I admittedly did not entirely do my due diligence with this one - I went in expecting more horror/mystery than literary fiction, and it very much is more the latter than the former.

Long stretches of it are meandering, the narrator going on about her life, mostly about her relationships and some about her career, but mostly how she feels about it all.

Anisa's voice is interesting, though I am not sure her life is. I was never bored, but I also wanted more to happen - or I suppose, I wanted more of a pay-off.

The plot around the Centre, the mysterious and hyper-secretive language school where you can learn to fluently speak any language in only 10 days, was interesting, but much more focussed on Anisa and her friendship with the Centre's manager than the actual mystery of it.

The final twist was not what I expected, though it makes sense. It still felt like it lead to nothing.

I can tell the ending was done deliberately in the way it was - very open, without a final conclusion of climax. While I think that works for the narration and mystery... it left me feeling very "meh".

The themes of translation, feminism, classism, toxic relationships, islamophobia, racism, and more were interesting, especially told from the perspective of Anisa, who is Pakistani and living in London and comes from a rich family. Anisa is not a likeable character, and I did think that was one of the most fascinating things about her - how focussed she is on herself and her own experience. 

While this was an interesting read, and I enjoyed reading about a Pakistani voice and perspective, it once more solidified that I'm not the target audience for litfic. The audiobook was voices very well, and I recommend reading it in that format!