Author Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi on the protagonist of her novel, The Centre - The Hindu
The HinduAyesha Manazir Siddiqi’s novel, The Centre, draws you in from the very first line, thrusting you straight into a world that steadily gets more dystopian. Siddiqi’s debut novel, while an effortless read, raises big questions around appropriation, identity, the immigrant experience and language privilege. Anisa’s desire to be a “real” translator, to be recognised by an establishment, reminds me a little of June Hayward in Rebecca F. Kuang’s novel, ‘Yellowface’, from last year. However, one of the things The Centre questions is our desire to be a part of the ‘establishment’ in the first place, and the ways in which one is protected, especially as a Muslim Pakistani woman, by not being connected to it; the extent to which one can be critical and aware of structures of oppression; the confidence one is able to maintain because of not having been subject to environments where they are made to feel strange or lacking.
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