{"product_id":"the-anthropologists-9781398529939","title":"The Anthropologists","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAsya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. Removed from the web of family and its obligations, what traditions and rituals should they establish together?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As they dream about the possibilities of each new listing, Asya, a documentary filmmaker, spends her days gathering footage from the neighbourhood park like an anthropologist observing local customs, anxious to know how people really live. ‘Forget about daily life,’ chides her grandmother on the phone, ‘no one cares about that.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Meanwhile, life back in Asya and Manu's respective home countries continues – parents age, grandparents get sick, nieces and nephews grow up – all just slightly beyond their reach. But the world they're making in their new city is growing, too, they hope. As they open up the horizons of their lives, what and whom will they hold onto, and what will they need to release?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eAysegül Savas\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Ayşegül Savaş’ \u003ci\u003eWhite on White\u003c\/i\u003e is marvelous, as elegant as an opaque sheet of ice that belies the swift and turbulent waters beneath.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Lauren Groff\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A haunting, irresistible novel. In Agnes, Savaş has created one of the great characters of contemporary literature. I loved this book for its depth and perception, for its beauty and eerie rhythms, but most of all for its wonderfully dream-like spell. It’s breathtaking.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Brandon Taylor\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Despite the thriller-ish underpinning of the novel and the propulsive unfolding of the relationship at the book’s heart, Savaş’s graceful and intellectual prose is the star of the show here. It makes air-light what might otherwise be a novel ponderous with weighty questions: What is the nature of art? Does it reveal or conceal? What is the nature of human connection? . . . . Like a prism, this novel brilliantly illuminates the human spectrum of connection and longing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e, STARRED review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[A] beguiling little novel… Indeed, going out for a stroll is the activity that most resembles the reading of Savaş’s book.”\u003cb\u003e – The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781398529939\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 11 Nov 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x13(L)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eAysegül Savas is the author of the novels The Anthropologists, White on White, and Walking on the Ceiling; the story collection Long Distance; and the nonfiction book The Wilderness. Her work has been translated into seven languages and her stories appear regularly in the New Yorker. She lives in Paris.    \u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e‘\u003cb\u003eAn erudite and elegant meditation on modern life and modern love\u003c\/b\u003e… \u003cb\u003eAsya and Manu could very well be a couple in a novel by Sally Rooney or Caleb Azumah Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e… Don’t be deceived by Savaş’s cool, matter-of-fact tone – beneath it lie \u003cb\u003elayers of wisdom, delicacy and subtlety\u003c\/b\u003e… 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, \u003cb\u003ethe author has created something remarkable\u003c\/b\u003e.’ * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e‘A meticulous chronicle of circumspection, a knowing assessment of the motions we go through in cities, and a portrait of aspiration… \u003cb\u003eI found myself not wanting \u003ci\u003eThe Anthropologists\u003c\/i\u003e to end\u003c\/b\u003e... Savaş’s interest is not in one destination, but in the minutiae of the couple’s daily lives… This \u003cb\u003eimmaculately observed \u003c\/b\u003ebook is about learning where those limits lie, and learning to live with them.’ * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e'In this \u003cb\u003esubtle and resonant \u003c\/b\u003enovel, Savas charts the way we sometimes choose-and sometimes drift into-the path to our future' * The New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eUtterly enchanting\u003c\/b\u003e' * The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice *\u003cbr\u003e'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 . . . \u003cb\u003eOne of the book's strengths lies in Savas's ability to capture the experience of life as an outsider in a new place\u003c\/b\u003e' * The Atlantic *\u003cbr\u003e‘Yet another gorgeous, gorgeous book from Aysegül Savaş: she is an author who simply, and astoundingly, knows. \u003cb\u003eSavaş knows hope. Savaş knows despair. Savaş knows joy, and malaise, and laughter and curiosity\u003c\/b\u003e. There are worlds inside of Savaş' prose, and \u003ci\u003eThe Anthropologists\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003eboth a bright light and a map for how to be\u003c\/b\u003e. A massively heartening achievement.’ * Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal *\u003cbr\u003e‘Like Walter Benjamin, Ayşegül Savaş uncovers trapdoors to bewilderment everywhere in everyday life; like Henry James, she sees marriage as a mystery, unsoundably deep. \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Anthropologists \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eis mesmerising\u003c\/b\u003e; I felt I read it in a single breath.’  * Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness *\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cb\u003eSavaş’s prose is an X-ray\u003c\/b\u003e – an acute portrait of the tender frequencies that make a life.’ * Raven Leilani, author of Luster *\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Anthropologists\u003c\/i\u003e is about love, youth, and that most profound and elusive of subjects – happiness\u003c\/b\u003e. Full of \u003cb\u003edelicacy, wisdom and wit\u003c\/b\u003e, this is another gorgeous work from one of my favourite writers.’  * Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'The Anthropologists \u003c\/i\u003ecaptures 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. \u003cb\u003eSavaş evokes the romantic sensibility of Alejandro Zambra\u003c\/b\u003e; the \u003cb\u003eprofound everyday observations of Sigrid Nunez\u003c\/b\u003e; \u003cb\u003ethe crisp intelligence of Rachel Cusk\u003c\/b\u003e. 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 *\u003cbr\u003e'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. \u003cb\u003eEach sentence sings\u003c\/b\u003e, and watching [them] find a home in each other rather than in the places they've been is \u003cb\u003edefiantly, explicitly hopeful\u003c\/b\u003e' * Vulture, #1 Book of the Year *\u003cbr\u003e'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, \u003cb\u003eSavas crafts a remarkable narrative about the ordinary moments that fill our lives\u003c\/b\u003e' * Time, 10 Best Fiction Books of 2024 *\u003cbr\u003e'Here, a unicorn: a propulsive, well-written novel about a couple in which both parties enjoy the other's company . . . \u003cb\u003eThe book feels a little like a magic trick\u003c\/b\u003e. Through \u003cb\u003epitch-perfect observations, droll and intimate interactions\u003c\/b\u003e, through attention and care, Aysegul Savas has conjured a page turner' * Vanity Fair, 21 Best Books of 2024 *\u003cbr\u003e'A \u003cb\u003egreat love story about ageing parents, romantic love, and what it means to call a place home\u003c\/b\u003e' * Electric Literature, Best Novels of 2024 *","brand":"Aysegül Savas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48745893134553,"sku":"9781398529939","price":24.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/71iv56nvW2L._SL1500_677bbd1b-7648-4c9a-b748-720fc2a8638e.jpg?v=1779869460","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-anthropologists-9781398529939","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}