Book Review: ‘The Centre' by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
If a strange and secretive company invited you to learn a language in 10 days, would you accept? ‘The Centre' by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi sees Anisa answer that question… And quickly has to face the knock-on effects.
We featured ‘The Centre' in episode 2 of The Dark Academicals podcast.
Language is such a fascinating thing. The fact the we, as humans, developed different ways of making sounds at each other to communicate such complex topics and emotions, needs and wants. That we can be persuasive, manipulative, argumentative, joyous and celebratory. We speak in multitudes before we utter a single word.
So who wouldn't be tempted by a course that promises absolute fluency in any language in just 10 days? If I could front the cash I would definitely consider it.
But of course, what we can expect of a secret scheme like this, is something dodgy and corrupt going on behind the scenes.
Here's the summary for ‘The Centre’ if you haven't already read it:
“Welcome to The Centre. You'll never be the same . . .
Anisa Ellahi spends her days writing subtitles for Bollywood films in her London flat, all the while longing to be a translator of ‘great works of literature’. Her boyfriend Adam’s extraordinary aptitude for languages only makes her feel worse, but when Adam learns to speak Urdu practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret.
Adam tells Anisa about the Centre, an elite, invite-only programme that guarantees total fluency in any language in just ten days. Sceptical but intrigued, Anisa enrols. Stripped of her belongings and contact with the outside world, she undergoes the Centre’s strange and rigorous processes. But as she enmeshes herself further within the organization, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the disturbing, hidden cost of its services.”
This book is a very trim 320 pages, but within that short span we find a refreshing take on colonialism, privilege, money = power, English institutions, classism, the assimilation of language and culture, personal storytelling, female friendships, and patriarchal abuse… all wrapped up in such an engaging and strange tale that at the end leave you going… huh. Clever.
I had zero expectations going in to this book. I hadn't really seen it on the review scene, and I was really only reading it because Sophie put it forward for the podcast.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's got an element of magical realism to it that so often can make or break a book. In this case, it makes it.
And as you learn more and more about The Centre, the more aghast you become because the biggest reveal, I think, is something utterly atrocious, and yet you see it coming (and maybe refuse to accept it until it's in front of your eyes).
It's a powerful piece or fiction, one that I will be thinking about for a long time after.
I gave it 4 stars on goodreads.
Written by Sarah
