Editorial Content for The Anthropologists

I’ve been reading a lot of lengthy books this summer. So picking up Ayşegül Savaş’ THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS, at a mere 186 pages, felt like a chance to take a breath and dip into prose at a different, more intimate scale. Further enhancing this feeling of intimacy are the novel’s divisions into short sections. They often consist of just a paragraph or two, each one a moment of observation or realization, an anecdote or merely an image.

Each of these short titles are sectioned, and some recur throughout the book. They convey a feeling of rhythm, of pleasant repetition, and reinforcing some of the first-person narrator’s preoccupations and, by extension, the novel’s themes. Asya and her husband, Manu, come from different (unnamed) countries. They have found themselves living, as a young married couple, in a third (unnamed) country in a city that doesn’t quite feel like home yet.

"THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS is primarily a chronicle of human observations, a collection of small moments that form a portrait of a young couple trying to define themselves as individuals, a family and members of a community."

As the book opens, Asya sets the scene: “In a moment of panic, we decided to look for a home.” They have a home, of course, an apartment they’ve been renting since moving to the city several years prior, but they are feeling pressure --- whether external or self-imposed --- to buy a house and make themselves feel more permanent and settled (and, of course, there’s the implication that they might want to have children down the line). Sections devoted to their real estate quest are titled “Future Selves,” in which Asya and Manu try to imagine themselves into these spaces --- the way, when young, you try on an outfit that might fit you properly in a few years.

Asya is a documentary filmmaker, and although previous projects have taken her around the world, she has decided in the short term (and thanks to some generous grant funding) to focus her attention on filming frequent visitors to a park in their neighborhood. Consequently, numerous sections of the novel are labeled “In the Park” and consist of the voices of these regulars, people of all ages who go to the park for a variety of reasons. Asya’s parents are somewhat skeptical of the project, which they view as somewhat provincial. But Asya is convinced of its importance, if for no other reason than that it helps her feel grounded in her adopted home.

Finding community is difficult for Asya and Manu. Although both have jobs they enjoy (Manu works for a nonprofit organization), they find themselves associating mostly with other immigrants like themselves. Asya is eager to befriend someone “native” to the city but finds the prospect daunting and a bit bewildering. Despite the two of them having a small circle of friends, they struggle to build a real community that would help bestow the kind of rootedness for which they long.

THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS is primarily a chronicle of human observations, a collection of small moments that form a portrait of a young couple trying to define themselves as individuals, a family and members of a community. It’s a quiet book, but you will want to pay full attention to it.