Reviews

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

hanzy's review

3.0

I honestly don't know how I'd rate this book... certain chapters, especially those that touch on 'The Centre', the language bits, (sans the whole dark side) felt quite interesting and intriguing. I'd have rated it higher had it not been bad Muslim rep and certain other parts that made me want to rate it as low as 1-star

innae's review against another edition

4.0

Effectively creepy, because it feels real.  The racism and sexism statements are also a bit too real.   Really wish I had not! read the trigger warnings - it gave away too much. 

Puts a new twist on the prions and the Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, as it is passed by cannibalism.  Reminded me of Deadly Feasts by Richard Rhodes

voxvenati's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Dreamy and very self aware.

This was more literary than I expected, and I wish it had skewed harder into thriller or horror elements, but I ended up loving this book anyway. Anisa and all of the supporting characters were flawed and deeply human. The food all sounded delicious, and I’m craving a cup of chai now. The humor tickled me.

The thriller elements:

It wasn’t that much of a twist that cannibalism was involved. I was hoping for something really novel, but it didn’t detract from the rest of the book in the end. I was really expecting Shiba’s mom to be a plot twist! She died when she was young…maybe she had been the first test subject. But no. I wish the thriller aspect had been pushed further.

Despite the cover, the dark themes aren’t pushed that far, and I would say it’s more literary than anything else. Great read, but go in for the plot and not the twist. 

dogsbooksandpizza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I’m bumping from a 4 to a 4.25 because I seriously never wanted to put this book down. I really enjoyed it, and the twist was TOTALLY unexpected. However, I did feel like the ending was super abrupt and there were quite a few things left dangling. It feels like the book, which I assumed was standalone, needs a sequel.

lavender_menace's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

nikkihp's review

slow-paced

2.25

massaad007's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

wafaasher's review

2.0

made me angry

alidathealien's review

emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A lot of cool aspects, but they fail to come together in any satisfying way. The other reviews are much better at describing my grievances.

frogggirl2's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a multi-faceted, intriguing look at colonialism, racism, appropriation, and feminism.  The young, female, Pakistanian, Muslim, English immigrant POV is an interesting one and lends a lot of depth and intersectionality to the discussions of all these topics. I wanted a little more concrete ending, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism