Book Review: Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray

A Karissa Review

Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray
Publisher: Crown
Publication date: May 2012
Pages: 256

Summary from goodreads:

A mom in her early fifties, Clover knows she no longer turns heads the way she used to, and she's only really missed when dinner isn't on the table on time. Then Clover wakes up one morning to discover she's invisible--truly invisible. She panics even more when her family doesn't notice a thing. Her best friend immediately observes the change, which relieves Clover immensely--she's not losing her mind after all! But she is crushed by the realization that neither her husband nor her children ever truly look at her. She was invisible even before she knew it. Clover discovers that there are others like her, women of a certain age who seem to have disappeared. As she uses her invisibility to get to know her family and her town better, Clover leads the way in helping invisible women become recognized and appreciated no matter what their role.

What I Liked:
I loved, loved, loved this book. I loved the premise, and the way it deals with it on a literal and figurative level. For those of us of a “certain age,” well, we can really relate. At my library, I recommend this book to any of my patrons willing to admit they are over 40. Not only is the story clever and well written, there’s some fun humor in here. Here’s a teaser – She finds a meeting of other “affected” women, but they meet in empty hotel conference rooms. To make the room seem “empty” none of the invisible women wear clothes. (They are invisible, their clothes aren’t.) Her first encounter with this situation prompts my very favorite line of the book. I only sample adult fiction through Reader’s Digest Condensed books, because I really hate the language, sex, and blecgh you find in them. And RD takes all that out. So I read this book through RD first, and loved it so much, I went to a book store and rifled through the actual book to see if it was okay to recommend to others. And it is! It’s totally clean! (Except, maybe, for mental images of an invisible naked 50 year old woman...)

What I Didn’t Like:
The ending seemed plausible, but maybe too quickly wrapped up….

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: none

Overall rating: ****

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