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    Calling Invisible Women: A Novel
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    Calling Invisible Women: A Novel
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    Calling Invisible Women: A Novel
    Audiobook5 hours

    Calling Invisible Women: A Novel

    Written by Jeanne Ray

    Narrated by Coleen Marlo

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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, but when her husband and son sit down to dinner, nothing is amiss. Even though she's been with her husband, Arthur, since college, her condition goes unnoticed. Her friend Gilda immediately observes that Clover is invisible, 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 she was invisible.

    Clover discovers that there are other women 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. Smart and hilarious, with indomitable female characters, Calling Invisible Women will appeal to anyone who has ever felt invisible.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 22, 2012
    ISBN9780449010556
    Unavailable
    Calling Invisible Women: A Novel
    Author

    Jeanne Ray

    The author of three previous novels, Jeanne Ray works as a registered nurse at the Frist Clinic in Nashville, Tennessee. She is married and has two daughters. Together, she and her husband have ten grandchildren.

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    Reviews for Calling Invisible Women

    3.5/5

    151 ratings34 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This was a fantastic novel with social commentary on aging, gender dynamics, relationships between partners and between parents and children, as well as our own place in the world and what we do with our abilities. It's a very easy read that sucks you in and leaves you more satisfied and determined at the end than it seems like it should.
    • 4/5
      One day middle-aged Clover wakes up to find that she is invisible. How strange? Is she imagining it? Her family doesn't seem to notice. It's only when her friend notices that she knows she isn't losing her mind. When Clover discovers that a combination of drugs from the same pharmaceutical company (for menopause, bone density and mild depression) is responsible, and that there are many invisible women out there, she decides to take action. A thought provoking look at middle-aged women in our society and their 'invisibility'. Middle-aged women are actually beautiful, intelligent, and interesting, but often taken for granted and overlooked. Really enjoyed!
    • 4/5
      Clover is a early 40's wife to a popular pediatrician, mother of two adult children, and a part-time gardening columnist for the local newspaper. Although trained as a journalist, the economy and the decline of newspaper readership, has curtailed her career. She feels as if she has no sense of purpose or identity which fulfills her. Maybe this is why one morning, she wakes up to discover that she is invisible, not just metaphorically invisible. Initially, she believes that she is mentally ill since her family hasn't seemed to notice; however, they aren't truly looking at her. However, after reading a classified header, "Calling Invisible Women," she knows that she isn't insane. After joining the Invisible Women Support Group, she realizes that her handicap might actually be a strength. Using her journalism skills, she organizes the women to discover what happened to them and attempt to stop it from happening to others.

      This novel is uses the invisibility as a metaphor for lack of purpose and identity. As Clover begins to appreciate her invisibility, seeing it as an asset rather than weakness and interact with other invisible women and visible humans, she becomes involved in some humorous moments. An easy read, which will have the reader chuckling out loud.
    • 4/5
      A quirky satire about women becoming invisible to everyone. No one notices, not even their families. It's an extension on the concept that women are ignored after reaching a certain age. This is a humorous story that shows a number of ways to use the condition of invisibility. The cause is discovered to be a combination of drugs. It's a creative and fanciful story that is quite thought-provoking in places.
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable read.
    • 2/5
      The premise of the book started out with good intentions, which all fell flat as the book progressed.
    • 4/5
      This was a poolside read with much substance! Clover, wife and mother, upon reaching a certain age, discovers one day that she is literally invisible to everyone. But her family doesn‘t notice, as they‘ve taken her for granted for years. Clover discovers that there are other invisible women as well, and learn what caused their invisibleness. Some of them, including Clover, find self-empowerment. It‘s funny with thoughtful moments. It was interesting to find out that the author is the mother of Ann Patchett.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this take on modern-day invisibility of women of a certain age. It was funny and inventive. A nice light summer read, but not too light for book clubs.
    • 3/5
      another one where I need partial stars - 3.5.
    • 3/5
      I picked up the book because the concept intrigued me. A woman wakes up one day to discover that she's become invisible and no one notices, least of all her husband. One of the things that appealed to me is that I think this is often true - many women as we become older also become somewhat invisible to those around us. I enjoyed this book, which tackles the subject in a lighthearted manner. In no way is this a fault - in fact, I think it's a strength. I like the fact that I can laugh over a somewhat painful experience because it's happened to all of us at some point. The underlying message of the book is that we should take notice of what's important to us in order to recognize the magnitude of that importance. It's a good message.
    • 3/5
      Calling Invisible Women is a fun and witty novel about Clover, a woman who wakes up and finds that she has no reflection in the bathroom mirror. She's invisible. Her busy husband and distracted children don't even notice. No one notices, except for her best friend. Clover is distraught. But after she attends a meeting for invisible women, Clover discovers a new view of life. I think this is a perfect rainy day read.
    • 3/5
      A quirky story about middle aged women who have become invisible due to taking a specific combination of 3 drugs. They come together to fight the drug company that sells them after they find management knew all along invisibility was a possibility. Some funny segments but not enough to save the weak plot.
    • 4/5
      In our youth-obsessed culture, there's many a middle-aged woman who has felt invisible when the waiter's eyes drift past her to a younger, more attractive woman, or when her family takes for granted the hours of work it takes to maintain a home. But Clover wakes up one day and is literally invisible. Her husband and children don't notice at all; they carry on regardless. She finds she is not alone. She and her fellow invisible women must band together to save the day. Ray gently and cheerfully leads her characters--and her readers--on a journey to discover the remedies for post-menopausal obsolescence.

      I'm extremely amused at the phrase "fellow women." Seems oxymoronic.

    • 5/5
      Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray is a novel about Clover, a mom in her early fifties whose family never looks at her face. They speak to her and have meals with her but they never actually see her. This predicament becomes evident when she wakes up one day and she is gone. She literally disappears. And if that's not bad enough, weeks go by before her family members, particularly her husband, even notice. Luckily, her neighbor and best friend Marjorie, notices right away dismissing her feelings of insanity. Clover goes about her days as usual, unnoticed by the general public until one day she finds an ad in the paper for an "Invisible Women's Club" which she attends and learns that her invisibility is caused by certain medications she has been taking. The Invisible women then form a plan to force the pharmaceutical company to take the meds off the market and research a cure for their newfound disease. This book is insanely humorous and reflects the feeling of being invisible by most middle aged women who feel overlooked or faded into the background. I liked it very much. Published in 2012 by Crown Publishing. Go read it!
    • 3/5
      Had a rapid ending. Loved the sotry wish it was more developed!
    • 3/5
      It was that phrase “invisible women” that made you pick up this book, wasn’t it? Yes, and I suspect that you know what that means. I do. I think all of us women of a certain age knows what it is like to be visible and then slowly become invisible. It’s difficult. So much of what we as women are is what we appear to be. And that will inevitably fade. Sigh.But there are consolations, and this book is one of them. Quietly, without anyone seeing us do so (of course), we can read this little book and wash ourselves in the knowledge that, though we may be invisible, and we can silently, invisibly, laugh at it all.
    • 3/5
      Calling Invisible WomenBy Jeanne RayBroadway Paperbacks, 255 pgs978-0-307-39506-1Submitted by Random HouseRating: 3Well, this was disturbing at best, terrifying at times. I thought it was just going to be an allegory on the idea that women, once we reach a certain age, become socially invisible. I've heard this theory before and was prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for actual, physical invisibility, and people who still DID NOT NOTICE. Clover Hobart wakes up one morning, glances into the bathroom mirror while brushing her teeth, and sees a toothbrush and a bathrobe. She does not see her face or her hand holding the toothbrush. Clover has a husband (a very busy pediatrician), a son (living at home again after a lay-off) and a daughter (at college). She used to be a reporter but has gradually devolved into a gardening columnist at the local newspaper. None of them notice. Her mother-in-law, a yoga-teaching hippie, notices. I have always had a soft spot for hippies.A few days later, Clover sees an ad in the newspaper: "Calling Invisible Women, Downtown Sheraton, Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Bring a Kleenex." Clover goes to the meeting, after wondering rather comically what to wear (how dressy is a meeting of invisible women? are there wigs involved?) and discovers a dozen more women who are also invisible. And they're all naked. Clover finds out that they have tried various remedies: vitamin D, wheat grass juice, ashrams, all to little effect. One of the women bemoans the fact that they aren't even covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Several adventures ensue in which Clover intervenes and saves the day: an abusive husband in the supermarket parking lot; a bank robbery; every-day high school peccadilloes; infiltrating an international pharmaceutical behemoth. At least these women use their invisibility to accomplish something beneficial. Anyone remember that horrible Kevin Bacon movie a few years back? He used his time being invisible to be a total perv. Clover learns how to reassert herself while invisible, dealing handily with abusers, criminals, algebra-test-cheaters and chemists. She and her fellow invisibles figure out what's causing their condition and set out to right a monstrous wrong. I buy all of this. What I don't get is how quickly and seemingly easily Clover lets her husband and family off the hook. Because it takes months for them to notice she's gone. MONTHS. I'd be damned if any of them would get another meal or ironed shirt from me. Clover becomes an activist, fighting for the human rights of women that the world has deemed expendable, their condition considered an acceptable risk, but she's a cream-puff when it comes to her family. Her excuse for them is that she's so familiar that they have ceased to actually see her. My understanding of this situation is that her family is so spoiled by her that her presence is taken for granted to the degree that Clover is the equivalent of the mechanical systems in your house. You only notice that something's wrong with the HVAC when you get cold or that something is wrong with the water when it ceases to flow from the faucets. Geez.Calling Invisible Women reminded me of Mexico's tradition of magical realism. I did enjoy this book, a bit of fairly light reading, a nice diversion from my usual fare, but still with something to say. Clover begins as a well-developed character and is afforded the opportunity to continue to grow. The people around her are also individuals, complete and differentiated characters. I was aggravated at some of them but they are not ill-intentioned. They are all appropriately abashed and ashamed when they figure it out. The plot moves right along, the pacing is pleasing, no lag-time. Clover's adventures are fun, just don't think too hard about, say, the bank robbery. When I began that chapter I started rolling my eyes and groaning. But it's a mistake to attempt to impose too much literalism on a book about invisible women. That's not what this book is for. This book is for tapping you on the shoulder to get your attention, or poking you playfully in the gut to make its point, not for bashing you over the head. However, you may find yourself itching to picket, say, Pfizer, when you're done with this one. Jeanne Ray is a bestselling author and has written four other novels. She worked as a nurse for forty years before she wrote her first book. She lives in Nashville with her husband.
    • 4/5
      On the face of it (so to speak), the story sounds so implausible as to be hard to enjoy, but this really wasn't the case. I found Clover's experiences surprisingly convincing and the various characters were well-drawn and interesting. I'm not so sure that the reaction of Dexter-White was realistic, but who cares? It's a fun read.
    • 4/5
      Face it, women feel invisible more often than they should. No one notices if they really are invisible is a stretch but not too far. That the problem invisibility comes from a specific drug combination? Not a stretch. This was a little book that I really wanted to be a big book. Good story and characters that could have been more.
    • 3/5
      A woman becomes invisible and then discovers other women who are invisible too. Easy read but it's not all fluff. Led this reader to think about people being seen, communication with loved ones, paying attention to what's around, etc.
    • 4/5
      Middle aged women take a combination of drugs prescribed for hormone changes and depression leaving them yes, invisible. The author presented this story in a family atmosphere with such unexpected humor. I so enjoyed Clover's graceful outlook.
    • 3/5
      I consider this as chick-lit for older women, but it was a good read, I'd read more by this author and loved that she started writing at 60. It was funny and entertaining, but I thought the part where Clover and Gilda make such a big deal over their sons' decision to get tattoos was agitating. It was one of my favorite parts of the book though reading about the tattoo artist's reaction!
    • 3/5
      Jeanne Ray's books are always a good read. She's clever and she's funny and there's a bit of a message. The premise of this book is great and speaks to all women at one time or another in their lives. It's not deep but it's enjoyable. The ending was a bit abrupt but hey, it was fitting. Recommend for an excape and/or while navel-gazing.
    • 4/5
      Jeanne Ray is in her true form with another great novel for women. Her books speak to women who have some life experience and know themselves. This story tells of Clover, a wife and mother. Unbeknown to her, a medication conflict has caused her to become invisible. However, as long as she keeps things going along as usual, her family doesn’t even notice that she is invisible. In the outside world though, she is able to use her situation to her advantage, and for others, too. This is a very entertaining novel, as are all of Jeanne Ray’s books. If you have ever felt invisible, or perhaps wished to be, you will enjoy this book. It is heartfelt fun.
    • 5/5
      When womwn are working behind tghe scenes to feed and clothe and clean up after their familes they may feel invisible. But what happens when you become invisible, and family doesn't notice?
    • 5/5
      I loved her earlier novels so I was pleased with this one and what an interesting, to say the least, idea---to be invisible, IF it could be done by choice and not as a result of a faulty medication combination. The "invisible" accomplishments were just plain fun, strictly in the fictional sense.
    • 4/5
      Who among us hasn't felt her contributions to family life or work or both haven't gone completely unnoticed at times. If dinner is on the table, laundry is washed and folded, reports signed off on, and emails sent is there any reason for those around us to look at us carefully enough to actually see us? Or is the presence of the expected enough that those providing the service are invisible to those around them? When Clover, the main character in Jeanne Ray's Calling Invisible Women, wakes up invisible one morning, she is horrified to discover that neither her overworked and exhausted pediatrician husband nor her unemployed and depressed post-college aged son, nor her self-obsessed college cheerleader daughter notice that she is in fact invisible. As long as all the things she does around the house continue to be accomplished and she wears clothing on her invisible body, they do not notice that she in fact entirely lacking a visible presence. For them, it's life as usual. But for Clover, well and truly invisible, life is nothing like usual.As she tries to navigate life even more invisible than she had been (because what woman of a certain age doesn't feel invisible in so many small ways already), she realizes that she can use her invisibility for the good of society. Putting her journalism background to use, she researches invisibility whenever it is mentioned although she realizes that few pop culture nods to invisibility are realistic or quite like what she is facing. And when she spots a personal ad in her own paper, "Calling invisible women" to come to a meeting at the local Sheraton, mustering up the courage to attend, she will find a group of women all suffering from true invisibility like she is and she will find that even without being able to see her body, she can let her inner light shine and make a real difference with the help of these women. Being invisible also allows her to see the true emotional needs of her own family, the things that she was too wrapped up to see about them just as they have so long been too wrapped up to properly see her.Accessible and engrossing, this is storytelling the way it should be. It is appealing, straightforward, eminently relatable, and by turns humorous and sad. The characters are well-rounded, sympathetic (yes, even though many of them don't notice Clover's invisibility, they are still sympathetic), and very realistic. Clover herself is a wonderful character, discovering hidden strengths she never suspected, changing, and being empowered. The pace of the book builds as Clover comes to terms with her situation and builds again as the invisible women plan their campaign. Although this book posits actual invisibility (and there is a legitimate cause behind the actual invisibility) instead of just using it as a metaphor, anyone who has ever felt unappreciated or invisible to family or society will definitely appreciate this thoughtful and entertaining novel. I have already recommended it to many of my friends, all women of a certain age who have, without exception, said, "I'm definitely invisible. I need to read that."
    • 5/5
      Imagine waking up one morning and finding yourself invisible and then imagine going through your regular day without anyone noticing. This is Clover Harper's dilemma; she wakes up and none of her family realizes she is invisible. As she tries to deal with her problem, she finds there are other invisible women and together they learn how to not only cope with their situation but to use it to their advantage. I really enjoyed this book. It's a situation many older women can easily identify with and written in a manner that makes it seem almost possible. It's one of the best books I've read this year and I would highly recommend it. I won this book as a Goodreads First Reads book.
    • 4/5
      Is there a woman over forty who can't relate to feeling invisible? If so, good for her and she need not read more. But for the rest of us, Jeanne Ray's 'Calling Invisible Women' is an enjoyable read.Middle-aged Clover wakes up one morning invisible. And no one notices. So what else is new? She answers an ad for a meeting of invisible women and the plot thickens.'Calling Invisible Women' may require great suspension disbelief but at its core are truths about being female and middle-aged and life in 2012 America.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as an ARC from Read-It-Forward. I had read the author's first book, Julie and Romeo, about 10 years ago on the recommendation of my mother-in-law and while it wasn't my usual choice, being very much a woman's book, it was light and enjoyable enough. Calling Invisible Women was an absolute delight! It is the story of 50-something Clover Hobart who has a busy physician husband and two grown children (one in college and one unemployed two years post college and living at home). Clover gets out of the shower one morning, looks in the mirror and realizes she's disappeared. She becomes visible again a few minutes later but within a short period goes invisible again -- and stays that way. And wouldn't you know it -- her family doesn't even notice! This short novel covers a lot of ground: the general invisibility of women of a certain age, how we can empower ourselves by just going ahead and *doing* and the machinations of big pharmaceutical companies. I must admit that at the outset I found the premise a bit, well, ridiculous... but it definitely grew on me and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. One last interesting fact to note: the author is the mother of novelist Anne Patchett, one of my favorites, whose latest novel also dealt with issues regarding the greed and politics of a big pharmaceutical company.