Review: The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş (Spoiler-Free)

Pretty forgettable, but I guess that's the point?

This is a run-of-the-mill, slice-of-life literary fiction novel. It's written competently, but without a lot of oomph. You could argue that aligns with the central theme of the story—fearing mundanity while striving to embrace it—though, I think this could be achieved with much more oomph. And for a theme that's been beaten to death by the genre, that's definitely required.

The one memorable takeaway from this book (because it's been 3 days since I read it, and to be honest, the rest has already nearly faded), is the idea of the martian anthropologist: a little alien studying your day-to-day life, chronicling the customs you take for granted into his tiny notebook. I enjoy imagining the little martian on my shoulder as I go through the motions of my day; how he'd note down the cutthroat escalator etiquette of Port Authority and the complicated prospect of choosing an outfit for an informational interview, which greatly differs from one for an actual job. "A skirt would be too much, but black pants that aren’t jeans? You could have just happened to be wearing that." My roommate agreed.

I guess I wish this book held a bit more specificity. It's so obsessed with remaining general (the city goes unnamed) and making a universally relatable statement that it feels like nothing. Just steam in the wind.