Seven Moves Paperback – November 14, 1997

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.

This book makes for great light reading, can definitely be read in a day or on a plane. The suspense is kept fairly well throughout the book. The characters aren't complex, which means that none of them really capture the heart. Nice to see an LGBT book where the fact of the characters being LGBT isn't the main storyline.

I recently reread this book and found it to be so much more than I had originally thought. There are so many wonderful sentences, paragraphs, images to go back over and savor.

The sentence-by sentence beauty of this book is amazing. The story moves over a lot of time and a lot of characters with surprising grace.

Actually I would give this book 2.5 stars. I had a hard time finsihing this work. This book is not a mystery. What is really amazing it that a local theater company here in Chicago is adapting this for the stage. When I saw a workshop of this work, I was intrigued and desperately wanted to read it, so I suggested for a Book Club I belong to. It starts off with a real bang and I enjoyed the relationship of Chris and Taylor. Taylor becomes Chris' obesession and a cataylst for her growth as she moves into another relationship with her ex Renny(after Taylor's mysterious disaperance)and the journey as she moves past both relationships. I really feel for the battle scarred Chris all to well.So what bugged me about the book for its low rating?-Wordy, lacks dialogue to keep the reader moving and interested. At times I felt I was in swamp trying to move to the next page. I find myself going back and reading whole pages over and over again because I couldn't focus on it. (or was uninterested in what is going on to gain focus)Who wants to work that hard at leisure reading?...Will I read another work by this author? Yes, but not for a long, long time.Still the big question is-"Do we ever really know the person we fall in love with?" The answer like this book, is as clear as the mud in the bottom of deep dark river.

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.

There were times I wanted to put this book down and not return to it. It gave me fitful sleep.Still, it is one of those books that will always stay with me and will change me and how I view the world.When I read effective books I try to analyze how the writer does it. Carol Anshaw is a tough nut to crack. She writes effortlessly, but her words, characters, and dialogue pack a punch. I honestly can't figure out how she does it, but she is without a doubt one of this century's great writers.Masterful. So real it hurts.

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.

Christine (a psychotherapist) and Taylor (a photographer) have been together for four years. They have a house and a dog, and are probably as settled as either of them have ever been. Then, one night shortly after her return from a trip abroad, Taylor vanishes. She leaves no note, and as time goes on makes no contact with Chris. Slowly, Chris's anger and feeling of abandonment turns to anxiety, and then to grief. She begins a quest to find out what happened to Taylor - one that will take her first to Morocco, and then back to New York, where she begins to realize that she knew very little about her partner after all.I was in the minority that disliked Anshaw's first novel 'Aquamarine'. This one I enjoyed rather more: Anshaw has a fine writing style (as was apparent from the first chapter of 'Aquamarine') and the subject-matter of this book gave her more of a chance to develop it. There were some fine descriptions of Morocco, and the mysterious hotel owner who Chris meets was an intriguing character. Anshaw was also good on Chris's career (and on how, while able to advise her clients, she had plenty of her own problems - a sort of 'physician, heal thyself' idea), and I enjoyed reading about her friendship with fellow-practitioner Daniel, and her rather combative relationship with television presenter Leigh, who attempts to help her in her search.However, there was quite a lot that I personally didn't enjoy about the book. The idea that pretty well all relationships are sex-motivated and doomed to long-term failure was profoundly depressing, and I felt that Anshaw gave a rather one-sided view of the gay community, with rather too much emphasis on promiscuity. And why did Leigh need to have a 'fake boyfriend' as well as her women friends? Because US television wouldn't accept her otherwise? I also found Chris incredibly self-centered, even bearing in mind her situation - in fact, self-preoccupation seemed to be a characteristic of pretty well everyone in this novel. The fact that no one really seemed to take pleasure in anything apart from sex and meals (we never witness the characters enjoying reading, cultural activities, music, sport or - apart from Chris's camel ride - walking and travel) made the world Anshaw was describing seem horribly claustrophobic and not that believable. And - without giving too much away - I didn't believe that Taylor would have felt the need to do what she did, with Chris still very devoted to her. The ending offered a little hope, but was still very low-key; a muted ending to a rather depressing read.I will be interested to try Anshaw's 'Carry the One', which made her a big name, but my first two attempts at enjoying her fiction have not been that successful. I find her rather muted and depressing, particularly as regards relationships!