I'm a Savas fan, having read each of her previous novels, as well as stories in the New Yorker. Like her previous books, there is an other-worldly quality to them, perhaps because the main characters are living in places far from home, navigating otherness, foreignness, finding ways to make their lives. Here we are with Ayse and Manu, a couple since college, each from their own countries, having left them far behind, and navigating their lives together in what I think might be Paris, though the city and country is unnamed and there is little provided to clarify. This slice of their lives - as they move into fuller adulthood - is told through Ayse's voice and eyes; she is a documentary filmmaker and has received a grant to make a documentary on anything she wants, and to be honest I have no idea or don't recall what Manu does only that he goes off to work every morning, his life more one of adulthood, or at least of schedules and consistency. They are a twosome, but also a three-some, with their closest friend Ravi, a peripatetic teacher of literature. Through this slim novel, a question that Ayse and Manu face is whether to move out of their rental apartment and buy an apartment, a stage, perhaps, in maturation. Who is family when you live far from family? What do you lose being so far from home, what do you gain. A quiet and lovely novel that provides much food for thought.

Thanks to Bloomsbury USA and Netgalley for the ARC.

So well written and unique. I felt like I was reading the best possible iteration of creative fiction which very well could have been memoir. I was
hoping the couple really wouldn’t find an apartment to buy while knowing the arc of the story would demand the inevitability. I usually like novels of defined place and spent way too many moments trying to guess the city…a bit of a game within a novel. I love the representation of a lifestyle chosen so counter to the rush and improvement mindedness of Americans. I’ll be reading everything this author writes going forward. Four and a half stars and in any given year of books I feel lucky to find three or four books I can say were this captivating

The Anthropologists takes a minimal approach, but maximizes all of its strengths. Savas's ability to carefully present philosophical inquiry in the most mundane and earnest thoughts is both disarming and comforting. The conversations characters have between each other feel like the most normal and real conversations I've read in fiction in some time. While true this may be a acquired taste for many readers, something jolted in me at the characters' ordinariness, their ambitions being normal: buying a house, beginning a relationship, spending time with loved ones, etc. Yet, their aspirations--the desire to want more--is a conversation repeatedly mentioned with both shame and surprise, although not explicitly, which is very well-executed. This is a novel about connection, friendship, naivete, creativity, and solace, a perfect book to begin the reading year with.

I loved Aysegül Savas previous two novels, gobbled each in nearly one sitting, and have returned to them often since. The Anthropologists has a similar texture to those previous works, though perhaps with a more free-flowing nature. Not much happens (in short, a couple is on a journey to buy an apartment), though not a lot necessarily happens in the others either, but I felt pulled by the slow current, allowing myself to take in the anecdotes, the escapades, the light conflicts. It's an enjoyable read, if for the characters and the beautifully spare prose.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

This is the second slim novel I’ve read by Aysegul Savas. (although I didn’t even know it until after reading “The Anthropologists”). A couple of years ago I read “White on White”…. another archetype jewel where nothing extraordinary happens — yet the intimacy of the characters—give away to a type of psychological and philosophical power that reveals itself in hidden truths.

In “The Anthropologists”, ….. again …..I recognized Savas’s rare talent for writing simple sentences which convey complexity of thought. I love these types of soulful books (slim-jim-gems).
Most of this story is seen through a series of days - weeks - and months - [good days of rotting time] ….while Aysu and Manu search for a new apartment.

Most everyone that Anya and Manu knew were foreigners. They were a little embarrassed about it, too. However, …..immigrants themselves….(still a young childless married couple)….they were contemplating, analyzing, and soul searching their future lives … —whom could they consider their family in their foreign city?

Asya was a film documentarian. Hanging out at a local neighborhood park ….she wants to observe every day people — doing every day mundane things. She’s interested in the clothes they choose to wear, foods they like to eat, and their customs. In the same way anthropologists study customs and human behavior, Asya could be considered a social-cultural film anthropologist.

Ravi is the couple’s closest friend. The three of them spend a lot of time hanging out together….evenings at the couples house: eating, drinking, chatting. There are trips to restaurants, cafe’s, the pub…and other occasional outings.
A few other supporting characters/friends offer comfort and puzzlements.

We also meet Asya and Manu parents (some interesting visits), ….as well as Asya’s grandmother (video-internet-intimacy) ….

Parts of this book is just down right hilarious….but mostly it’s just SOOOOO good!!!!
It’s a little hard to explain why it’s SOOOOO good…..(it’s to be experienced)….but it’s a treasure.
I’m buying every other novel that Savas writes. I definitely have not had enough of her yet.

Samples to share…..
“Manu and I had no spare sets of plates or matching glasses, but we had plenty of discussion in our lives. For Tereza, ours was a true wealth. She asked us about our friends, our opinions on music and poetry, about the political situation in our countries, whose details she never quite retained, beyond the fact that things didn’t look very bright. This was Tereza’s general disposition: that the world had become a dark place, after a brief period of hope in her youth”.

“So, Manu asked, how is everyone’s day?
“Fine, Ravi said. Nothing to report”.
“There must be something, Manu said”.
“Really, nothing”.
“Well then, what did you have for breakfast? I asked”.
“Here she goes, Ravi said”.
“Maybe I’ve gotten it from my grandmother. I just wanted to know how people lived—really lived”.

Thoroughly enjoyable!

The Anthropologists is one of those lit fic books where nothing happens. It follows the life of a couple who have moved to a new unspecified city and are searching for apartments. The reader watches as the couple plans their future together in this new city and develop a social life. The book specifically examines their lives as first generation Americans with parents who still live in their home countries (the book does not specify what those countries are) and what planning a future in the US looks like for people who are in that position.

I loved this book. Like I said this is a “no plot just vibes” lit fic book and honestly I think that’s my favorite kind of book. I like that it was a quick read but never felt rushed. That’s always my favorite form of storytelling. I love books that spend a lot of time on the main characters’ introspection and that’s the way this story is told. Even when there is a lot of activity happening around the characters the reader always lives entirely in the narrator’s thoughts and emotions. It never feels like an action heavy story. Aysegül Savas perfectly captured the experience of the loneliness that moving to a new place brings. I was interested in the lives of all of the characters and in a book like this I think that’s extremely important.

I actually don’t have any specific complaints here. It just didn’t give me that “wow” feeling that makes me want to give a book 5 stars and I didn’t love it so much that I feel an urge to talk about it for ages. I really really liked it though

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ebook. This is a lovely book as Aysa and Manu try to lay down roots as they look for a new apartment in a bustling city that is in a country not their own. Aysa, a documentary filmmaker, feels cut off from home as her parents age and younger family members become adults. Today's technology keeps you closer than ever, but a barrier still remains. It’s such a novel idea to watch a couple try and make a new city a place that feels like home.