Ingenious ... It’s not just the skeletons lurking behind the ivy-covered walls of the institute that make the novel so propulsive — it’s also what The Centre has to say about class and the interplay of language and identity ... A novel that knows that whether you’re trying to place an errant foreign word or unlock a dark secret behind a pedagogical miracle, context is key. This is a book whose many delights and horrors are unlikely to be lost in translation.
Fantastic ... Siddiqi’s easy storytelling and her heroine Anisa’s sweet narrative voice slip down like summer rosé. Siddiqi...has the gift of maintaining propulsion and mystery, while keeping things human and realistic, and it’s lovely to see the world through the eyes of an intelligent, sensitive and sincere protagonist.
Inventive ... Th[e] third act is where the plot begins to come apart at the seams ... Informs the current social discourse by offering wry, shrewd insights into colonialism, appropriation and classism.
Filled with astute insights into life as a brown person in a predominantly White country and how differences of class, religion, and nationality can bring about rifts in solidarity between people who share a racial or ethnic background, the novel offers a mystery rife with social critique, though it could have done more to scrutinize Anisa’s own sources of privilege, particularly in relation to Adam. A fast-paced thriller with its finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary social discourse.
