3.5 stars!
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC! Pub date November 22nd, 2022.
This was such a charming novel. Starkly set in 2016, the story explores an incredibly stressful day in the life of Ramona, a woman with active roles as a wife, daughter, neighbor project manager and mother. The inner monologue is relatable and Ramona’s struggles with mental load and her identity outside of all of her various roles is authentic and grounded. A few things stood out as not-so-great, including Ramona’s descriptions of her friend Christopher, a gloat about a thigh gap and an absolutely absurd amount of product references. Additionally, the lack of quotations around dialogue in the sections of the book taking place in the past was confusing and I often found myself re-reading those snippets to clarify who was speaking to whom. Overall this is a fun debut novel and I’m looking forward to Carolyn Prussa’s future works!

3.5 I'm going to go ahead and round up. I liked Ramona. She was spunky and cute and really juggling a full life. As her live started to implode, I liked her ability to shove it all down and still take care of the family. Sure, she was putting herself on hold, but I feel like most mom's do this as well.

The hurricane just added fuel to the fire. Ramona's life in shreding to pieces at the same time she needs to dive for cover from a major weather event. I loved her kids and they flare they added to the story. I loved her very real emtions and frustrations. The toilet moment made me tear up for her, so heartbreaking. I think it would be easy to find yourself in Ramona's shoes and the struggles she hit against are very relevant to today. Bailey and her mom were just additions to the story to love.

All in all, it was cute and dealt with some real life crumbling momnts.

As a diehard Prince fan, I got this book based on the title, having no idea what the book was about.

Our story takes place over a 48-hour period of time. Romana is trying to evacuate for a Category 4 hurricane. At the same time, she discovers that her husband is cheating, she has to get her children out too and make sure her mom is safe and deal with work.

It's a lot.

Basically, its chaos. But it perfectly captures the tendency of women to try to do it all when there is no possible way. Romana's story is messy and but she is relatable. So it keeps you interested.

This was a quick read and even though sometimes I just wanted to scream at our main character: GIRL, it was an enjoyable story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

Fans of Maria Semple will likely enjoy the prose and set-up of Carolyn Prusa's debut novel. Prusa's lead, Ramona, is a great encapsulation of a mother of two young ones just....trying to do her best in the face of many trials (exploitative job, unhelpful and cheating husband, really terrible kids, and an impending Category 4 hurricane). I enjoyed this book, but I also found every character (minus her neighbor Bailey and delightful gay college friend Christopher) incredibly frustrating. To ignore a mandatory evacuation warning is really hard to get past, especially when you throw non-consenting kids into the mix. I also found it dragging a bit in the middle--lots of thought tangents that didn't really matter too much. It's a cute book! But it's a bit forgettable and also made me never want to have kids...ever. The Prince tie-in wasn't really necessary, more add and stir than fully part of the plot.

2023 Listen #38

As a Louisiana native, I am no stranger to hurricanes. 2021’s hurricane season treated those of us in southern Louisiana pretty terribly, and many of us are in desperate need of a few laughs. Enter Carolyn Prusa’s debut novel None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive, a hilarious mom-com, which pokes fun at the absolute struggle it is to evacuate your family when your world is (literally) falling down around you.

The year is 2016 and category 4 Hurricane Matthew is bearing down on the East coast. But that is the least of Ramona’s worries. She just caught her husband cheating on her, with one of the school moms no less! Just add that to Ramona’s ever-growing list of troubles, which include an oblivious boss (who expects her to come into work in the middle of a hurricane), a daughter who refuses to be potty-trained, an elderly mother who knows too much for her own good, and, of course, the monster storm swirling in the Atlantic. Ramona tries to put off worrying about the hurricane to deal with the actual storm that is her LIFE, but to no avail. She has to evacuate. So she loads up the kids, the class guinea pig (did I mention that Ramona has been tasked with caring for a rodent during the storm as well?), and a stray teen from her neighborhood with no parents in sight. However, the fun is just getting started, as anyone who has ever evacuated knows. Buckle up Ramona because all hell is about to break loose!

None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive is a witty, relatable story about a wife and mother trying to keep all of her plates in the air and spinning while her life falls apart. If you have ever had to evacuate for a hurricane, you already know that it is no cake walk to load your life into your vehicle and drive away from your home, hoping that it will still be standing upon your return. Now try evacuating with a remorseful husband constantly ringing your phone, and a tone-deaf boss breathing down your neck. Luckily, Prusa finds humor in this fraught situation and delivers a book that is both amusing and engaging.

None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive follows Ramona and family through the ordeal of preparing for a major storm, while also interspersing vignettes from Ramona’s past in the alternating chapters, clueing us in to Ramona’s relationship with her husband, kids, and parents before her life because such a wreck. The result is a fast-paced, snarky read that wives and mothers will feel reverberating in their soul.

SPOILERS - My only complaint is that this novel makes me question if Prusa has ever actually evacuated for a storm … or perhaps it makes me question if things are done a bit differently on the East coast. Ramona has no trouble evacuating - she does not encounter gridlock traffic, gas shortages, or any of the other obstacles that are all too familiar to residents of the Gulf coast who have ever evacuated. Ramona breezes right out of town with no difficulty, which is unfortunate since I would have loved to have seen Prusa infuse some humor into sitting in standstill traffic for hours upon hours with no bathroom or food facilities at your disposal in a car packed to the gills with your possessions, family, and pets and with everyone going more than a little stir-crazy.