The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
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The Centre

Author: Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Narrator: Balvinder Sopal

Unabridged: 8 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Zando

Published: 07/11/2023


Synopsis

A darkly comic, speculative debut following an adrift Pakistani translator in London who attends a mysterious language school which boasts complete fluency in just ten days, but at a secret, sinister cost. Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of “great works of literature,” but instead mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood movies, living off her parents’ generous allowance, and discussing the “underside of life” with her best friend, Naima. Anisa’s mediocre white boyfriend, Adam, only adds to her growing sense of inadequacy with his savant-level aptitude for languages, successfully leveraging his expansive knowledge into an enviable career. But when Adam learns to speak Urdu with native fluency practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret. Adam begrudgingly tells Anisa about The Centre, an elite, invite-only program that guarantees near-instant fluency in any language. Skeptical but intrigued, Anisa enrolls—stripped of her belongings, contact with the outside world, and bodily autonomy—and emerges ten days later fluent in German. As Anisa enmeshes herself further within The Centre, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the true cost of its services. By turns dark, funny, and surreal, and with twists page-turning and shocking, The Centre takes the reader on a journey through Karachi, London, and New Delhi, interrogating the sticky politics of language, translation, and appropriation with biting specificity, and ultimately asking: what is success really worth?

About Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi is a playwright, editor, and translator. She’s a contributing editor for Serial by the New York Times, and has been anthologized by Peepal Tree Press, Oberon Books, Influx Press, EMC, and Tilted Axis Press, and published in The Independent, CeaseFire Magazine, The Theatre Times, Wasafiri, and Media Diversified. Her plays have been staged widely. Ayesha is from Karachi and lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Hannah

Took an edible & read this and it blew my mind.......more

If Babel and The Last Tale of the Flower Bride had a 30-something lit fic baby with a dark side, this book would be it. The Centre blends gothic horror and modern dark academia in a slow-burn, character-driven literary novel with a dark sense of humor. This book tackles some of the same issues that......more

Goodreads review by Gabby

Ahhhh, I loved this so much more than I thought I would. This story is such a slow burn, but I really connected with the protagonist and the writing style and the concept is fascinating!!! The Centre is this mysteriously place where you can pay a price to learn a new language within 10 days, but it’......more