Book Review: Ramona Singer’s Memoir “Life on the Ramona Coaster”

Just weeks ago, Ramona Singer, star of the reality show “Real Housewives of New York” was asking for title advice in the Turks & Caicos for the memoir she has mostly penned, Life on the Ramonacoaster. Now her new book is a reality, too. It’s available on Amazon for around twenty dollars hardback or ten for the Kindle version, but before you rush to click that buy button, let us provide you with some highlights, to assist you in your purchasing decision.

Let’s start with the reviews. At the time this article went to print, four reviews were available. Two were 5-star and two were 1-star. Quite the range. For me, I tend to read the 3’s and 4’s for a review. It tells me that the reviewer is somewhat objective. The two 5’s were most likely written by Ramona and/or her friends.

Piano Lover wrote,

“This is a great book! Ramona is completely honest and it is interesting to learn more detail about the things she references in the show, such as her difficult childhood, her success in business, why she is independent, etc.”

Lisa Lazar wrote,

“Love, love, love this book! One of my favorite ladies from RHONY and she writes an interesting, honest and easy to read story of her life thus far! Well done!!”

I wonder if Lisa Lazar is really Teresa Giudice in disguise. The two people who gave 1’s had this to say.

Karen Silva wrote,

“Waiting till hits 99 cent store in 6 months.”

L. Price wrote,

“I am surprised Mario didn’t stop this from being published. It is so one sided and self promoting. Typical Ramona… never take fault for her actions. The way she involves her daughter in the problems with Mario is disgusting. This book has no redeeming value. A waste of time.”

Now for the highlights inside this polarizing piece of…literature. Ramona shares the story of threatening her father with a butcher knife at the age of 15. Tired of the constant drunken outrages from her father, a man who created a “war zone” in his home and “terrorize” with physical and emotional abuse. Ramona wrote,

“He gets in my face. I can smell the rancid alcohol on his breath and see the rancor in his eyes,” she writes in the memoir, out July 28. “Then he gets in my mother’s face, alternating scathing insults between us.”

“Something he says, I can’t recall what, hits a nerve. I snap.”

“Refusing to be a ‘victim’ anymore, she pulls the ‘biggest knife with the longest and thickest blade’ from a kitchen drawer.”

“Without hesitation, I lunge toward him, point the sharp blade directly at his face and scream, ‘Stop it. Stop it right now…Or I swear I will take this knife and shove it into your neck,’” she writes in the brutally honest book. “He backs away, startled.”

Ramona says this incident was never spoken of again, and two years later, she moved out, never looking back. Father and daughter reconciled shortly before his death in 2008. Did you know that Ramona almost turned down RHONY? Yeah, I don’t believe it either. Here’s what Ramona says happened.

“After they send me the contract, I start having second thoughts; I don’t really have time for this. I don’t need to be famous. I’m already popular with my friends. I already have a successful business. I’m married. I have my daughter. I have a full life. I don’t need this stress in my life. What do I need to take this on for? I contact Bravo and tell them I’m out.”

The book covers the affairs of Mario, how he lost true faith in himself and that’s what led to the split. Ramona shares her thoughts of suicide.

“The stress of everything became unmanageable and it began to wreak havoc on my mind, body, and spirit. There were times when I was so low that I almost felt like throwing myself in front of a subway train. I was so anxious and depressed that my doctor put me on anxiety medication. I think it was at this point that Mario finally began to see how much of a toll everything we were going through had taken on me.”

Most interesting is the first impressions Ramona had of the other housewives.

Alex McCord:

“My first impression: this woman is a boring Stepford wife. Judgmental? Yes. At this point in my life I have a tendency (to make) snap judgments based on first impressions, but this is something about myself that I am about to learn that I need to change.” 

Simon van Kempen:

“For a moment, I wonder if Jill has replaced her ‘gay husband’ Brad, but then I see the man affectionately caressing the blonde’s slender back. Oh my God, I think to myself as I scrunch my face in distaste, are they a couple?”

Jill Zarin:

“I had known Jill for years, and at the time I saw her as a whiny, materialistic Long Islander.”

Luann de Lesseps:

“Luann was always very proper and neutral, like Switzerland.”

Kelly Bensimon:

“She seemed like she was nice and engaging and my initial reaction to her was positive. But the more I got to know her, the more I began to feel that there was no depth to her.”

Heather Thomson:

“Right away, Heather rubbed me the wrong way.”

Aviva Drescher:

“My experience with Aviva has been that if you don’t do what she wants you to do, she gets very angry and spiteful.”

Good luck with your decision, let us know if you will be taking a ride on the Ramonacoaster!

 

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