The Centre

I think I'll need to sit with this book for a while to really understand how I felt about it, but here's my gut reaction:

I didn't know much about this book before reading it — I'd kept deferring my Libby hold for months, and so I had forgotten where I heard about it and what it was about. I found this book really intriguing and the writing was quite readable.

As someone who tends to enjoy all types of slow burns, I thoughtThe Centre was well executed and avoided plot bloat for the sake of tension. The climax of the book was startling and I didn't see it coming, despite the foreshadowing.

There was a lot of commentary on class, love, gender norms, friendship diaspora, and more throughout the book. I do think that there were some interesting ideas there, but that the book either needed to be longer to dig into them more or shorter and cut some of the scenes.

For example, I don't think Adam needed to come back — her conversation with him doesn't materially change her behavior or thinking and it doesn't advance the plot.

This book asks a lot of questions and leaves many of them unanswered, sometimes in a way that feels intentional and other times not so much. But overall, I did find it compelling and I'll definitely be thinking about it.