The Centre

A Novel

De: Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Narrado por: Balvinder Sopal

A darkly comic, speculative debut following an adrift Pakistani translator in London who attends a mysterious language school which boasts complete fluency in just ten days, but at a secret, sinister cost.

Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of “great works of literature,” but instead mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood movies, living off her parents’ generous allowance, and discussing the “underside of life” with her best friend, Naima. Anisa’s mediocre white boyfriend, Adam, only adds to her growing sense of inadequacy with his savant-level aptitude for languages, successfully leveraging his expansive knowledge into an enviable career. But when Adam learns to speak Urdu with native fluency practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret.

Adam begrudgingly tells Anisa about The Centre, an elite, invite-only program that guarantees near-instant fluency in any language. Skeptical but intrigued, Anisa enrolls—stripped of her belongings, contact with the outside world, and bodily autonomy—and emerges ten days later fluent in German. As Anisa enmeshes herself further within The Centre, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the true cost of its services.

By turns dark, funny, and surreal, and with twists page-turning and shocking, The Centre takes the reader on a journey through Karachi, London, and New Delhi, interrogating the sticky politics of language, translation, and appropriation with biting specificity, and ultimately asking: what is success really worth?

Dark Academia but for Adults

Gothic. Spooky. Dark Academic that's a little more mature as it focuses on the life of a late 20s early 30s single woman who's at times drifting through her life without really being connected to il Character development as at the center (pun intended) of this b so I'd say this is for readers who enjoy books that really challeng their characters and explore what is hidden in relationships rathe than strictly plot focused.

Unique and provoking

The plot was timely and sci- fi in the way of Babel, etc. but really explored themes of class, morality, sexuality in a brown girl world that was impactful for a white, middle aged reader who grew up with such girls. Really enjoyed and appreciated the authors approach to all themes and a solid, good story!

Reading it as an audiobook...

First, the narrator is excellent! Second, if you read this as an audiobook, you must wonder whether you got one of those thumb drives! Food (hehe) for thought...

Bizarreness

Not much storyline. Confusing. 1970s type discussion of feminism. Gross premise. International bent is irrelevant.

Fantastic premise, disappointing ending

An entertaining page-turner, but as the ending developed and then came to a hard stop, I was left wanting. Perhaps I just didn’t “get” it. I am surprise to have discovered this in a must-read of the year sort of list.