“Marseille”
by Aysegül Savas
from the April 7, 2025 issue of The New Yorker
This week we get a new story from Aysegül Savas. Here is how “Marseille” begins:
For her birthday, Amina asked to go on a trip. Her husband had travelled for work the previous month, and, although that wasn’t exactly for pleasure, it was now understood that anything which freed them from child care could be considered some type of holiday. Besides, they were trying to allow each other leisurely activities—evenings out, morning runs, a movie from time to time. And, recently, nights away. They wanted to find ways of easing back into their life, which had been on hold since the baby was born.
I hope you’re all enjoying some of the beauties of spring. Please feel free to comment your thoughts on the story below!
Marseille is a curious short story. Aysegul Savas’ writes about three women friends who earlier, went to university in England and who plan and spend a short two-day holiday in Marseille.
There are two ways, actually more than two ways to look at this story. In one way it is an interlude, taking a break from the regular life for a tiny vacation.
In interlude is a sort of in-between time as a sort of brief intermission between the first, second and third acts of one’s life. So in one way it could be about nothing and yet about everything; realizations about the big stuff through the in-between little stuff.
This is reflected in how when the three friends eat, they don’t ever eat a full meal just the preliminaries of not much actually. Even such a small breakfast like tartines which are apparently pieces of bread with some sort of topping. Seems mostly veg but could be little fragments of meat like bacon bits or whatever.
As with any short holiday, there are high expectations of a good time but reservations about whether two days is too short and not enough to do will be included to make the pause meaningful and enjoyable enough.
But it is nice that the protagonist, Amina, is not alone nor are her two friends who have separate lives when not getting together to catch up and remember recent or older times. Amina is married and her new daughter has just turned one. She is taking a break from the next stage or in-between the next stage of her life whereas her friends may be on slightly different relationship sailing tacks or trajectories that may or may not happen.
The whole randomness of one’s life can seem reflected back at them in the randomness of this brief holiday. But it is rendered as possible adventure to be enjoyed and not to be fretted over or worried about.
A nice quality of this story is how the woof and warp of one’s life or one’s friends’ life and the overall texture of it is gently inspected from within and without from a slightly remote vantage point. There is virtually hardly any emotion or judgmental drama that appears that leaves room for a very calm placidity that offers a latent pivot towards or a kind of silent optimism.
Just the sort a brief respite among friends that a serious life coach might suggest as a temporary rest and relief salve from something difficult or a possible perceptually slightly more difficult phase to or of one’s life.
Very Italian seeming though it takes place in France, though France is next door to Germany. Marseille is sort of similar to Naples so if life were too serious in Paris one could slip away to Marseille or if to serious in Berlin or Munich, one could slip away to Naples.
This little story is akin to a tiny glass of cool refreshing European sparkling water.