A review by beanith
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

To be clear, I don’t think I’d recommend this book to anyone. At least not lightly or casually. But I am giving it at least 4 stars (going back and forth between a 4 and 4.25). The themes, content, and characters of The Centre all require a willingness from the reader to just listen, even if they hate what they’re hearing.

Cannibalism. I knew it was coming - I spoiled it for myself when adding the book to my TBR, and again when I looked up the Jacques Derrida quote Shiba likes. But even knowing that there would be cannibalism didn’t desensitize me to the reveal - it was gross, made worse by how the founders of The Centre carry themselves with an air of enlightenment, sophistication, wisdom, elitism, etc.

I read Tender is the Flesh a couple of years ago and honestly, I don’t want to read another cannibalism book. I know as a theme and metaphor the girls are loving it (hello Ethel Caine, Bones and All, and Hannibal TV show) but I am not one of those girls.

Luckily, I think the cannibalism here is not a metaphor for an all consuming love (or whatever the girls are saying on Twitter). I think the characters delude themselves about their actions being justified or even morally superior because they obtained (dubious) consent. They convince themselves that they can live on forever this way. I think this is more or less an exercise in the extremes privelleged people go to not interact with the real problems of today (poverty, inequality, inaccessibility) in order to create a flimsy vision of the future. A future that seems to only benefit them and their circle.


Let’s talk characters

Anisa: if you need a main character to be likable
or redeemable
then do not pick up this book. She starts off pretty neutral, maybe a little lost in a general quarter life crisis way. But as the book goes on her anxieties, insecurities, preoccupations and judgements take center stage.
She is unwilling to confront her own class and wealth privilege despite being hyper critical of the world around her. She’s manipulative (especially to Adam, and later, heartbreakingly, to Naima) and she cares more about how people see her vs how she treats them. She seems more motivated by curiosity than goodness.
She’s interesting to read from but not exactly easy to empathize with (not that you always need to empathize with a character, anyway).

Naima: The realest one, ride or die, if Naima has 0 fans then I am dead. She is full of life and genuine emotion and reflection. Not academically fetishized enlightenment.

Adam:
Adam enters and leaves the narrative without much fanfare, but I was surprised to find myself rooting for him when he was fighting with Anisa. It’s easy to make fun of Adam , especially when Anisa picks him apart for most of their relationship.  But he is the one to throw the first flag and tell her that she is selfish.


Shiba: Cool, mysterious, thoughtful. She seems representational of what Anisa feels like she lacks. But also, she has a life outside of Anisa.
Still fucked up. I’m sorry, joining your dad’s cannibalism cult is not the power move you think it is.
 

I think this book is messy and imperfect but I think that it gives a lot to ponder by the end. Not black and white moral ponderings (the things that are morally wrong in this book are self evident to me), but thoughts on class, race, gender, language, respect, dignity, consent and privilege. 
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