The Centre (2023) by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi - Book Review
Published by Gillian Flynn Books / Zando
- Book Review -
This book! I'll start by saying that we all know the age old "don't judge a book by its cover," but I did. This cover caught my eye after Barnes & Noble posted it on Instagram and it was just slightly on my radar after that. Then I had several friends mark it as "Want To Read" on Goodreads and I decided I would get my hands on a copy before I went on vacation.
Working at a bookstore has made me a rather stingy book buyer... between the free ALC's (Advanced Listening Copies) offered to booksellers through Libro.fm, the DRC's (Downloadable Review Copies) available to booksellers (and others) through Edelweiss and NetGalley, and then just the physical ARC's that show up to the store, I so rarely have to buy the books I want to read. So, in true bookseller fashion, I reached out to our rep with the distributor of Gillian Flynn Books and they were kind enough to comp me a copy! Just in time for vacation.
The Centre exceeded my expectations. I thought the premise sounded great, but I did not expect to be thinking about this book as much as I have after finishing. This book follows Anisa who is working as a translator for the subtitles of Bollywood films when she meets and begins dating a man who seems to be a savant when it comes to language. He eventually lets her in on a secret... a highly secretive, invite-only, establishment called the Centre that boasts it can teach any "learner" a new language in just ten days. And not just the basics, but leaving the learner fluent in any language that they choose.
Anisa enrolls in this program, adhering to the Centre's strict and rigorous process in learning a new language but remains hesitant and curious even after she has mastered a new language in just ten days. Secrets are slowly revealed and the limits of the participants are tested in this psychological thriller and I could not get enough. I loved this book. I wish I was still reading this book. By no means was it perfect, but I'm still thinking about it and wish that I had just one more chapter to ingest...
Welcome to the Centre. You'll never be the same.
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