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Ruxandra Grrr's Reviews > The Centre
The Centre
by
by
You see, a kind of listlessness had been brewing in me for some time, the kind that threatened to tip over into despair, leaving me just sitting there, solitary and stuck, forever, in the middle of my living room.
This was a fascinating and complicated horror-adjacent book that I think has a lot of interesting and complex layers to unpack. It's the story of a drifting (and privileged) Pakistani woman who goes to the eponymous Centre and learns German in 10 days (I am envious about that, I have to say).
Beyond my skepticism (as a freelancer translator for the past five years) that translating work could actually help you out financially, I think this book carries out a number of interesting conversations around the idea of a deal with the devil.
I will acknowledge right off the bat that my knowledge of Pakistan and its relationship with India and Israel is not great. But I do think that this book is meant to be extremely contradictory so as to reveal different axis of privilege and very complicated power dynamics. Anisa, as a main character, is built on exactly that contradiction: she is privileged, living off a stipend from her father, is subjected to racism and sexism in England, while during a trip to Delhi later in the book, she is aware that she would be looked down upon by her hosts. She has an at least basic understanding of class & caste dynamics, but doesn't really care / put much energy into doing that much about it. Her ex, Adam, is a white man who comes from poverty, and she doesn't really understand his insecurities around her money situation. (That doesn't mean I am excusing his shit in any way or taking his side or anything like that)
Anisa's journey in the book is paralleled by her best friend, Naima's. They're both loud and proud feminists who talk a big game when it comes to their power as women, but then Anisa is disappointed to see how Naima makes herself smaller and pours all her energy into making her new boyfriend happy and supported.
These self-deceptions, deals with the devil and hypocrisies explored in the book are all very complicated and rich. They show up everywhere in the text. (view spoiler) They relate to colonialism, beauty standards, love, class, culture.
It can even go meta: Anisa mentions Adrienne Rich being one of her favorite writers (and one of the epigraphs come from Rich), but she supported a very transphobic book in the past, more info here. We live in a very complicated world and it's impossible to be pure in our politics and our lives (they're kind of the same thing). Then, because of that impossibility, the question becomes: how do we negotiate our own impurities? Where do we draw the line and where do we compromise? And do we let ourselves be seduced by the promise of power and proximity to it?
I think all of those are very interesting topics of discussion, perhaps lifelong conversations to have with ourselves and people around us.
Away from me philosophizing, I did enjoy this book, but much like the narrator herself, it felt like it was a bit emotionally guarded. There was one bit where the narrator herself said that she wanted to keep away from the reader an emotional exchange between her and the person she had it with. (Also in service of the reveals, which I have to say were very very guessable). That kept me from being fully emotionally invested.
As for the queer vibes (view spoiler)
And the ending, well. It feels abrupt, but pretty clear to me, if you factor in Naima's eventual choices as well. That might be just my take on the whole thing, though. (view spoiler)
I received an ARC for review in the Otherland bookshop newsletter.
This was a fascinating and complicated horror-adjacent book that I think has a lot of interesting and complex layers to unpack. It's the story of a drifting (and privileged) Pakistani woman who goes to the eponymous Centre and learns German in 10 days (I am envious about that, I have to say).
Beyond my skepticism (as a freelancer translator for the past five years) that translating work could actually help you out financially, I think this book carries out a number of interesting conversations around the idea of a deal with the devil.
I will acknowledge right off the bat that my knowledge of Pakistan and its relationship with India and Israel is not great. But I do think that this book is meant to be extremely contradictory so as to reveal different axis of privilege and very complicated power dynamics. Anisa, as a main character, is built on exactly that contradiction: she is privileged, living off a stipend from her father, is subjected to racism and sexism in England, while during a trip to Delhi later in the book, she is aware that she would be looked down upon by her hosts. She has an at least basic understanding of class & caste dynamics, but doesn't really care / put much energy into doing that much about it. Her ex, Adam, is a white man who comes from poverty, and she doesn't really understand his insecurities around her money situation. (That doesn't mean I am excusing his shit in any way or taking his side or anything like that)
Anisa's journey in the book is paralleled by her best friend, Naima's. They're both loud and proud feminists who talk a big game when it comes to their power as women, but then Anisa is disappointed to see how Naima makes herself smaller and pours all her energy into making her new boyfriend happy and supported.
These self-deceptions, deals with the devil and hypocrisies explored in the book are all very complicated and rich. They show up everywhere in the text. (view spoiler) They relate to colonialism, beauty standards, love, class, culture.
It can even go meta: Anisa mentions Adrienne Rich being one of her favorite writers (and one of the epigraphs come from Rich), but she supported a very transphobic book in the past, more info here. We live in a very complicated world and it's impossible to be pure in our politics and our lives (they're kind of the same thing). Then, because of that impossibility, the question becomes: how do we negotiate our own impurities? Where do we draw the line and where do we compromise? And do we let ourselves be seduced by the promise of power and proximity to it?
I think all of those are very interesting topics of discussion, perhaps lifelong conversations to have with ourselves and people around us.
Away from me philosophizing, I did enjoy this book, but much like the narrator herself, it felt like it was a bit emotionally guarded. There was one bit where the narrator herself said that she wanted to keep away from the reader an emotional exchange between her and the person she had it with. (Also in service of the reveals, which I have to say were very very guessable). That kept me from being fully emotionally invested.
As for the queer vibes (view spoiler)
And the ending, well. It feels abrupt, but pretty clear to me, if you factor in Naima's eventual choices as well. That might be just my take on the whole thing, though. (view spoiler)
I received an ARC for review in the Otherland bookshop newsletter.
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Reading Progress
June 17, 2023
– Shelved
June 17, 2023
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 2, 2023
– Shelved as:
arc
September 7, 2023
– Shelved as:
physical-tbr
September 22, 2023
–
Started Reading
September 24, 2023
–
0.31%
"Oh no! Am I reading this book or is it reading me to filth?
'You see, a kind of listlessness had been brewing in me for some time, the kind that threatened to tip over into despair, leaving me just sitting there, solitary and stuck, forever, in the middle of my living room.'"
page
1
'You see, a kind of listlessness had been brewing in me for some time, the kind that threatened to tip over into despair, leaving me just sitting there, solitary and stuck, forever, in the middle of my living room.'"
September 24, 2023
–
12.19%
"This is one of those books that I feel personally attacked by and I am all her for that!
'Sometimes, it felt like, at the core of it, I was still yearning for those ten blissful months when the two of us had shared a body, before I was shocked by the cold and the distance upon being yanked out of her. I chided myself for longing, even in my mid-thirties, for this imaginary, perhaps idealized, maternal love. '"
page
39
'Sometimes, it felt like, at the core of it, I was still yearning for those ten blissful months when the two of us had shared a body, before I was shocked by the cold and the distance upon being yanked out of her. I chided myself for longing, even in my mid-thirties, for this imaginary, perhaps idealized, maternal love. '"
September 24, 2023
–
35.63%
"I'm very in, so far, but I wonder: does it really pay that well to be a translator?"
page
114
September 24, 2023
–
43.13%
"oops: 'English, for me, sadly, is the default. The neutral. It’s the language that I generally operate in, the one I dream and think in, and the one I feel most comfortable expressing myself in.'"
page
138
October 1, 2023
–
67.5%
"‘Do I dare ask how much?’ Arjun said.
George tutted and shook his head. ‘The money was for the children.’
‘For the museums,’ Eric corrected. ‘The gala was raising money for the museums, not the children.’
‘Oh yes. The museums then.’"
page
216
George tutted and shook his head. ‘The money was for the children.’
‘For the museums,’ Eric corrected. ‘The gala was raising money for the museums, not the children.’
‘Oh yes. The museums then.’"
October 1, 2023
–
82.19%
"'I wondered if he felt embarrassed about showing vulnerability in front of me and whether I should have been more delicate in reassuring him. Men often want to be comforted without feeling as if they’re being comforted. He opened his mouth as if to say something and then shook his head.'"
page
263
October 1, 2023
–
Finished Reading
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s.penkevich
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Oct 01, 2023 06:56AM
Great review this one sounds fascinating!
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s.penkevich wrote: "Great review this one sounds fascinating!"Thank you, S! <3 I think it's worth reading!
On this one, it seems to be that European readers like it and Muslim readers either find it meh or very, very, very offensive. Apparently that's due to one scene which has the MC breaking one of the most important laws of Islam. Many a fiery rant in the GR reviews!
@Berengaria, yeah, I saw that and I don't have enough of an understanding to comment on that. I respect the views of people who have a deeper understanding of the issue. I can speculate that it was an intentional thing, to add to the theme of the 'deal with the devil' that I think the book explored. And at the same time, I don't think the book / the author ever says the characters are right in the ways they behave, quite the opposite, I think they're criticized. And the book is written in first person POV, and it's both subjective and unreliable narrator territory. This is not a hill I'm willing to die on though, I could definitely be oblivious / ignorant about stuff when it comes to this book.
