Seven Moves [Hardcover]

Carol Anshaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 1996

Christine Snow, a Chicago therapist, wakes one morning to find her live-in lover gone. At first Chris thinks that Taylor has left in a funk because they fought the night before over a minor flirtation. But too many clues point to another explanation: either Taylor has left for Morocco and a mysterious woman there, or she has come to harm. Running the emotional gamut from anger to alarm, Christine anxiously tracks the course of Taylor's disappearance, only to discover that her trust in her lover may have been misplaced. Badly shaken, she begins to question her own powers of perception: if she has misread Taylor for so long, perhaps - a therapist's worst fear - she hardly knows her own mind. Bearing Anshaw's trademark style -witty, hip, with sparkling dialogue and irresistible characters - Seven Moves unveils layers of loss, discovery, and personality in a narrative that is forcefully compelling and full of jazzy spirit. As the Chicago Tribune said of Anshaw's first novel, this book " wi

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This second novel from Carol Anshaw, author of Aquamarine, describes a desperate search for a lover who has simply disappeared one morning without a trace, and a gnawing fear that perhaps the lover was not really known at all. Chris is a therapist in a stable and strong lesbian relationship with Taylor, a travel photographer and a free spirit who has occasionally been unfaithful. When Chris awakens to find Taylor gone she cannot accept either suicide or abandonment as explanations. She hires a cop, a private investigator, and a psychic and goes looking for Taylor, a journey in time and place, across the world, and back through memory. The pursuit becomes an investigation of what we can know about another.

From Library Journal

Christine Snow is a successful therapist with a full professional schedule, a new house, a dog, and a live-in companion she adores. These seemingly mundane details cement together a life lived on the margins: Chris is lesbian in a mostly straight world, responsible but burdened with fallout from a wildly dysfunctional family, settled but with a recent history of promiscuity and excess. When Taylor, the love of her life, disappears suddenly, leaving no clues except photos of an exotic stranger, Chris's hard-won middle way implodes. Her frantic search for Taylor takes her from Chicago's lesbian social scene to Morocco and on a psychological odyssey as necessary as it is painful. With its heady mix of suspense and humor, edgy urban ambience, and down-to-earth, touching characters, this second novel from the author of the award-winning Aquamarine (LJ 3/15/96) will not disappoint. Recommended.?Starr E. Smith, Marymount Univ. Lib., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Edition edition (October 7, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395691311
• ISBN-13: 978-0395691311
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,436,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a thoughtful, wonderful book, July 10, 1998

By 

Nancey E. Carroll - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Moves (Hardcover)

I bought this book in a tiny little bookstore in northern Vermont, while frantically searching for a book to keep me occupied on a boat for 4 hours while my husband fished to his hearts content. I picked this wonderful treasure of a book quickly, and without really knowing what it was about. It was fantastic. This book is like talking to a very good friend over coffee. Cliche although it might be, Anshaw makes you laugh and cry all within the same paragraph. The relationship between the two lovers is so perfectly explained and heartwrenchingly understood by the way in which Anshaw writes easily and without pretense. Please read this. My four hours on that boat were more enjoyable than I ever would have thought possible, all because of "Seven Moves". Thank you for this book, and please hurry up and write again.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It had its strong points, July 27, 2002

By 

"janevaningen" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Moves (Paperback)

Anshaw's first book, Aquamarine, is one of my favorite books, so I picked up her second novel with trepidation. And sure enough, it's not as good as her first novel, but the complex relationship between the two lovers is fascinating. Anshaw takes the time to explore and examine all of her characters and therefore it is an in-depth look at relationships of all kinds. I liked how the ending left the reader hanging; to neatly tie the ending with a nice bow would have been disingenous at best.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as her first book, January 17, 2001

By 

Toni Smith "North Country Girl" (Cadyville, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Moves (Paperback)

I really enjoyed aquamarine so I figured that this book would e just as good. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

First of all, Carol Ashnaw writes in a present tense. That got on my nerves a little bit but I learned to put it aside. Second, the book is whiny, everything Christine goes through is so melodramatic. She seems like a sad excise for a human being. I thought the concept would be good but it just isn't. I don't identify with Christine and I don't sympathize with her.

Ashnaw tends to jump around a lot in this book, moving from flashback to present time, jumping form the subject of her father to her clients to her lover. It is rather confusing and I lost interest about half way through the book.

Christine's trip to Morocco isn't even explored as much as it could be. Ashnaw devotes one chapter of this book to something that is very crucial to the story. This happens many times in the book and I find that it takes away from the seriousness of it.

I do like the pace of the story, Ashnaw is good with creating a sense of how mcuh time has passed. I also like the tone of the story, it seems down to earth. Also this story is real-to-life. It could happen to anyone.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the book. Like I said, aquamarine is an excellent book. This one, not so good.