#9 [2025/CBR17] The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş

I read The Anthropologists (2024) by Ayşegül Savaş solely because Barack Obama put it on his Favorite Books List. Although Obama and I don't have exactly the same taste in books, I appreciate that his choices are always well written and thought provoking. 

The Anthropologists is a short, quiet novel that centers around a young couple in New York City. The two are looking to buy their first home together. Asya first came to the United States to go to college, where she met her husband, Manu. Manu was also a foreign student, but they are from different countries (the book never explicitly states which countries). Asya is a film documentarian who has just received a grant to work on something new. She's decided to focus on her neighborhood park and the people who go there. She spends many hours talking with people and filming at the park.

This book is not plot-driven but instead focuses on its characters and how each creates community for themselves. Asya often feels like she lacks community and doesn't really belong in New York City. She thinks she should be more involved and have more friends. When she looks at other people, she imagines that they have everything figured out in a way that she does not. 

Asya has the culture and community that she grew up with, but all of that is so far away. She talks to her mother and grandmother on the phone often, but she feels distinct from their lives. She's afraid that her family will see that the United States has changed her. She can't even speak her native language with her husband because they have to communicate in their shared language, Enlgish. Asya only has a couple of friends, which feels insufficient to her. 

Every prospective home they visit invites Asya and Manu to imagine a different kind of life they could live. Initially, they are not sure what direction they want to go, or what one would fit them the best. 

Perhaps because everything happens so quietly and slowly, Asya and Manu do not even realize that they are creating their own community around themselves. First, they have each other. They have a great relationship and are not wandering around that giant city by themselves. Second, they befriend people who pop up in their lives. This includes their elderly upstairs neighbor. In addition, some of their friends are dating and finding their own lives, and their circle is constantly expanding.

This book is very quiet and contemplative, but it was well written and easy to read. I could understand how Asya and Manu feel torn between their new home and their family in their home countries. On the whole, this is an optimistic book as Asya and Manu find their places.