The Centre

The Centre (2023) by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi was an interesting listen, though it has some flaws and it may not be for everyone. I’d call it character-driven horror with themes of colonialism.

Anisa is a Pakistan-born Londoner, supported by her parents but halfheartedly doing Urdu translations for Bollywood films, when she meets Adam at a translation conference, and finds out he is fluent in many languages. She has dreams of being a “serious” translator, translating great works of literature, but hasn’t been able to break through. They begin to date, although it doesn’t seem like they are ever really “in love”. She is a non-practicing Muslim but she and Adam don’t really talk about religion or their backgrounds much, if at all.

When he’s going to accompany Anisa to Pakistan to meet her parents, she finds out that he has become fluent in Urdu–almost more fluent than she is since she’s been gone for 20 years and she is livid that he didn’t tell her he was going to do that. Adam tells her the secret of how he’s learned so many languages–at a place called the Centre, with secretive techniques that allow learners to become fluent in a language in just two weeks. This signals the end of their relationship, but it’s never clear why she was so angry that he learned Urdu so he could more easily converse with her parents.

Going to the Centre is expensive, but as Anisa doesn’t seem to have any financial constraints, she goes to learn German and meets the director, Sheba, who is the only person she can talk to while she’s there. They become close friends and talk often after Anisa has learned German and gone back home. There’s some implication that they may be beginning a queer relationship but that never materializes. Anisa does translate a short novel and become the serious translator she had hoped to be.

The methods at the Centre are strange, and near the end of her second stay, to learn Russian this time, Anisa explores a little, but doesn’t quite remember what she finds out. She later goes to India with Sheba to meet the founders of the Centre–Sheba’s father, and three of his Oxford friends–an American, a British man, and an Israeli man–and finally learns the truth.

I didn’t like the ending, as nothing was resolved, and the miracles/horrors of the Centre (depending on your perspective) seem to be able to continue for the privileged few. Some will probably figure out the twist, but I didn’t–it came as a surprise to me.

I don’t recall any anti-fatness, so will consider it weight-neutral.