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A review by introvertsbookclub
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Trying to discuss the Centre in the novel’s title is almost impossible without revealing spoilers. But as intriguing as the Centre is, the conversations around privilege that it helped to facilitate and the protagonist’s relationships within the wider novel were by far the most gripping elements of my reading experience.
Ayesha’s invitation to a top-secret, hyper-exclusive language school leaves her with lots of questions about how exactly fluency is achieved in just ten days, but more pressing are her questions about who has the privilege to access this cultural knowledge and to what extent it is an example of appropriation and inauthenticity. Throughout the novel different perspectives on gender, class, race and ethnicity provoke questions about hierarchies and overlaps and conflicts of power, and whose experience is the most genuine, who is ‘right’ in any given situation. What should be clear is murky at times, while wilful ignorance reigns at others.
Discussions of individual desires and structures of power are grounded in a friendship that is prioritised throughout the novel, and a variety of other relationships that reflect on gendered expectations, societal pressures and power imbalances. The central friendship was my favourite aspect of the novel, because it was treated with such value, and allowed to navigate conflict and difference as well as support and shared love. There was a push against ‘settling down’ because it is expected, but also an understanding of why tradition and convention are attractive for some people.
This novel left me with lots of thoughts, but the one I keep returning to is what to do about the problem of gatekeeping and establishments entrenched in privilege. Should you try to change them from within, taking what they have to share and trying to influence them in a new direction, or do you need to strike out on a new path altogether?
Ayesha’s invitation to a top-secret, hyper-exclusive language school leaves her with lots of questions about how exactly fluency is achieved in just ten days, but more pressing are her questions about who has the privilege to access this cultural knowledge and to what extent it is an example of appropriation and inauthenticity. Throughout the novel different perspectives on gender, class, race and ethnicity provoke questions about hierarchies and overlaps and conflicts of power, and whose experience is the most genuine, who is ‘right’ in any given situation. What should be clear is murky at times, while wilful ignorance reigns at others.
Discussions of individual desires and structures of power are grounded in a friendship that is prioritised throughout the novel, and a variety of other relationships that reflect on gendered expectations, societal pressures and power imbalances. The central friendship was my favourite aspect of the novel, because it was treated with such value, and allowed to navigate conflict and difference as well as support and shared love. There was a push against ‘settling down’ because it is expected, but also an understanding of why tradition and convention are attractive for some people.
This novel left me with lots of thoughts, but the one I keep returning to is what to do about the problem of gatekeeping and establishments entrenched in privilege. Should you try to change them from within, taking what they have to share and trying to influence them in a new direction, or do you need to strike out on a new path altogether?
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs