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elipruitt 's review for:
The Centre
by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
2.5 stars
This sadly did not work for me.
The premise and what the author attempted (I'm assuming) to do really hit. And there were glimmers throughout that got me thinking this could be a real win. There are truly very interesting ideas around language, translation, general communication, class, race, sexuality, and many other ethical and moral dilemmas presented here. But that's the thing, they're simply presented. Put on the table and not fully explored. Everything felt like box checking without actually earning the conversation. Sometimes more frustratingly than others.
The "mystery" is hardly that. The very blatant clues are left loud and clear from almost the beginning that when the reveal comes, we're like, "yeah, duh, and?" What was more frustrating was the reveal didn't lead to any significant change in the MC or her path. It felt oddly nonconsequential which didn't really fit with the character we had grown to know.
And lastly, while this was rather beautifully written and flowed well, the author decided to end on a note that leaves you with a big ole "huh?". The entire novel was rather straight forward and didn't leave too much, if anything, up to the imagination, taking away any real tension, then post-"reveal" we have tons of unanswered questions that feel lazy and forgetful, not open-ended and ambiguous.
All in all, I was sad this didn't work out. I was really excited and saw so many others really love this. I would be willing to pick up from this author again, though. Maybe that will hit better.
This sadly did not work for me.
The premise and what the author attempted (I'm assuming) to do really hit. And there were glimmers throughout that got me thinking this could be a real win. There are truly very interesting ideas around language, translation, general communication, class, race, sexuality, and many other ethical and moral dilemmas presented here. But that's the thing, they're simply presented. Put on the table and not fully explored. Everything felt like box checking without actually earning the conversation. Sometimes more frustratingly than others.
The "mystery" is hardly that. The very blatant clues are left loud and clear from almost the beginning that when the reveal comes, we're like, "yeah, duh, and?" What was more frustrating was the reveal didn't lead to any significant change in the MC or her path. It felt oddly nonconsequential which didn't really fit with the character we had grown to know.
And lastly, while this was rather beautifully written and flowed well, the author decided to end on a note that leaves you with a big ole "huh?". The entire novel was rather straight forward and didn't leave too much, if anything, up to the imagination, taking away any real tension, then post-"reveal" we have tons of unanswered questions that feel lazy and forgetful, not open-ended and ambiguous.
All in all, I was sad this didn't work out. I was really excited and saw so many others really love this. I would be willing to pick up from this author again, though. Maybe that will hit better.