If you are looking for a novel that takes you on a literary rollercoaster ride - with a steady building of plot culminating in a rich and penetrating climax - then this is not your book. Anshaw's "Seven Moves" is not a story that is painted out in bold black letters - it is the tale that lies between the lines, the allegory that remains untold in literal terms that makes her work so captivating. Anshaw's stylistic way of making even the most guarded reader fall in love with her often poignant writing is the key to appreciating her work.
When you first open the book and let your eyes peruse the beginning pages, you begin to conceptualize what Anshaw is trying to portray in the central characters. Even as you delve into the myriad interconnecting stories, page by page, you already know what the author is going to do with it. The story is gift-wrapped with translucent paper - you know what's inside even before you unwrap it. But that is where Anshaw's power truly lies. Playful deception is what keeps this book moving and it is what will keep you reading to the very end. The truth of the matter is that the story isn't the obvious - our friend Anshaw is much too gifted a writer to let us off that easy.
The first experience in the book is felt through the life of Chris, a psychologist who seemingly lacks much in the area of self-confidence and self-esteem. Enter Taylor, Chris' flirtatious lover who exudes all those things which Chris lacks. With Talylor's sudden disappearance as a springboard, Chris is thrust into a world of disillusion and loneliness. Anshaw physically takes the reader on a journey to faraway places in hopes of finding Taylor's whereabouts. But that is where one of the author's deceptions lie. This is no more a story of Taylor, than it is of the dead squirrel lying in my backyard.
When Chris is awakened to an empty space in her bed, she is also experiencing the awakening of her soul. Although a physical search for Taylor ensued, it is the spritual search that is the focal point of the whole novel. Dependent on and feeling unloved by Taylor, Chris gradually learns that it is not Taylor that she misses, but her sense of self that had been lost for so long. The most powerful aspect of all this is the use of what seems to be a contradiction in terms - namely, the psychologist who can penetrate anybody's soul but her own.
Upon finding diary entries which paint a disturbing picture of Taylor's mentality, Chris comes to a new understanding and appreciation of who she is and what she needs. It is the demise of Taylor's spirit which catalyzes the enlightenment and awakening of Chris' being. And this abstract and veiled method of producing a roundabout climax is at the heart of Anshaw's allure.
- Jennifer Shanley