Rate this book

Calling Invisible Women (2012)

by Jeanne Ray(Favorite Author)

3.36 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0307395057 (ISBN13: 9780307395054)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Crown

review 1: I have always had a bad habit of picking up donated and used books at the public library where I worked. I still do it as a patron. They only cost a little and I never know when I might run out of reading material. The facts that my shelves are full, that I have lots of books on my Kindle and that the electronic library is open 24 hours has not changed this pattern. I just don't want to face a place where I have nothing to read.So this novel is one of those items that I picked up along the way. I am guessing I was sucked in my the cover. The dog looks a lot like a Cairn terrier and I love them. (It turns out it is a Cairn.)I have no good reason for deciding to read this next. I am in the middle of 18 other books, but this was what I wanted. I found Ray's story dist... moreracting and entertaining. Although it is not very plausible, it is a lot of fun.Ray has picked a good group to make invisible - middle-aged women. How many of us have felt invisible at one time or another. How the women have gotten to be invisible and their solution is the main theme of the book. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt a bit invisible, a bit ignored. Hopefully it will help you laugh at your predicament.
review 2: Having come of age in the 1970's reading "The Second Sex" and other feminist works, I expected to immediately become immersed in this book, but I didn't become engaged with Clover and her story until she started attending the support group for invisible women. While still a novel exploring timeless issues of women's identity, the mood lightened a bit (such as kleenex signaling when the women wanted to speak) and the stories of all the women made me feel as though I were part of this exploration of the issues of women's identities with their families and in the workplace.What was also interesting was the recognition on the part of Clover of what she had been missing. Going to her husband's office (as an invisible woman) allowed her to view the many demands on her husband in his work as a pediatrician. Going to the high school with Lelia, another invisible woman who had been a teacher, allowed Clover to witness all the stresses that high school students face, including what her children had perhaps gone through. Clover was also not seeing the world as the world stopped seeing her.This book had plenty of humorous moments, but you really had to suspend disbelief not to find it silly at times. An invisible woman confronting both a wife abuser in a parking lot and breaking up a bank robbery where guns were used made me think a little of a comedy movie more than a novel. I liked Clover and the other women in her group, but the story never quite settled in my mind as to whether it was a book exploring serious issues of women's identity or whether it was another humorous look at family life with a serious issue thrown in. It seemed too easy a solution that Clover could use her experiences at the scene of a bank robbery to greatly enhance her part time journalism career.I liked that this book, except for a group discussion about the attractiveness of Clover's cheerleader daughter Evie, was mostly not a complaint of how men stop seeing women as desirable once they get to "a certain age". Of course, that complaint is true, but the relevation of that fact is nothing new. It was more an exploration of how women can be more appreciated for their contributions at home and in the workplace which is certainly an important issue.This book might be a new direction for the author from hert earlier works which did not explore such issues and while great reads, were basically humorous looks at family life. less

Download links for: Calling Invisible Women

Advertising