Book Review: "The Centre" by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

“But it’s always the friends in the end, isn’t it, who remain to pick up the pieces when the men have gone, leaving destruction in their wake? Still, only the romantic partner is taken seriously. Friends and family will not gather, ever, to celebrate my partnership with Naima—there will be no anniversaries or acknowledgments, no congratulatory cards, no celebratory ceremonies. And yet, it is this slow burning love of female friendship that actually keeps the world turning.”

- The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

I came across this book on Prime Day and for the life of me, I cannot even remember whether there was a deal on it. I read it on my Kindle and again, if I am being perfectly honest, I have wanted to read it for a while. It seems like a cool mix between female horror, good-for-her and light she-gore fiction whilst also making a great case for a dark fantasy that borders on what could be considered an episode of Black Mirror. Siddiqi has written something quite special here: it's an original story which yet has a plot that can be considered relatable in a dystopian sense, it has brilliantly developed characters and it has quite a twisted and darkly comical ending.

Anisa is a wealthy middle-class Pakistani-British woman living off her parents' generous allowance whilst she creates subtitles for Bollywood movies from her flat. However, she has a dream of translating the greater works of literature - though she does not have the motivation to get something done about it. Her best friend is called Naima and she is this kind of 'arm character'. What we know about Naima is completely dependent on the slightly unreliable perspectives and opinions of Anisa.

Meanwhile, we also get to know a guy named Adam who is a sort-off boyfriend to Anisa though he doesn't seem all that great. However, he does introduce her to something called 'The Circle'. It's a place where you can learn any language you please, with little to no effort, in about ten days and with a success known on no other scale. We are talking about being able to communicate on a professional level - which is exactly what Anisa wanted. However, she also must give up all of her worldly possessions and her time and her home, she must move into the complex provided for her and live in the place 'The Circle' tells her to. I am honestly not even telling you any spoilers here because it gets much more meta and much much darker.

As the novel goes on, Anisa starts to discover more and more things about what is going on at The Circle and what success really costs. One thing that the ending does is take a twist you will not see coming. I won't mention it here but I will recommend you brace yourself for irony and some new level double-meaning stuff. You will know when you know.

This book has many advantages. One of the biggest advantages is the balance of different genres without overusing the tropes of any one. Siddiqi uses common tropes of the dark and mysterious dystopian fantasy genre and turns them on their head to make something that even Charlie Brooker would be proud of. I will say though that the use of tropes does not dim the enjoyment of this novel, in fact it provides the reader with a sense of security and allows them to delve into the dark comedy of the book properly.

The author clearly has a real talent for writing dystopia in a way that it has not really been explored before. She clearly has a talent for character-centric writing along with creating a world in which a character can exist that is apart of their own without it feeling jittered. Instead, it just feels a bit eerie and wrong. I love fiction like this. Books where the atmosphere feels a bit uncomfortable are far more frightening than those that use primal gore, ghosts etc. to make their point. Siddiqi really comes into her own as a writer and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her work.

All in all, I found this book interesting, uncomfortable and yet, completely and utterly brilliant. The story is new and exciting and yet, it almost feels familiar. It makes this perfect balance between what we know and what we don't know. It is new, it is different and it is a greatly enjoyable read.