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sidekicksam's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.0
The Centre follows the story of Anisa, a Pakistani woman in England in her mid-30s, who works as a translator. She learns about the existence of The Centre, a place where you can learn a new language fluently within days. But all isn’t as it seems..
After letting it simmer for a while, and reading some of the reviews on the book, I am left with a weird aftertaste. I breezed through the book, feeling it was easy to read, twisty and compelling. But there were also some odd choices - I already felt weirded about the inclusion of an Israeli character (who was also ex-IDF) in these times, but there are other insensitivities in the book, and some of the story-choices just don’t feel like good choices in hindsight. The MC’s unlikeability is fine, but she’s too passive to be believable. I would expect her to have more of a reaction to the fact that people were dying for others to learn the language. I also think cannibalism is becoming too easy a plot-point in a lot of the contemporary fiction books, but alas.
Mixed feelings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism and Murder
exhaustrovert's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Sexual assault and Murder
bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
2.5
I had expected a Mexican Gothic type of pacing and reveals, but that's not what this book gave.
I think the "thriller" aspect of the book was lacklustre. The pacing is also very slow - it took me 3 months to finish the book because I kept getting bored and putting it down.
The way the big reveal was done was very disappointing. And the characters weren't utilized in way that could have possibly brought more suspense and drama to the story.
I think the "thriller" aspect of the book was lacklustre. The pacing is also very slow - it took me 3 months to finish the book because I kept getting bored and putting it down.
The way the big reveal was done was very disappointing. And the characters weren't utilized in way that could have possibly brought more suspense and drama to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Classism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Vomit
bloupibloupreads's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Islamophobia, and Murder
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism
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
bratatouille's review
dark
reflective
tense
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Minor: Sexual content and Murder
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