The Centre: A Novel

This is about a Pakistani woman in England who gets involved with a mysterious and secretive language institute.The idea of learning any language fluently in ten days is my fantasy! I would be sucked right into whatever Faustian bargain The Centre was offering.I relate deeply to Anisa's ambition. My younger self was quite similar, and I longed to be taken seriously in academia. I found myself fantasizing about what languages I would learn, in what order, and what I would do with the skills.The novel's female friendships were complex and engrossing. I loved the exploration of disillusionment with a brilliant friend who dims their light and their potential for a mediocre man, as well as the intoxicating feeling of falling in love with a new friend.The idea of translation as colonialism echoed Babel, so if you liked that but also lit fic, this is for you.Highly recommend this one.

I read this over about 3 days!!! A an enjoyable page turner great for holidays. Would definitely recommend!

I was drawn in by the beautifully illustrated characters. Once there, I found a delicious story spiced with just the right amount of bitter sweet social commentary.

4.5 starsThis was such a great read. The Centre tackles many themes adeptly-race, social class, gender, and relationships. I could relate to Anisa and her feelings of inadequacy. She’s looking for purpose in her life and hopes The Centre can provide that for her. She’s also looking to fundamentally change the world as well. The anthropologist in me loved the emphasis on linguistics in this book. I would love to be able to learn a language fluently in 10 days. It would open so many opportunities for me. Of course, The Centre is not all that it seems. For one, it’s invite only and it mostly consists of foreign diplomats and the elite. The average middle class citizen would never have access to this place.There’s a darkness at the heart of The Centre but I don’t want to say more because it’s best to go into this as blind as possible. The mystery of The Centre wasn’t what kept me interested though. I was more interested in what The Centre signified and how it could be used or changed into something different. The characters are multi-faceted and not inherently good or bad. And I absolutely loved how this book ended. This is quite the remarkable read and it really opened my eyes to the variety of different issues that our narrator faces.

I liked the casual ay it began. The story was engaging, but didn’t flow well. The ending was ragged to me.