Review by slub69 -- Seven at Two Past Five by Tara Basi
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slub69
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Review by slub69 -- Seven at Two Past Five by Tara Basi
[Following is a volunteer review of "Seven at Two Past Five" by Tara Basi.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Seven at two past five
By
Tara Basi
Seven at two past five, or shortened to Seven by some she meets, and to herself, she is Abi, but has no last name that she can remember. Seven is content with her very ordered life, a flow of days that never changes, she wakes at exactly the same time each and every day, leaves her bunk at the same time day in, day out, bathes for exactly the same amount of time, then proceeds through the odd numbered door to her work room, where every day is a blue coloured envelope which contains her workload for the day, this consists of making buttons to order, buttons off all shapes, sizes, silver buttons, wooden buttons, plastic buttons, elaborately decorated buttons and plain and simple buttons, and to Seven, this is pure joy, she lives to make buttons, literally. She works the same length of time each day, eats and drinks through the day at the same times. The only blight in Seven’s idyllic life, is that each night she suffers with nightmares, and though she cannot remember the dreams, she knows they are bad, because of the way she awakes terrified and soaked with sweat but for Seven life has always been this way, and by the time she reaches her workroom, the night is forgotten and the joy of making buttons begins.
Until one night when Seven does not have nightmares, she wakes refreshed, happy and content, a change to her order, but as far as she is concerned, one for the better, little does she realise her world is about to be turned upside down, and the orderliness of her days appear to be gone forever. Can she overcome new and torturous changes to the way she has known all her life and, win this life back, so she can revert back to just being a button maker.
This is without doubt the strangest novel I have ever read, and I honestly cannot put it into any category, real-life disguised as fantasy might be the best way to describe it, as the novel touches on illnesses, lifestyles, the judicial system and religion, there is probably a lot in this story that will upset many people, one particular rant near the end of the story, from a character called ‘Liberte’ that would probably give any politically correct reader a nervous twitch for the rest of their days, however if your part of the human race, your in that rant somewhere.
The main character Seven, would appear to suffer from obsessive compulsion disorder, this is not directly mentioned, however we see it from how she is happy with the way her day is set out, following the same rituals day in and day out also, Seven cannot remember ever meeting another person in her life, however she knows there must be other people, as when she returns to her bunk each night there is clean linen for her bed, somebody has to leave the envelope with the button order each day, and someone prepares and leaves her food and drink, again Seven seems content with this, so brings in the possibility of being on the autism spectrum. Irritable bowel syndrome also gets a mention, in an unusual passage where Seven is trying to find a way to appeal the sentence metered out to her for not having any nightmares, the gist of the segment is that everyone is in the belly of a whale, and because things are not going as planned, i.e. that Seven has failed to have nightmares, this is causing the whales’ bowel to be irritated.
As Seven passes up through the judicial chain on her quest to get her sentence quashed, and other penalties innocuously picked up along the way, the more bizarre the system seems to be, with the above whale segment coming whilst in high court.
The story is very well written, and does keep the reader involved, for my part I may be overthinking and seeing what is not there, however, for me, there is a deeper meaning in this storyline. There are many books that I have read from the past that still live with me today, however, no novel, film, poem or any other form of media has affected me the same way as Seven at two past five and therefore can award nothing less than a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Seven at Two Past Five
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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4 out of 4 stars
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Seven at two past five
By
Tara Basi
Seven at two past five, or shortened to Seven by some she meets, and to herself, she is Abi, but has no last name that she can remember. Seven is content with her very ordered life, a flow of days that never changes, she wakes at exactly the same time each and every day, leaves her bunk at the same time day in, day out, bathes for exactly the same amount of time, then proceeds through the odd numbered door to her work room, where every day is a blue coloured envelope which contains her workload for the day, this consists of making buttons to order, buttons off all shapes, sizes, silver buttons, wooden buttons, plastic buttons, elaborately decorated buttons and plain and simple buttons, and to Seven, this is pure joy, she lives to make buttons, literally. She works the same length of time each day, eats and drinks through the day at the same times. The only blight in Seven’s idyllic life, is that each night she suffers with nightmares, and though she cannot remember the dreams, she knows they are bad, because of the way she awakes terrified and soaked with sweat but for Seven life has always been this way, and by the time she reaches her workroom, the night is forgotten and the joy of making buttons begins.
Until one night when Seven does not have nightmares, she wakes refreshed, happy and content, a change to her order, but as far as she is concerned, one for the better, little does she realise her world is about to be turned upside down, and the orderliness of her days appear to be gone forever. Can she overcome new and torturous changes to the way she has known all her life and, win this life back, so she can revert back to just being a button maker.
This is without doubt the strangest novel I have ever read, and I honestly cannot put it into any category, real-life disguised as fantasy might be the best way to describe it, as the novel touches on illnesses, lifestyles, the judicial system and religion, there is probably a lot in this story that will upset many people, one particular rant near the end of the story, from a character called ‘Liberte’ that would probably give any politically correct reader a nervous twitch for the rest of their days, however if your part of the human race, your in that rant somewhere.
The main character Seven, would appear to suffer from obsessive compulsion disorder, this is not directly mentioned, however we see it from how she is happy with the way her day is set out, following the same rituals day in and day out also, Seven cannot remember ever meeting another person in her life, however she knows there must be other people, as when she returns to her bunk each night there is clean linen for her bed, somebody has to leave the envelope with the button order each day, and someone prepares and leaves her food and drink, again Seven seems content with this, so brings in the possibility of being on the autism spectrum. Irritable bowel syndrome also gets a mention, in an unusual passage where Seven is trying to find a way to appeal the sentence metered out to her for not having any nightmares, the gist of the segment is that everyone is in the belly of a whale, and because things are not going as planned, i.e. that Seven has failed to have nightmares, this is causing the whales’ bowel to be irritated.
As Seven passes up through the judicial chain on her quest to get her sentence quashed, and other penalties innocuously picked up along the way, the more bizarre the system seems to be, with the above whale segment coming whilst in high court.
The story is very well written, and does keep the reader involved, for my part I may be overthinking and seeing what is not there, however, for me, there is a deeper meaning in this storyline. There are many books that I have read from the past that still live with me today, however, no novel, film, poem or any other form of media has affected me the same way as Seven at two past five and therefore can award nothing less than a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Seven at Two Past Five
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: Twisted But True by Darren Burch
