that I feel nothing but annoyed that I spent the day reading this. And frustrated that it really could’ve done something. Take out everything about her weird ex (who is set up to be way more important than he is) and her best friend’s business and relationship (which is probably the best-developed content but totally irrelevant) and you have a 20-page short horror story with a decent premise, a wild twist, and an obvious ending. I’m annoyed that this book tried to do so many things (cultural critique, class & colonization discussion, womanhood, etc.) that could’ve been good but did them so poorly. 
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dexkit10's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

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I think I had about one and a half hours left when I decided to just DNF it. I went into the story thinking it was going to be more of a thriller/suspense story. Maybe even horror. Only the reveal was really interesting to me. Everything else that happened in this book, I found it rather boring. And the see sexual scene between the main character and her new friends uncle was just nasty and I wish I could erase it from my brain. 
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chris_reads's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

The end felt a little abrupt. Characters could be frustrating but were ultimately compelling. The prose and themes are where this book really shines though.
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parissummerreads's review

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dark mysterious reflective 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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siyeon_woo's review

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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q_bert13's review

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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

An interesting story filled with a cast of complex characters. I enjoyed Manazir Siddiqi’s writing style, and how she would include memories & events from the past to fuel the ‘present’ in the story. 

SLIGHT SPOILERS! 
However, towards the end I did not enjoy the dynamic between the MC and her (possible lover)’s father. I know it’s to emphasize the MC’s flaws and create a sense of fear/discomfort between them, but still… super creepy.
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hanz's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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thech4nclan's review

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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