The Anthropologists

‘An erudite and elegant meditation on modern life and modern love… Asya and Manu could very well be a couple in a novel by Sally Rooney or Caleb Azumah Nelson… Don’t be deceived by Savaş’s cool, matter-of-fact tone – beneath it lie layers of wisdom, delicacy and subtlety… This is not your typical marriage novel, or immigrant/expat novel, or novel of the city – although it threads together all these tropes. In writing about “the slow and leisurely rot of a day”, with all its delights and anxieties, and in praising its “unremarkable grace”, as Asya hopes to do with her filming, the author has created something remarkable.’ * Guardian *
‘A meticulous chronicle of circumspection, a knowing assessment of the motions we go through in cities, and a portrait of aspiration… I found myself not wanting The Anthropologists to end... Savaş’s interest is not in one destination, but in the minutiae of the couple’s daily lives… This immaculately observed book is about learning where those limits lie, and learning to live with them.’ * Financial Times *
'In this subtle and resonant novel, Savas charts the way we sometimes choose-and sometimes drift into-the path to our future' * The New Yorker *
'Utterly enchanting' * The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice *
'It is a novel that takes as its subject the texture, routines and rituals of a particular lifestyle – itinerant and youthful, or at least untethered by children – and serves as sort of a field guide to its participants . . . One of the book's strengths lies in Savas's ability to capture the experience of life as an outsider in a new place' * The Atlantic *
‘Yet another gorgeous, gorgeous book from Aysegül Savaş: she is an author who simply, and astoundingly, knows. Savaş knows hope. Savaş knows despair. Savaş knows joy, and malaise, and laughter and curiosity. There are worlds inside of Savaş' prose, and The Anthropologists is both a bright light and a map for how to be. A massively heartening achievement.’ * Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal *
‘Like Walter Benjamin, Ayşegül Savaş uncovers trapdoors to bewilderment everywhere in everyday life; like Henry James, she sees marriage as a mystery, unsoundably deep. The Anthropologists is mesmerising; I felt I read it in a single breath.’  * Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness *
‘Savaş’s prose is an X-ray – an acute portrait of the tender frequencies that make a life.’ * Raven Leilani, author of Luster *
‘The Anthropologists is about love, youth, and that most profound and elusive of subjects – happiness. Full of delicacy, wisdom and wit, this is another gorgeous work from one of my favourite writers.’  * Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies *
'The Anthropologists captures love, coupledom, and the emigrant experience with breathtaking ease and truth. This detail-rich portrait of a marriage is refreshingly relatable, yet it is a relationship I've never before seen on the page. Savaş evokes the romantic sensibility of Alejandro Zambra; the profound everyday observations of Sigrid Nunez; the crisp intelligence of Rachel Cusk. One of the most intimate and deeply romantic novels I’ve read. I fell instantly in love. Whatever Savaş writes next, I will read.' * Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days *
'2024 was the year of the breakup book . . . Here is an antidote. Manu and Asya's concerns are modest . . . It's a joy to be on this journey with them. Each sentence sings, and watching [them] find a home in each other rather than in the places they've been is defiantly, explicitly hopeful' * Vulture, #1 Book of the Year *
'What makes this slim novel sing are the intricately drawn ways the couple spends their time with the people around them, whether neighbours, friends, or family members. As Asya and Manu view apartments and imagine different futures for themselves, Savas crafts a remarkable narrative about the ordinary moments that fill our lives' * Time, 10 Best Fiction Books of 2024 *
'Here, a unicorn: a propulsive, well-written novel about a couple in which both parties enjoy the other's company . . . The book feels a little like a magic trick. Through pitch-perfect observations, droll and intimate interactions, through attention and care, Aysegul Savas has conjured a page turner' * Vanity Fair, 21 Best Books of 2024 *
'A great love story about ageing parents, romantic love, and what it means to call a place home' * Electric Literature, Best Novels of 2024 *