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Mother of Invention
“It’s refreshing to read about motherhood as stated in its baldest, truest terms, and Tessa’s struggles with the life/work balance are moving and all too real…Tessa’s journey is hard to resist, and the questions raised by the prospect of shorter pregnancies—would they really empower women, or just make it mandatory for them to bear children as quickly as possible?—feel downright prescient.” —The New York Times Book Review
What will a mother sacrifice to have it all?
Meet Silicon Valley executive Tessa Callahan, a woman passionate about the power of technology to transform women’s lives. Her company’s latest invention, the Seahorse Solution, includes a breakthrough procedure that safely accelerates human pregnancy from nine months to nine weeks, along with other major upgrades to a woman’s experience of early maternity.
The inaugural human trial of Seahorse will change the future of motherhood—and it’s Tessa’s job to monitor the first volunteer mothers-to-be. She’ll be their advocate and confidante. She’ll allay their doubts and soothe their anxieties. But when Tessa discovers disturbing truths behind the transformative technology she’s championed, her own fear begins to rock her faith in the Seahorse Solution. With each new secret Tessa uncovers, she realizes that the endgame is too inconceivable to imagine.
Caeli Wolfson Widger’s bold and timely novel examines the fraught sacrifices that women make to succeed in both career and family against a backdrop of technological innovation. It’s a story of friendship, risk, betrayal, and redemption—and an unnerving interrogation of a future in which women can engineer their lives as never before.
What will a mother sacrifice to have it all?
Meet Silicon Valley executive Tessa Callahan, a woman passionate about the power of technology to transform women’s lives. Her company’s latest invention, the Seahorse Solution, includes a breakthrough procedure that safely accelerates human pregnancy from nine months to nine weeks, along with other major upgrades to a woman’s experience of early maternity.
The inaugural human trial of Seahorse will change the future of motherhood—and it’s Tessa’s job to monitor the first volunteer mothers-to-be. She’ll be their advocate and confidante. She’ll allay their doubts and soothe their anxieties. But when Tessa discovers disturbing truths behind the transformative technology she’s championed, her own fear begins to rock her faith in the Seahorse Solution. With each new secret Tessa uncovers, she realizes that the endgame is too inconceivable to imagine.
Caeli Wolfson Widger’s bold and timely novel examines the fraught sacrifices that women make to succeed in both career and family against a backdrop of technological innovation. It’s a story of friendship, risk, betrayal, and redemption—and an unnerving interrogation of a future in which women can engineer their lives as never before.
364 pages, Hardcover
First published May 22, 2018
32 people are currently reading
1219 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
June 23, 2018
Mother of Invention has an intriguing premise but fails to do anything interesting with it. The idea of 'accelerated gestation', reducing pregnancy to just nine weeks, is great fodder for intelligent speculative fiction. Here though, it could be replaced with any run-of-the-mill pharmaceutical innovation without any impact on the story.
As a conventional thriller it seems to work okay, with somewhat clichéd elements including: a career woman blinded by hubris, a tech mogul with sketchy ethics, and a government conspiracy. Other readers may enjoy but this wasn't my cup of tea.
As a conventional thriller it seems to work okay, with somewhat clichéd elements including: a career woman blinded by hubris, a tech mogul with sketchy ethics, and a government conspiracy. Other readers may enjoy but this wasn't my cup of tea.
July 3, 2018
More reviews up on my blog Inside My Library Mind
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
The Premise Is Fantastic
I really loved the set up of the novel. The whole controversial accelerated pregnancy mixed in with these feminist undertones, and this other overarching story about a government cover up of natural accelerated pregnancies as medication side effects was really intriguing, and the book kept up with the intrigue. It’s a story that is exciting to read through out and there is a driving force to it, a thread that pulls it forward and makes you want to keep reading.
It Had a Lot of Potential
And I will say that this book had so much potential. It really did. With a premise like that, I think it could have made some really strong points and it could have argued some really valid stuff. But I don’t think it did. This story felt really superficial and hollow to me, like it never really got the point, like it never went beyond these feminist paroles and that it ultimately left them without meaning.
The Plot is Underdeveloped
I felt like this book was superficial in many ways, and one of those ways was the plot. The plot isn’t worked through well, and there’s a lot of stuff that’s unanswered and just left up in the air. I feel like there’s not enough grounding in the plot, it just did not feel substantial. I was hoping that the book would have a really strong conclusion, that would tie up many loose ends this book has, but that did not happen.
The Book Felt Preachy
You know when you’re reading a book, and you feel like the words that a character is saying are actually the author’s attitudes and viewpoints of life? This book does that a lot. I felt like the author was preaching about pregnancy and how reformative of an experience it is, how magical and life altering. And it left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
Far be it from me to say that pregnancy isn’t that for some women. It is. And it can be. But I really don’t think that’s an experience of all women. And it felt incredibly preachy and judgmental towards women who don’t want children. I just could not get on with the fact that this book stands on a feminist premise, but boggles it completely.
The Last Ten Percent
Now I was gonna give this book, let’s say 3.5-4 stars, even with all of the stuff I mentioned above. I was enjoying it. And then. I will go into spoilers now, because I can’t explain why I was suddenly really disappointed in this book without spoilers.
I genuinely feel like this had so much potential and was interesting to read, but ultimately, it raised some really problematic points to me (or that’s how I perceived them), which really left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
The Premise Is Fantastic
I really loved the set up of the novel. The whole controversial accelerated pregnancy mixed in with these feminist undertones, and this other overarching story about a government cover up of natural accelerated pregnancies as medication side effects was really intriguing, and the book kept up with the intrigue. It’s a story that is exciting to read through out and there is a driving force to it, a thread that pulls it forward and makes you want to keep reading.
It Had a Lot of Potential
And I will say that this book had so much potential. It really did. With a premise like that, I think it could have made some really strong points and it could have argued some really valid stuff. But I don’t think it did. This story felt really superficial and hollow to me, like it never really got the point, like it never went beyond these feminist paroles and that it ultimately left them without meaning.
The Plot is Underdeveloped
I felt like this book was superficial in many ways, and one of those ways was the plot. The plot isn’t worked through well, and there’s a lot of stuff that’s unanswered and just left up in the air. I feel like there’s not enough grounding in the plot, it just did not feel substantial. I was hoping that the book would have a really strong conclusion, that would tie up many loose ends this book has, but that did not happen.
The Book Felt Preachy
You know when you’re reading a book, and you feel like the words that a character is saying are actually the author’s attitudes and viewpoints of life? This book does that a lot. I felt like the author was preaching about pregnancy and how reformative of an experience it is, how magical and life altering. And it left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
Far be it from me to say that pregnancy isn’t that for some women. It is. And it can be. But I really don’t think that’s an experience of all women. And it felt incredibly preachy and judgmental towards women who don’t want children. I just could not get on with the fact that this book stands on a feminist premise, but boggles it completely.
The Last Ten Percent
Now I was gonna give this book, let’s say 3.5-4 stars, even with all of the stuff I mentioned above. I was enjoying it. And then. I will go into spoilers now, because I can’t explain why I was suddenly really disappointed in this book without spoilers.
I genuinely feel like this had so much potential and was interesting to read, but ultimately, it raised some really problematic points to me (or that’s how I perceived them), which really left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
May 18, 2018
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I received no additional compensation.
I love novels about (and IRL advances in) reproductive technology, so I was greatly anticipating MOTHER OF INVENTION by Caeli Wolfson Widger.
.
.
What if a human pregnancy lasted nine weeks instead of nine months? The inaugural human Seahorse Solution trial will test this concept on 3 women in a state-of-the-art, high-tech Silicon Valley facility. But what corners were cut to get to this point? What technological and medicinal information has been illegally and unethically obtained? This novel is extremely timely in regards to the current Facebook privacy concerns and Wolfson Widger was able to push the boundary of near future reproductive technology in ways that were mind-bendingly believable.
.
Definitely a 5 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️recommended read!
I love novels about (and IRL advances in) reproductive technology, so I was greatly anticipating MOTHER OF INVENTION by Caeli Wolfson Widger.
.
.
What if a human pregnancy lasted nine weeks instead of nine months? The inaugural human Seahorse Solution trial will test this concept on 3 women in a state-of-the-art, high-tech Silicon Valley facility. But what corners were cut to get to this point? What technological and medicinal information has been illegally and unethically obtained? This novel is extremely timely in regards to the current Facebook privacy concerns and Wolfson Widger was able to push the boundary of near future reproductive technology in ways that were mind-bendingly believable.
.
Definitely a 5 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️recommended read!
July 12, 2020
I greatly enjoyed the story, fascinated by the concept of technology being able to reduce the span of pregnancy to a mere 9 weeks. The novel explores the question of how far should we let technology interfere with nature in the context of reproduction, and considers various implications of such technology existing. That exploration starts strong, probably because the character introducing us to the idea is a well-developed and compelling character with solid arguments in favour of this technology. However, the conclusion felt rushed and slightly superficial. Also, I'm torn over one aspect of the novel, the government conspiracy, which, while adding some urgency and suspense to the story, didn't fully mesh with the themes the novel was trying to explore.
June 5, 2018
4.5 Stars. What a fantastic book! I was completely enthralled, if fact, as I was working or walking in the city, or hanging out with friends, this book was constantly on my mind-that’s how you know you’re reading a great book! I’m always intrigued by motherhood and the choices people make whether or not to have children and this book takes that concept, and really digs into it. I also love books with a sci-fi twist, and this certainty has that as well! Overall, a fantastic book that I will be thinking about for a long time to come! Thank you Little A for the free review copy.
June 6, 2018
Thanks to Little A for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this book, but I can't do it. The two main characters are just very obvious substitutes of Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, which I found incredibly lazy - the characters having such obvious, famous analogues made any attempt at character depth feel moot. The actual plot of the novel, with the accelerated gestation and government cover-up, had the merits of being fast-moving and, at times, interesting. But even so, even with all the perfunctory techno-babble the author used to prove she's capable of writing a book about Silicon Valley, the novel never moves away from the tired women's fiction trope of women "wanting it all". I know this is billed as a literary sci-fi thriller, but at best it's a standard commercial thriller some sci-fi elements. Honestly, I haven't read a book I disliked this much in awhile. So, my opinion of course, but give this one a miss. There are better thrillers, better sci-fi thrillers, and even better sci-fi thrillers dealing with women's issues -save yourself some time and just read "The Power" by Naomi Alderman or something.
I really wanted to like this book, but I can't do it. The two main characters are just very obvious substitutes of Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, which I found incredibly lazy - the characters having such obvious, famous analogues made any attempt at character depth feel moot. The actual plot of the novel, with the accelerated gestation and government cover-up, had the merits of being fast-moving and, at times, interesting. But even so, even with all the perfunctory techno-babble the author used to prove she's capable of writing a book about Silicon Valley, the novel never moves away from the tired women's fiction trope of women "wanting it all". I know this is billed as a literary sci-fi thriller, but at best it's a standard commercial thriller some sci-fi elements. Honestly, I haven't read a book I disliked this much in awhile. So, my opinion of course, but give this one a miss. There are better thrillers, better sci-fi thrillers, and even better sci-fi thrillers dealing with women's issues -save yourself some time and just read "The Power" by Naomi Alderman or something.
May 19, 2018
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Despite the science-fiction idea at its core (a breakthrough procedure that promises to safely accelerate human pregnancy from nine months to nine weeks), much of this book has a ripped from the headlines feel. There’s a Facebook clone called LikeMe, with its own all-too-real privacy problems. In the wake of a terror attack, the US has created the Internal Stability Agency, a (slightly?) more nefarious rendering of the Department of Homeland Security.
There’s a simplicity to the story in that all of the female characters are some shade of good and all the male characters are some shade of ... not good. But there’s quite a bit to like in this book. The book is well-paced and was a very fast read. Tessa is a fully realized, interesting character (though her similarities to Sheryl Sandburg are striking, right down to her Lean In-like book). Most of all, though, it thinks through the implications of its premise: would it change mothers and motherhood for the better to shorten pregnancy so dramatically? Recommended.
There’s a simplicity to the story in that all of the female characters are some shade of good and all the male characters are some shade of ... not good. But there’s quite a bit to like in this book. The book is well-paced and was a very fast read. Tessa is a fully realized, interesting character (though her similarities to Sheryl Sandburg are striking, right down to her Lean In-like book). Most of all, though, it thinks through the implications of its premise: would it change mothers and motherhood for the better to shorten pregnancy so dramatically? Recommended.
March 25, 2018
Mini Review is up on my blog!!
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ho.ly.shit. honestly, this book was really good but it left so much to be desired. The ending didn't give me enough closure.
but the story was honestly terrifying. From my standpoint, as a female, I visibly cringed multiple times.
//full review to come, yo
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ho.ly.shit. honestly, this book was really good but it left so much to be desired. The ending didn't give me enough closure.
but the story was honestly terrifying. From my standpoint, as a female, I visibly cringed multiple times.
//full review to come, yo
April 2, 2018
I had the pleasure of receiving an advanced copy of this book. I loved Widger's writing. Mother of Invention is very much a thriller as it is literary fiction (if that's possible). The story is of a powerful woman's dangerous rise to the top of Silicon Valley, set amid the backdrop of the near future. It's a story of friendship, risk, and redemption. If you like your novels with a hint of science fiction, this one's for you!
March 30, 2018
Complex and terrifying questions about motherhood and technology. A fast-paced and engaging plot. This would be a great book to read with a book group!
February 8, 2018
A solid 4.5 stars. I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis of this book - Silicon Valley biotech genius + feminist Tessa Calahan co-founds a company which aims to accelerate pregnancy from around 40 weeks to a mere 9, a scientific breakthrough inspired by a few dozen "natural" cases of this a few decades prior. The implications of this are pretty widespread and come as a shock to Tessa and others who've been affected by past cases of AG (accelerated gestation). I don't want to give too much away here, and I'm certainly leaving out a lot with my own synopsis above, but this book didn't disappoint.
I both loved and related to Tessa, so dedicated to her work but torn on how to balance her professional achievements with a struggling marriage. She was a fantastically complex protagonist and probably my favorite thing about the book. I also loved the other women in the book, from the Cohort to Viv and even Dr. Gupta, all of whom were less sketched out but still three dimensional. This is a story about science, about the conflicting nature of womanhood in particular and humanity in general, and just a really interesting read.
I both loved and related to Tessa, so dedicated to her work but torn on how to balance her professional achievements with a struggling marriage. She was a fantastically complex protagonist and probably my favorite thing about the book. I also loved the other women in the book, from the Cohort to Viv and even Dr. Gupta, all of whom were less sketched out but still three dimensional. This is a story about science, about the conflicting nature of womanhood in particular and humanity in general, and just a really interesting read.
July 22, 2018
I started this book with a great deal of interest. What a concept! A little futuristic fiction, a little political reflection, it was right up my alley. Until...the government, the operatives, the spies...the barely copied real persons. (Won't take much to guess who's who.) The specious science. Give me a break. The "operative" who falls in love with both the mother AND the daughter.
Got halfway through and just wanted to see how it ended. Then I no longer cared and Did Not Finish.
Got halfway through and just wanted to see how it ended. Then I no longer cared and Did Not Finish.
August 11, 2018
I really wanted to like this book and I actually like the premise. However, it ended so abruptly that I thought I had missed something. What happened to the government going after Viv? What happened to the babies? Did Peter find out that Petra was his? Too many unanswered questions for me. It had potential though but it just didn’t live up to it
August 15, 2018
Starts out great and then ends with a whimper. A whimper that totally sells out the main character and everything she supposedly believes in. It actually made me really angry.
June 15, 2018
My rating: 4.5 stars
Mother of Invention is a fast-paced science fiction novel set in the conceivable near future. The main protagonist, Tessa, is a childless, forty-something, successful tech executive and feminist author of Pushing Through: A Handbook for Young Women in the New World. An heir with major daddy issues, Luke Zimmerman, wants to invent something groundbreaking in order to attain fame. Luke puts together a team of world-renowned doctors and staff and wants Tessa on board. He proposes his idea to Tessa, to accelerate pregnancy terms to nine weeks. Tessa is intrigued and they quickly become business partners, merging their companies and creating The Seahorse Solution. They begin their first human trial with three female volunteers. Complications arise and the plot thickens as Tessa learns there is pivotal information that Luke has been keeping from her.
The synopsis of this book immediately piqued my interest and I knew I had to read it. I devoured this thrilling page-turner in two sittings and was captivated the entire time. Tessa is a strong, complex character who is extremely career driven. She isn't very likeable and she's okay with that. Her husband, Peter, wants to have a child and offers to become a stay-at-home father so Tessa can continue her career with minimal interruptions. Tessa obliges but is unable to get pregnant and is secretly relieved. Luke is the heir and son to the founder of the popular social media company, LikeMe. After his estranged father's sudden death, Luke is convinced that he needs to do something 'radical and extraordinary'.
Tessa's main intentions for co-founding The Seahorse Solution were to empower women, grant them the joys of motherhood while also helping them quickly get back on track with their careers. Luke's only concern seemed to be self-glorification. His inspiration for The Seahorse Solution was a previous medical anomaly, The CleftKids, a group of children (now young adults) who were born as a result of accelerated gestation. Luke was infatuated with them but any remaining articles and links to their existence were quickly being erased.
One of the CleftKids, Viv, is a bright college student who is determined to figure out why she is showing premature signs of aging and why their story is being eradicated. We learn that in the aftermath of a terror attack, the US created the Internal Stability Agency, an egregious, top-secret government agency with its own agenda to prevent any type of hysteria or excessive questioning amongst citizens. Viv has become a nuisance for the ISA and they've sent one of their agents to bring her in for the foreseeable future unless she cooperates. To complicate things, the agent and Viv develop feelings for each other.
This story raised a plethora of questions about bioethics, feminism and motherhood. It was interesting to witness the power struggle between the men and women in this book. Most of the men seemed to be tainted in some way. I loved watching the friendship blossom between Tessa and the three volunteers. Tessa truthfully cared for them and opened up to them, which wasn't easy for her. Tessa appeared tough on the outside but seemed to struggle with her own internal demons. She was not happy with Peter and we watched her marriage crumble as she became more entangled with her career. It was difficult for her to admit that she did not want a child of her own and it made her feel flawed and weak. The clash between motherhood and our careers is disappointing but all too real.
The majority of the book was elaborate and eerily believable, however, the ending was too neat and tidy. It seemed rushed and left me with a lot of questions. I don't think that certain characters should have gotten off as easy as they did. If the book was a bit longer and consistent all the way through to the end, I'm sure I would have rated it 5 stars. Overall, I loved this story and thought it was extremely intriguing and thought-provoking. This book gives you a lot to ponder over and you'll be thinking about it long after you've finished reading. If you like thrilling books with a splash of science-fiction or were a fan of The Handmaid's Tale, this one is for you! Thanks so much to Amazon Publishing for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Mother of Invention is a fast-paced science fiction novel set in the conceivable near future. The main protagonist, Tessa, is a childless, forty-something, successful tech executive and feminist author of Pushing Through: A Handbook for Young Women in the New World. An heir with major daddy issues, Luke Zimmerman, wants to invent something groundbreaking in order to attain fame. Luke puts together a team of world-renowned doctors and staff and wants Tessa on board. He proposes his idea to Tessa, to accelerate pregnancy terms to nine weeks. Tessa is intrigued and they quickly become business partners, merging their companies and creating The Seahorse Solution. They begin their first human trial with three female volunteers. Complications arise and the plot thickens as Tessa learns there is pivotal information that Luke has been keeping from her.
The synopsis of this book immediately piqued my interest and I knew I had to read it. I devoured this thrilling page-turner in two sittings and was captivated the entire time. Tessa is a strong, complex character who is extremely career driven. She isn't very likeable and she's okay with that. Her husband, Peter, wants to have a child and offers to become a stay-at-home father so Tessa can continue her career with minimal interruptions. Tessa obliges but is unable to get pregnant and is secretly relieved. Luke is the heir and son to the founder of the popular social media company, LikeMe. After his estranged father's sudden death, Luke is convinced that he needs to do something 'radical and extraordinary'.
Tessa's main intentions for co-founding The Seahorse Solution were to empower women, grant them the joys of motherhood while also helping them quickly get back on track with their careers. Luke's only concern seemed to be self-glorification. His inspiration for The Seahorse Solution was a previous medical anomaly, The CleftKids, a group of children (now young adults) who were born as a result of accelerated gestation. Luke was infatuated with them but any remaining articles and links to their existence were quickly being erased.
One of the CleftKids, Viv, is a bright college student who is determined to figure out why she is showing premature signs of aging and why their story is being eradicated. We learn that in the aftermath of a terror attack, the US created the Internal Stability Agency, an egregious, top-secret government agency with its own agenda to prevent any type of hysteria or excessive questioning amongst citizens. Viv has become a nuisance for the ISA and they've sent one of their agents to bring her in for the foreseeable future unless she cooperates. To complicate things, the agent and Viv develop feelings for each other.
This story raised a plethora of questions about bioethics, feminism and motherhood. It was interesting to witness the power struggle between the men and women in this book. Most of the men seemed to be tainted in some way. I loved watching the friendship blossom between Tessa and the three volunteers. Tessa truthfully cared for them and opened up to them, which wasn't easy for her. Tessa appeared tough on the outside but seemed to struggle with her own internal demons. She was not happy with Peter and we watched her marriage crumble as she became more entangled with her career. It was difficult for her to admit that she did not want a child of her own and it made her feel flawed and weak. The clash between motherhood and our careers is disappointing but all too real.
The majority of the book was elaborate and eerily believable, however, the ending was too neat and tidy. It seemed rushed and left me with a lot of questions. I don't think that certain characters should have gotten off as easy as they did. If the book was a bit longer and consistent all the way through to the end, I'm sure I would have rated it 5 stars. Overall, I loved this story and thought it was extremely intriguing and thought-provoking. This book gives you a lot to ponder over and you'll be thinking about it long after you've finished reading. If you like thrilling books with a splash of science-fiction or were a fan of The Handmaid's Tale, this one is for you! Thanks so much to Amazon Publishing for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 24, 2018
Mother of Invention creates an alternate, just-beyond-our-present-day world of biotech startups in Silicon Valley and a mysterious government agency.
The path to all this begins circa 2000, when social media was birthed by a guy in his 30’s, two college women had drunken hookups, a teenaged Montana boy had an abusive alcoholic father, the president was Trump-meets-Reagan, and a drug to extend female fertility past age 40 was greenlit after woefully inadequate trials by the FDA. The author does us the favor of revealing these snippets bit by bit as flashbacks.
The present-day story features the skater-boy heir to the social media fortune, Luke, who’s made his “mark” by failing at one start-up idea after another, combining forces with Tessa, one of the college-educated women who’s grown into Sheryl Sandberg’s fiercer female counterpart. Tessa is the start-up queen who’s written the book on overcoming sexism (literally), but who can’t fight either ageism from the techie boys’ club or the desire of her workout-trainer-turned-recent-hubby to expand their “family” by having a child (and dialing the workaholic back a notch).
Enter accelerated gestation (AG), a side effect of that underregulated drug. Buried for two decades by a more-authoritarian version of Homeland Security, which hired the abused Montana teenager, the idea is coming up again thanks to the now-college-aged AG kids connecting on social media. And thanks to Luke pilfering old data. The government knows about the social media group. They know about Tessa and Luke’s project. And they know something the others don’t – that the other side effect is accelerated aging, a fact (and a person) they’re hiding in a New Mexico spa version of Siberia.
The book doesn’t go for a thriller ending. The government’s threats to comply or bad things will happen to you and yours are never really carried out. More than one character falls in love, many characters become awestruck and mushy when faced with pregnancy / babies, and in the end all seem to get what their secret hearts desire (even if the character told you they had a different desire earlier in the book). It’s well-paced and eminently readable, with distinct characters who don’t preach much for the first three-quarters of the book. The disappointment really only settles in when the last page is turned and the reader tries to imagine a sequel but can’t, because all the ends are too neatly tied up.
The path to all this begins circa 2000, when social media was birthed by a guy in his 30’s, two college women had drunken hookups, a teenaged Montana boy had an abusive alcoholic father, the president was Trump-meets-Reagan, and a drug to extend female fertility past age 40 was greenlit after woefully inadequate trials by the FDA. The author does us the favor of revealing these snippets bit by bit as flashbacks.
The present-day story features the skater-boy heir to the social media fortune, Luke, who’s made his “mark” by failing at one start-up idea after another, combining forces with Tessa, one of the college-educated women who’s grown into Sheryl Sandberg’s fiercer female counterpart. Tessa is the start-up queen who’s written the book on overcoming sexism (literally), but who can’t fight either ageism from the techie boys’ club or the desire of her workout-trainer-turned-recent-hubby to expand their “family” by having a child (and dialing the workaholic back a notch).
Enter accelerated gestation (AG), a side effect of that underregulated drug. Buried for two decades by a more-authoritarian version of Homeland Security, which hired the abused Montana teenager, the idea is coming up again thanks to the now-college-aged AG kids connecting on social media. And thanks to Luke pilfering old data. The government knows about the social media group. They know about Tessa and Luke’s project. And they know something the others don’t – that the other side effect is accelerated aging, a fact (and a person) they’re hiding in a New Mexico spa version of Siberia.
The book doesn’t go for a thriller ending. The government’s threats to comply or bad things will happen to you and yours are never really carried out. More than one character falls in love, many characters become awestruck and mushy when faced with pregnancy / babies, and in the end all seem to get what their secret hearts desire (even if the character told you they had a different desire earlier in the book). It’s well-paced and eminently readable, with distinct characters who don’t preach much for the first three-quarters of the book. The disappointment really only settles in when the last page is turned and the reader tries to imagine a sequel but can’t, because all the ends are too neatly tied up.
September 25, 2018
At about the half way point I would have ranked this much higher. However, the ending was very disappointing to me. Short version, for a book that spends such a large amount of pages laying out the feminist ideologies of choice and not letting anyone else determine your life choices, the end did a complete 180.
When I read the description of this book my first thought was, "if the twist is zombies or some loose variation thereof, I'll be PISSED!" As such, when it was feminism fighting fascism and ground breaking science crashing into creepy government agencies and old school ideals of motherhood, I was really into it.
Spoilers start here:
When it the ended with Tessa getting preggers and left by her husband for another woman, I was so disappointed that I would have preferred zombies. After everything, they told us you can't have a man if you want to have success and your own life or he will leave you for a younger woman who makes him feel like a real man.
Then the epilogue was filled with "I didn't know what my life was missing" and "I was wrong, I don't resent my baby" and "natural maternal instincts and protective vibes."
Also, the bad president who started an agency that makes the Patriot Act seem unobtrusive and that creepy government agency never got any retribution! That was such a loose hanging thread in this plot.
The last 20% of this book dropped it from a 4 star book to a 2 star!
When I read the description of this book my first thought was, "if the twist is zombies or some loose variation thereof, I'll be PISSED!" As such, when it was feminism fighting fascism and ground breaking science crashing into creepy government agencies and old school ideals of motherhood, I was really into it.
Spoilers start here:
When it the ended with Tessa getting preggers and left by her husband for another woman, I was so disappointed that I would have preferred zombies. After everything, they told us you can't have a man if you want to have success and your own life or he will leave you for a younger woman who makes him feel like a real man.
Then the epilogue was filled with "I didn't know what my life was missing" and "I was wrong, I don't resent my baby" and "natural maternal instincts and protective vibes."
Also, the bad president who started an agency that makes the Patriot Act seem unobtrusive and that creepy government agency never got any retribution! That was such a loose hanging thread in this plot.
The last 20% of this book dropped it from a 4 star book to a 2 star!
September 8, 2025
This book disappointed me- I liked the premises- the plot being 3 women are undergoing an experimental pregnancy that lasts like 9 weeks instead of 9 months.
Found that fascinating and even reading about the other AG women - Irene who gave birth, and her daughter Vivianne and the side effects they had with aging insanely fast. Even Wayne the government spy who lured anyone “controversial” into the government camp. All that was interesting!!
However, a few things annoyed me
- Did not care about the MC Tessa and her useless husband Peter. Honestly couldn’t care less. And all this guilt Tessa was feeling was so boring too like idc that he’s going on a hike?? Then Peter divorces her and he’s “in love” with a woman he met hiking- within literal weeks? Calm down bro you’re a grown adult, get your feelings in check.
- Tessa being pregnant at the end of the book was such an eye roll too. Felt like it defeated the whole purpose of the book- her being a success woman, not needing a baby to have purpose. Then she goes and has one!!! With no baby daddy.
- Who was this random ass guy with a scar above his beard in the epilogue?!?! Was it Wayne?!
- Also how was Vivianne, the AG baby just gonna give up her entire life, college, family etc just to babysit some random new born babies in the Cohort? And then she basically becomes Tessa’s babysitter?
Yeah so, the overall concept I liked, but a lot I didn’t like
Found that fascinating and even reading about the other AG women - Irene who gave birth, and her daughter Vivianne and the side effects they had with aging insanely fast. Even Wayne the government spy who lured anyone “controversial” into the government camp. All that was interesting!!
However, a few things annoyed me
- Did not care about the MC Tessa and her useless husband Peter. Honestly couldn’t care less. And all this guilt Tessa was feeling was so boring too like idc that he’s going on a hike?? Then Peter divorces her and he’s “in love” with a woman he met hiking- within literal weeks? Calm down bro you’re a grown adult, get your feelings in check.
- Tessa being pregnant at the end of the book was such an eye roll too. Felt like it defeated the whole purpose of the book- her being a success woman, not needing a baby to have purpose. Then she goes and has one!!! With no baby daddy.
- Who was this random ass guy with a scar above his beard in the epilogue?!?! Was it Wayne?!
- Also how was Vivianne, the AG baby just gonna give up her entire life, college, family etc just to babysit some random new born babies in the Cohort? And then she basically becomes Tessa’s babysitter?
Yeah so, the overall concept I liked, but a lot I didn’t like
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2018
3.75 stars
While I definitely enjoyed this book and didn't put it down until I was finished, I still have some...misgivings, I suppose, possibly (likely) in relation to my own personal perspective on pregnancy and motherhood. It definitely left things to be desired, both in terms of story and characters, but one of the things I liked was the way it leans to feel more science-fact than science-fiction, probably due to its 2021 setting.
I think other people's reviews are worth reading (particularly those who DON'T give it 4 or 5 stars), and I have to say that in terms of feminist sci-fi, I found Naomi Alderman's The Power to be a far better and more profound read than this. Obviously everyone is different and has different opinions, but I still feel that this is a book people should read.
While I definitely enjoyed this book and didn't put it down until I was finished, I still have some...misgivings, I suppose, possibly (likely) in relation to my own personal perspective on pregnancy and motherhood. It definitely left things to be desired, both in terms of story and characters, but one of the things I liked was the way it leans to feel more science-fact than science-fiction, probably due to its 2021 setting.
I think other people's reviews are worth reading (particularly those who DON'T give it 4 or 5 stars), and I have to say that in terms of feminist sci-fi, I found Naomi Alderman's The Power to be a far better and more profound read than this. Obviously everyone is different and has different opinions, but I still feel that this is a book people should read.
August 11, 2018
I really wanted to love this book. The beginning was great, and I loved the premise, and Tessa, and the promise of complicating a really cool thought-experiment. It was compelling and I wanted to read more, and know more. And then the ending was just totally unbelievable, proselytizing, and read to me as very anti-feminist compared to the rest of the book. I wanted the complications to continue, to see Tessa understand the very horrible ways in which the experiment was conducted but that it was still ultimately good, and I thought that the overall message of the book- that women can't bond with their children without a full gestation period- was very harmful to adoptive children, foster children, and women who give birth prematurely.
May 26, 2018
In Mother of Invention, Caeli Wolfson Widger has created a world so rich and so terrifyingly vivid that I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction. With intricate plot twists throughout, this story, told in alternating narratives, moves quickly and deftly through time the way a thriller does, but with the finesse of a skilled literary writer. This is a wild ride that intersects through Silicon Valley, government cover-ups and one of the most complex and fraught experiences in life: motherhood. Treat yourself to this fascinating and imaginative read this summer!
July 24, 2022
You should read this book if: You’re a womb-having person, know a womb-having person, or came out of a womb. Everyone.
***
Mother of Invention asks us to examine our wombs–are we creators or captives of the future?
Tessa Callahan, feminist, tech executive, and protagonist of Caeli Wolfson Widger’s science fiction novel reminds me to grab hold of my feelings, dominate them, and never–not even once–give into that nasty little g-word.
That g-word is guilt; the infamous destroyer of women’s lives and careers.
G-word is that yellowed, dressing-room light showing us our flaws in a cracked funhouse mirror. It asks us why we aren’t doing more, achieving more, being more. See Karen over there? She’s doing it all, and she’s only had two mental break downs this month. What’s your excuse?
Tessa Callahan isn’t doing it all either, and she’s haunted by the very word she banished in her self-help book: Pushing Through: A Handbook for Young Women in the New World. Tessa’s abstained from motherhood as a (mostly) personal choice, but even as a childfree woman in her forties, she can’t escape the complexities, the g-word, of motherhood. She’s even dedicated her career to easing the burden of parenting off mothers, so they can avoid that hefty motherhood tax that comes with having (or not having–you’re screwed either way ladies!) children. Her company, Seahorse Solutions, offers artificial breastfeeding machines, baby carriers, and post-natal procedures aimed at reducing “down time” as a mother. Tessa wants to give women the tools they need to succeed despite their wombs and their unspoken promise to ensure there is a future. What she hasn’t figured out is a solution for the time sucking nine months of pregnancy. Wouldn’t it be helpful, and deal a mighty blow to that g-word, if having a child took no longer than an extended European vacation?
Reed Zimmerman thinks so. He’s on board with anything that can offer him the same legacy as his father’s social media company Facebook LikeMe. He’s a desperate playboy with a lead on accelerated gestation. He pitches this idea to Tessa Callahan, and now they have three women expecting newborns in nine weeks.
Are they ready?
I can’t read Tessa’s motivational monologues to these expecting mothers without feeling like she’s speaking to me. Like I’m the fourth woman in her company’s human trial. Can any person with a womb not feel intimately tied to what she’s offering? I keep looking back at my own experiences with pregnancy and birth, hanging on every word of Tessa’s promises just like the three swollen women offering their bodies for the greater-womb-good. They trust Tessa, and somehow, I do too.
But is Tessa ready? That’s a more complicated question. Tessa needs more than motherhood. Her biological clock isn’t ticking, but something else is. When she assures other sleepless, caffeinated women that their lives as executives, wives, friends, mothers, and well, people, are valid, I still think she convincing herself. After all, people are allowed to question. People allowed to fail. People allowed to be bad employees, wives, friends, and yes, mothers. People allowed to not have it all, and not want it all either.
And women are people.
However, Tessa’s story is only part of Mother of Invention’s multi-perspective plot. Widger chops up the book into intersecting stories: one with Tessa and Reed at Seahorse Solutions, one in the online chat rooms of children born with a dimple on their head, and one in the conscience of a government employee who’s making too many detours into the desert. I wasn’t sure how these stories fused, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a late-stage Great Reveal Monologue. This choice is not only disappointing but off-putting. In a story about motherhood and womanhood, a man deliver’s the long-winded climax because he’s feeling–you guessed it–GUILT.
Widger’s writing carries me through this info-dump reveal. She combines descriptive, almost poetic phrases with a business-like, clinical tone. The style is refreshing but never monotonous or superior. One moment, I feel like I’m reading a professional brief and the next, Tessa’s personal diary.
I still think about Tessa and her desire to liberate women from their wombs. Mother of Invention leaves me with a lot of unsettling questions. What would my life be like if pregnancy was nine weeks instead of nine months? What choices would I have made, or make? Is creation truly limited to motherhood? Or, can we build beautiful, lasting, fulfilling masterpieces that don’t require our wombs?
Is it really possible to have it all?
“It’s no longer a question of whether women can do it all. It’s just assumed that we will. It’s assumed that we can be great careerists and mothers and spouses and still magically keep the laundry in check. Which is not only impossible, it’s mass exploitation. It’s keeping women in a permanent state of fatigue and anxiety. I can’t be a part of it.” ― Caeli Wolfson Widger
Everyone should read this book. It might not be for you, and yes, the ending’s Great Reveal cheapens the novel, but it’s still a fascinating look at motherhood and the politics surrounding how we come into this world. Motherhood is far from simple, and the solution to Tessa’s questions–to all our questions—do not have simple solutions. Widger’s added messages about capitalism, have-it-all culture, government conspiracies, and the place of experimental science in an increasingly technical world add to a complex plot but rewarding plot that may leave you needing to call your mother.
And say, thank you.
***
Mother of Invention asks us to examine our wombs–are we creators or captives of the future?
Tessa Callahan, feminist, tech executive, and protagonist of Caeli Wolfson Widger’s science fiction novel reminds me to grab hold of my feelings, dominate them, and never–not even once–give into that nasty little g-word.
That g-word is guilt; the infamous destroyer of women’s lives and careers.
G-word is that yellowed, dressing-room light showing us our flaws in a cracked funhouse mirror. It asks us why we aren’t doing more, achieving more, being more. See Karen over there? She’s doing it all, and she’s only had two mental break downs this month. What’s your excuse?
Tessa Callahan isn’t doing it all either, and she’s haunted by the very word she banished in her self-help book: Pushing Through: A Handbook for Young Women in the New World. Tessa’s abstained from motherhood as a (mostly) personal choice, but even as a childfree woman in her forties, she can’t escape the complexities, the g-word, of motherhood. She’s even dedicated her career to easing the burden of parenting off mothers, so they can avoid that hefty motherhood tax that comes with having (or not having–you’re screwed either way ladies!) children. Her company, Seahorse Solutions, offers artificial breastfeeding machines, baby carriers, and post-natal procedures aimed at reducing “down time” as a mother. Tessa wants to give women the tools they need to succeed despite their wombs and their unspoken promise to ensure there is a future. What she hasn’t figured out is a solution for the time sucking nine months of pregnancy. Wouldn’t it be helpful, and deal a mighty blow to that g-word, if having a child took no longer than an extended European vacation?
Reed Zimmerman thinks so. He’s on board with anything that can offer him the same legacy as his father’s social media company Facebook LikeMe. He’s a desperate playboy with a lead on accelerated gestation. He pitches this idea to Tessa Callahan, and now they have three women expecting newborns in nine weeks.
Are they ready?
I can’t read Tessa’s motivational monologues to these expecting mothers without feeling like she’s speaking to me. Like I’m the fourth woman in her company’s human trial. Can any person with a womb not feel intimately tied to what she’s offering? I keep looking back at my own experiences with pregnancy and birth, hanging on every word of Tessa’s promises just like the three swollen women offering their bodies for the greater-womb-good. They trust Tessa, and somehow, I do too.
But is Tessa ready? That’s a more complicated question. Tessa needs more than motherhood. Her biological clock isn’t ticking, but something else is. When she assures other sleepless, caffeinated women that their lives as executives, wives, friends, mothers, and well, people, are valid, I still think she convincing herself. After all, people are allowed to question. People allowed to fail. People allowed to be bad employees, wives, friends, and yes, mothers. People allowed to not have it all, and not want it all either.
And women are people.
However, Tessa’s story is only part of Mother of Invention’s multi-perspective plot. Widger chops up the book into intersecting stories: one with Tessa and Reed at Seahorse Solutions, one in the online chat rooms of children born with a dimple on their head, and one in the conscience of a government employee who’s making too many detours into the desert. I wasn’t sure how these stories fused, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a late-stage Great Reveal Monologue. This choice is not only disappointing but off-putting. In a story about motherhood and womanhood, a man deliver’s the long-winded climax because he’s feeling–you guessed it–GUILT.
Widger’s writing carries me through this info-dump reveal. She combines descriptive, almost poetic phrases with a business-like, clinical tone. The style is refreshing but never monotonous or superior. One moment, I feel like I’m reading a professional brief and the next, Tessa’s personal diary.
I still think about Tessa and her desire to liberate women from their wombs. Mother of Invention leaves me with a lot of unsettling questions. What would my life be like if pregnancy was nine weeks instead of nine months? What choices would I have made, or make? Is creation truly limited to motherhood? Or, can we build beautiful, lasting, fulfilling masterpieces that don’t require our wombs?
Is it really possible to have it all?
“It’s no longer a question of whether women can do it all. It’s just assumed that we will. It’s assumed that we can be great careerists and mothers and spouses and still magically keep the laundry in check. Which is not only impossible, it’s mass exploitation. It’s keeping women in a permanent state of fatigue and anxiety. I can’t be a part of it.” ― Caeli Wolfson Widger
Everyone should read this book. It might not be for you, and yes, the ending’s Great Reveal cheapens the novel, but it’s still a fascinating look at motherhood and the politics surrounding how we come into this world. Motherhood is far from simple, and the solution to Tessa’s questions–to all our questions—do not have simple solutions. Widger’s added messages about capitalism, have-it-all culture, government conspiracies, and the place of experimental science in an increasingly technical world add to a complex plot but rewarding plot that may leave you needing to call your mother.
And say, thank you.
July 18, 2018
A career woman who wants to provide women with a nine-week pregnancy instead of a nine-month one. Plus diminished nausea/weight gain and a healthy baby.
I kept thinking, "It's not the pregnancy that gets you, it's the fact that you now have another human being relying on you. That has no set expiration date."
Some of the subterfuge on the part of the federal agent and government was a bit over-the-top.
I kept thinking, "It's not the pregnancy that gets you, it's the fact that you now have another human being relying on you. That has no set expiration date."
Some of the subterfuge on the part of the federal agent and government was a bit over-the-top.
May 31, 2019
I was hooked from the beginning. The subplot with the children of AG could have been a bit more detailed. The actual science behind it could have been explained as it would have made it much more believable. I think the actual story of women taking a pill to prolong their fertility years is brilliant and should have been made into its own book and then followed up with this one. The end is a bit abrupt and too tidy to support the book but overall I really liked it.
June 6, 2018
Wow. Really impressed with this book. Not only does the author create an incredibly believable future with strong characters with clear motivations (and strengths and weaknesses), but the writing itself is beautifully crafted. If you like "The Circle" by Dave Eggers, you'll definitely enjoy this story of technology-gone-too-far.
December 10, 2018
This novel takes place in the near future and is a thrilling story full of high-tech experiments and government cover-ups about one of the most complex and emotional experiences in life--motherhood.
I loved this book--one of the top 5 of the year!
This would be a great book club book with lots to discuss.
I loved this book--one of the top 5 of the year!
This would be a great book club book with lots to discuss.
August 18, 2020
This is a thought-provoking, fascinating page-turner! I literally could not stop reading and was caught up in the story from the very beginning. Highly recommend if you like women's fiction with a little bit of medical thriller and questioning about the future thrown in. Highly suspensful! Looking forward to Caeli Wolfson Widger's next book.
May 30, 2018
"Mother of Invention" is a perfect summer reading/book club pick! This novel raises questions about feminism, technology, nature and motherhood, while spinning a page-turning plot! Highly recommended.
July 19, 2018
I so want to give this book a higher rating because overall it was an enjoyable read. However, I felt there was something missing. It reads well until you reach the last 1/4 of the story where it draws to a quick conclusion leaving a lot of unanswered questions.
August 2, 2018
Interesting futuristic exploration of career, motherhood and marriage. The motherhood were well explored. I was less satisfied with the career and not satisfied with the treatment of the marriage.
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