February 15, 2019
In Paris, a young Turkish émigré assuages her loneliness by striking up a friendship with a novelist."So much of the texture of a relationship disappears when shaped into stories," the narrator of Savas' debut novel opines. Nurunisa, or Nunu, is speaking about her relationship with M., a British writer living in Paris who is best known for his novels about Istanbul, Nunu's hometown. Nunu meets M. at a bookstore reading shortly after she moves to France--ostensibly to go to graduate school, though she has no intention of even beginning the program. Mostly, Nunu is trying to get away from her past: a brilliant, melancholic father who died when she was young, a disconnected mother, an overly analytical ex-boyfriend, and, most of all, Istanbul, a city whose loss looms largest. Completely alone in Paris, Nunu befriends M. on the basis of their shared mythologizing of Turkey. Together, they eat, drink, and mostly walk, traversing the streets of Paris with the ghost of Istanbul as their constant companion. Savas does not plot her novel so much as weave it, with very short chapters taking up threads of Nunu's childhood--her fussy aunts, her summers spent in the country--and her present ruminations from a time in which M. is no longer in her life, her mother is dying, and Istanbul's political turmoil "presses down on us, heavier each day." Nunu calls this reminiscence of M. an "inventory," and that's exactly what Savas has produced here, rendering with elegant intelligence the minute details of both places and people. That the novel moves in circles, acknowledging that some places can be glimpsed but never really explored, makes it all the more like a long walk through a city one can never quite call one's own.A refined and wistful exploration of the nature of memory.
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March 1, 2019
Savas' quiet and emotionally rich novel is a tender portrait of a young woman exploring her identity and coming to terms with her personal history. Nunu has moved from Istanbul to Paris after her mother's death. There she meets M., a writer whose novels are set in Turkey, and they form a sweet, quirky friendship. Consistently trying to impress M. and recreate herself as a possible character in one of his novels, Nunu spins tales of her home which are often embellished if not downright fabricated. These stories begin to steep Nunu in her past, forcing her to revisit her difficult relationships with her parents and look at the current turbulence of her homeland. In short, vignette-like chapters, Savas jumps between places and times, treating readers to Nunu's astute inner monologues as she grapples with her invented and true selves. Like Elizabeth Strout's My Name is Lucy Barton (2017), this novel is deceptively simple and subtly profound and will appeal to those fond of character studies and lovely writing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
March 1, 2019
When Nunu moves from Istanbul to Paris after her mother's death, she meets older British writer M., whose fiction about Istanbul has always enthralled her. A charming friendship based on walks around the city soon forms, and as Nunu shares memories of her family and her city, dreaming of helping M. jumpstart his next novel, she must face her father's death and guilt regarding her mother. But is she saying too much? What a story; Savas has been short-listed for the Glimmer Train Fiction Prize and the Graywolf Emerging Writers Award.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from February 15, 2019
In Paris, a young Turkish �migr� assuages her loneliness by striking up a friendship with a novelist."So much of the texture of a relationship disappears when shaped into stories," the narrator of Savas' debut novel opines. Nurunisa, or Nunu, is speaking about her relationship with M., a British writer living in Paris who is best known for his novels about Istanbul, Nunu's hometown. Nunu meets M. at a bookstore reading shortly after she moves to France--ostensibly to go to graduate school, though she has no intention of even beginning the program. Mostly, Nunu is trying to get away from her past: a brilliant, melancholic father who died when she was young, a disconnected mother, an overly analytical ex-boyfriend, and, most of all, Istanbul, a city whose loss looms largest. Completely alone in Paris, Nunu befriends M. on the basis of their shared mythologizing of Turkey. Together, they eat, drink, and mostly walk, traversing the streets of Paris with the ghost of Istanbul as their constant companion. Savas does not plot her novel so much as weave it, with very short chapters taking up threads of Nunu's childhood--her fussy aunts, her summers spent in the country--and her present ruminations from a time in which M. is no longer in her life, her mother is dying, and Istanbul's political turmoil "presses down on us, heavier each day." Nunu calls this reminiscence of M. an "inventory," and that's exactly what Savas has produced here, rendering with elegant intelligence the minute details of both places and people. That the novel moves in circles, acknowledging that some places can be glimpsed but never really explored, makes it all the more like a long walk through a city one can never quite call one's own.A refined and wistful exploration of the nature of memory.
COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.