I had the audio version of this book courtesy of NetGalley and listened to it from February 24 - 26. First let me say this story was not what I had expected from reading the synopsis. Rather than being really focused on the aspect of living in the twilight between being an official visa-sanctioned university student and being an illegal alien, Leyla, having failed her thesis, details a life of drugs, parties and indiscriminate sex with strangers. All the while bemoaning her status as a cleaner, she takes little action to improve her current lot. The story is told by chronological entires in her journal and although it provides a look at the seamier side of residence in Berlin, it does little to shed light on the actual lives and livelihoods of Turkish migrants, seeking a better life in Europe.
Overall, I am left unsure if this audio book was time well- spent but I do thank NetGalley and Grove Press for the review copy.

Many thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for gifting me an advance-reader copy of this powerful debut novel. Its author, Nazli Koca, is a Turkish immigrant who got her MFA at an American university and now lives in the U.S., but the character of her novel is a Turkish immigrant who is refused her MFA in Berlin when her thesis is rejected, likely due to racism. (We learn toward the end of the book that Leyla chose the thesis advisor because she was told he passes everyone while barely reading their work, and she believes she is the only student he fails.)

Leyla is scrubbing toilets and cleaning rooms at a hostel while suing the university in an attempt to get the rejection of her thesis overturned so that her visa can be extended. The realities of her working-class life and fear of being sent back to Turkey and movingly and realistically portrayed, as is her casual and frequent drug use as she goes clubbing with the friends she's made in Berlin. (This was the first book I've seen where Ketamine was regularly used as a party drug; I found it disturbing, but the character seems to suffer no ill effects, so what do I know?) Although Leyla feels she has given up her artistic aspirations, she is keeping a journal during the harrowing months while she is waiting for her fate to be decided. Her roommate sneaks a read and encourages her to give a reading from the journal, and when she does so, her fate turns.

One of the interesting questions the novel raises is whether love across classes and political ideologies is possible. Can someone facing an uncertain future and economic peril truly fall in love with someone who has money and power and can change the course of her life with his largessse? How does one separate out appreciation for financial support from genuine feelings for an individual?

The book is provocative and forces the reader to look more closely at a largely ignored underclass. I highly recommend it.

an impressive debut detailing the life of a young turkish student and writer in berlin. the narrative feels both personal and authentic thanks to being written in diary form, allowing for some great internal monologues and insight‘s into leyla‘s struggle with making a home in a city where her future is not guaranteed. through her voice, ‘the applicant’ poignantly addresses the themes of migration and identity.

Good story about someone in a situation with limited options who’s trying to find security while figuring out her next steps in life. I recently read The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, a Turkish author who was put on trial for her writing, and therefore I had a better appreciation for the protagonist’s concerns about how returning to her homeland would affect her aspirations for writing.

The book had an interesting premise, but all the drugs made me disinterested. Also I don't find the diary style makes for a good audiobook.

Thanks #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was horrible. The narrator voice changed so many times that I couldn't fully pay attention to the story. The narrator didn't change because of different characters.

Nazli Koca’s stellar debut, “The Applicant”, follows her narrator, Leyla, a 24-year-old Turkish woman living in Berlin. She is struggling to retain her student visa because her thesis has not been accepted. Now she is suing her professor and university in the hope that the court will re-evaluate her thesis.

Between scrubbing toilets at an Alice in Wonderland-themed hostel and fighting with government officials, Leyla ventures into Berlin’s nightlife seeking solace—drinking and snorting ketamine—and community on the dance floor. Leyla describes herself as being in a kind of love affair with Berlin. Her descriptions of the city’s underbelly are superb.

What she finds instead is a Volvo salesman—“the Swede”—who offers her the kind of comfort and financial support she isn’t able to obtain as an aspiring writer.

Living in a state of limbo, Leyla starts writing a diary the day she begins work at the hostel. She uses an orange notebook she finds under the couch in her apartment. “Maybe this is me now: whatever I find on the floor,” she writes. “Whatever I can have. Nothing I want”. Many subsequent entries begin with dream recollections or lists of “treasures” she finds while cleaning the hostel.

I love journaling as a narrative vehicle. It’s often engrossing and propulsive and increases investment in the narrator’s daily life.

In my experience, journal and diaries work very well in audiobook format. Twenty-one-year-old Turkish actress, Günes Sensoy, is the perfect relator for Leyla’s experiences.

Turkey and Germany are central to the novel. Each country’s political and social realities shape Leyla’s life, and at times seem to function metaphorically. At the end of the novel, Leyla ties her own emotional experiences to Turkey’s political ones, vowing not to “stage another coup against myself”.

Told through Leyla’s diary entries that are as sharp as they are tender, Nazli Koca sheds light on the grim reality of migrant exploitation, rampant consumerism, patriarchy, dysfunctional family dynamics, and the life of a frustrated artist. The book bristles on every page with intelligence and fierce wit.

A huge thank you to #RBMedia, #RecordedBooks and #NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review “The Applicant” by Nazli Koca.

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Günes Sensoy
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 4.5 stars

Layla is a Turkish student in Berlin. She failed her thesis and consequently lost her student visa. Now she works in a hostel where she cleans rooms and toilets.

For me, Layla was not very likable. Overuse of drugs didn’t help here. I couldn’t understand why Layla wants to stay in Berlin and has no interest in learning German (she clarified this towards the end, but it wasn’t convincing). Maybe she has other worries at the moment, and this is the reason. Although I didn’t like or get her many times, I understood her struggles as an immigrant and in becoming a writer.

Narration was very good, and I loved the Turkish additions interwoven in Layla’s diaries. You can sometimes guess the meaning. But it is nothing essential for the story.

All in all, I liked The Applicant. It is a very honest novel in diary form, and it documents one immigrant struggles in another country.

Thanks to Recorded Books for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

The Applicant By: Nazli Koca
Audio book beautifully narrated by: Günes Sensoy
Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

This gutsy, new author had me riveted throughout the majority of this fictional novel, which was written about a female protagonist, Leyla's time in Berlin as a college student in 2017. I was riveted to her life as a Turkish immigrant without means of financial support, as I was also appalled at the plight of her situation. As a female immigrant and a college student who is held back in her final graduation by a Berlin university professor. He didn't agree that Leyla's final dissertation was worthy of graduation. She is working as a maid at her hostel where she can get free nights. Or she often shacks up with friends in order to rent out her room, which will buy her a bottle of wine by the end of the work week. Leyla spends her free time time getting high on cocaine, drinking, partying in the Berlin discos, and having a lot of sex to help her cope. She is penniless. Her mom and sister back in Turkey still mourn the loss of their father/husband and Leyla has already escaped that depressing life. She sues the university and is awaiting Berlin's court's decision on her case.

The narrator is so compelling that it's hard to put down even with the subject matter. However, I found by listening to this on audio in shorter spurts of time helped some of the sadness. Nazli Koca's writing is so compelling that I often forgot it was fictional. This is a stunning debut novel and I learned much about how it would feel as a 20-somehing to deal with this kind of degradation and despair, but found her bravado amazing and interesting.

Thank you to the author, narrator, NetGalley, and the publisher for this marvel of a first novel.

I am still debating on whether this should be a 5 Star book.....

I have a possibly different perspective on this novel than most readers in that I've worked as a room cleaner in a German hotel (in my case, in Freiburg) where all the other workers were from Turkey. The experience was enough for me to grow increasingly unhappy with the narrator's self-absorption and lack of interest in her fellow workers except as people she didn't feel she had much in common with. The narrative had a lot of "I, me, my" in it and not much curiosity about the other people she observed except in relation to her and her interests. As I have very vivid memories of the women I worked with, I wondered about this narrator's lack of curiosity.

Nazli Koca delivers an insightful and smashing debut, THE APPLICANT. A raw, honest, gut-wrenching, witty tale of a young Turkish writer living in Berlin and the struggles of being a young immigrant woman.

Leyla was raised in Istanbul by a resentful mother and an abusive, alcoholic father. She wanted to go to Berlin and write with the vagabonds.

Now in her mid-twenties and living in Berlin, she cleans toilets at an Alice in Wonderland-themed hostel after failing her master's thesis, losing her student visa, and suing her university for readmittance or being deported back to Turkey.

She is still on a student visa, only allowed to work twenty hours a week, which is not enough to live. While she waits in bureaucratic limbo for her case to be resolved, Leyla is not allowed to enroll in another program or take a full-time job.

While in limbo, she records her day-to-day experiences. Is her time running out on her visa and her dreams? From smoking, alcohol, drugs, sex, and partying in the Berlin club scene, she numbs herself as she tries to clean the filth of humanity.

Will she ever be free? She barely makes enough to pay for her health insurance and food. If only she could start over. She thinks about her past and present. Is this her new reality? Her romantic ideals of Berlin are shattered, and she is left cynical and jaded.

Then Leyla meets a right-wing Swedish tourist, and against her better judgment, she falls in love. With him, she can stay in Germany if she wants to accept a traditional and conservative life, but she would be giving up her career as a writer and artist. Would it be better than returning to Turkey?

Written in diary-like entries, an eye-opening exploration of a tragic working-class immigrant and her real struggles. Acutely observant and a profoundly sympathetic character, a novel of self-identity and life between the borders—an educational and enlighting debut that is darkly funny.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Günes Sensoy for an engaging listening experience.

For fans of recent novels, Wendell Steavenson's Margot and Jessica George's Maame. Also, Sylvia Plath's poem by the same name, The Applicant. Plath's poem (1962) is a satirical 'interview' that comments on the meaning of marriage, condemns gender stereotypes, and details the loss of identity one feels when adhering to social expectations. The poem focuses on the role of women in a conventional marriage, and Plath employs themes such as conformity to gender norms.

Nazli Koca's THE APPLICANT is a modern-day realistic look at life as an immigrant. The author gives us a brilliant inside look at Leyla's forced conformity. The novel is timely, exploring the critical issues of our time, from class, immigrants, ethnic identity, racism, white supremacy, feminism, sexual ownership, and many others.

A powerful, thought-provoking debut that offers devastating insights into the search for self. In a world where the people of Turkey are fighting for their lives at this very moment, this book is more timely and critical than ever.

Thanks to #RBMedia #Recorded Books and #NetGalley for a gifted ALC. I did experience some technical issues with the audiobook (continued to stop); however, I assume this will be worked out before the final production.

Blog Review Posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 14, 2023
Feb 2023 Must-Read Books

Too much drug use for me; DNF. I aldo find it slow and too descriptive… i kkep thibking "wgsrs fhe piint? why are you tekling me thus? wheres ghe hook?"

This is written in a diary form which was interesting for me. The book is thought provoking and hilarious but will make you angry and then make you laugh - a lot of emotions are packed into this book.
Leyla's dialogues & musings were insightful and raw. But the ending felt abrupt and left me wanting more.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic Press and the author for this free electronic advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review.

"It’s 2017 and Leyla, a Turkish twenty-something living in Berlin is scrubbing toilets at an Alice in Wonderland-themed hostel after failing her thesis, losing her student visa, and suing her German university in a Kafkaesque attempt to reverse her failure.

Increasingly distant from what used to be at arm’s reach—writerly ambitions, tight knit friendships, a place to call home—Leyla attempts to find solace in the techno beats of Berlin’s nightlife, with little success. Right as the clock winds down on the hold on her visa, Leyla meets a conservative Swedish tourist and—against her political convictions and better judgment—begins to fall in love, or something like it. Will she accept an IKEA life with the Volvo salesman and relinquish her creative dreams, or return to Turkey to her mother and sister, codependent and enmeshed, her father’s ghost still haunting their lives?

While she waits for the German court’s verdict on her future, in the pages of her diary, Leyla begins to parse her unresolved past and untenable present. An indelible character at once precocious and imperiled, Leyla gives voice to the working-class and immigrant struggle to find safety, self-expression, and happiness. The Applicant is an extraordinary dissection of a liminal life between borders and identities, an original and darkly funny debut."

I can't say that I found this book "darkly funny". I did find it to be a rather realistic representation of immigration and one's 20's. The narrator gives an enormous voice while speaking softly which made me think of most immigrants I've met. The stress, anxiety and hopelessness with an air of optimism.

A lovely, short read that is both propulsive and thought provoking, making you want to race through reading it while also wanting to stop and ruminate on it.

The endearing Layla, our protagonist is a Turkish immigrant to Berlin hoping to attain more permanent residency, yet endlessly mired in the many obstacles that makes it so difficult to obtain foreign residency, particularly for those from certain parts of the world.

More generally it’s also an interesting look into the trials and tribulations of living abroad, especially in a place where you don’t look quite like everyone else.

Though the book deals with some heavy themes (racism, immigration, drug use, sex work), the author deploys a light touch that deftly infuses Leyla’s journey with humor and wry observation, even in its darker moments.

This feels a little like Other People’s Clothes in terms of tone and because both books are set in Berlin. A bit like Happy Hour too, in its more humorous moments. I loved the blend of weighty themes and though provoking situations with humor and hopefulness.

Also, if you’re an audiobook reader, I highly recommend using that format for this book. The reader is fantastic. She reminds me of the narrator for the audio version of Happy Hour, one of my all-time favorites.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this read, The Applicant. This book was raw. A real eye opener. I kept wanting to read it and listen to it as I had both the audio and eARC for this read. I would recommend.

This one of those stories that has so many important perspectives that you're not even sure what to review. I just think we should all read it to better understand our world.

Written as diary entries, the reader is transported to Germany with a Turkish student struggling to find her place in academia, but also, in life. Exploring topics of immigration, self-expression, working-class attitudes, and the general 20-something angst, I felt many emotions on Leyla's rollercoaster. I want her voice to be heard loudly...but will it ever be?

This book had me confused. I couldn't figure out what was going on. If this book was in order it made no sense.

My thanks to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic and the author Nazli Koca for an advanced reader’s copy. In this book we follow Leyla; a Turkish immigrant who aspires to be a writer but faces many difficulties, including problems with her professor at university, a job that consists of scrubbing toilets and cleaning bedrooms in a hostile and her soon to expire visa. In this literary debut novel Koca comes face to face with the reality of immigration and identity crisis. What it feels like to be away from the home you grew up in and your family and live the life you dreamed of living. A life that isn’t what you were looking for. Leyla finds herself compelled to snatch at the meager chances that life offer and cleverly analyzes her status and situation. This calls for a rearrangement of priorities and she finds herself thinking of events that occurred in the past that changed her life forever; events that if she can undo her life would be better. Overall, this is a literary piece worth the read.

The Applicant by Nazli Koca is the story of Leyla who is a Turkish immigrant living in Berlin. She has been working as a cleaner in a themed hostel, and it takes place after failing her thesis and having recently lost her student visa. She’s in the process of suing the university to review her thesis again.

Leyla’s story is told through a series of journal entries which felt like a unique take on not only her journey with her immigration status, but at its core, her identity. Mostly, the entries are lighter in tone, despite dealing with many heavier topics and issues, though some are a bit darker. The entries are honest, and even gritty at times. Many of the entries touch upon what might be considered the mundane parts of Leyla’s life, the smaller day to day struggles, but stories with that aspect have a certain beauty to them.

I felt like I really got to know Leyla, who is a deeply flawed character. She’s a writer, someone who wants a better life for herself than what she was born into, yet makes many bad decisions for herself. If you are looking for something that is plot heavy then this isn’t the book for you. It is definitely a character-driven story.

There were many passages that were so exquisitely written that I had to backtrack on my audiobook and listen again, taking the time to fully absorb the author’s words.

It did have its flaws and things I didn’t absolutely love about it. The pacing was a bit off for me and the ending felt rushed. However, it was a compulsive and quick read and recommend it for the issues it raises alone, as well as the unique writing style.

Thank you to Netgalley, Grove Press, and the author for a free advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 rounded up

Trigger warning: drug abuse, domestic violence, consent issues, and content moderation; mentions of but not graphic detail or description of beheading, sexualization of a child, both related to a job in content moderation