ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD LONGLIST * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE
NEW YORKER
,
TIME
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
, AND
ELECTRIC LITERATURE
* A DAKOTA JOHNSON x TEATIME BOOK CLUB PICK *
VULTURE
#1 BOOK OF THE YEAR * A
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
EDITORS' CHOICE SELECTION
"
The Anthropologists
is mesmerizing; I felt I read it in a single breath.
-Garth Greenwell
Savas is an author who simply, and astoundingly, knows.
-Bryan Washington
Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. What should their life here look like? What rituals will structure their days? Whom can they consider family?
As the young couple dreams about the possibilities of each new listing, Asya, a documentarian, gathers footage from the neighborhood like an anthropologist observing local customs. “Forget about daily life,” chides her grandmother on the phone. “We named you for a whole continent and you're filming a park.”
Back in their home countries parents age, grandparents get sick, nieces and nephews grow up-all just slightly out of reach. But Asya and Manu's new world is growing, too, they hope. As they open the horizons of their lives, what and whom will they hold onto, and what will they need to release?
Unfolding over a series of apartment viewings, late-night conversations, last rounds of drinks and lazy breakfasts,
is a soulful examination of homebuilding and modern love, written with Aysegül Savas' distinctive elegance, warmth, and humor.