February 7, 2023

The title of Carolyn Prusa’s book caught my eye, “None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive.” Ramona has a lot on her plate. It’s 2016 and Hurricane Matthew is headed towards Savannah, Georgia.  She is juggling a new job and family responsibilities. When shows up at home early, she discovers her husband with another woman.

With Matthew looming and her heart and mind in chaos, Ramona packs up her two children, a neighbor kid and the class hamster, Clarence Thomas, and evacuates. From there she makes the kind of decisions someone who is in shock would make. While her decisions may seem ill-advised, that is how your brain works when your life has turned upside down.

The main story happens in present time, but the timeline shifts back through Ramona’s college memories and the early years with her husband as well. This serves to give the reader more perspective on Ramona’s relationship with her husband as well as what she was like before the book takes place. Here Ramona reflects on her job as project manager:

“I don’t miss painting. I’m not resisting a desire burning under my skin to create; sitting at a computer doesn’t feel like wearing a straitjacket….

What I do miss, maybe: the way making art made me feel-capable, resourceful, peaceful.

Without art, I feel like I can’t make anything happen. Like I can’t make something beautiful.” 

I don’t have any way of knowing if the details about Savannah are accurate, but the author lives in the area, and the details feel real.

While this book tackles heavy subjects, it was a quick and light read. I think readers of Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Weiner and Laurie Gelman might enjoy “None of this Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive” by Carolyn Prusa. You can find this book on the new book shelf at the Gering Library.