PROZAC NATION [Paperback]

ELIZABETH WURTZEL (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2000

Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: QUARTET BOOKS (2000)
• ASIN: B000SBNU30
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (372 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #683,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gen-X Nation November 26, 2001

By Rivkah Maccaby

Format:Paperback

Wurtzel's stated intent is to give the reader an idea of what it is like to be with someone who is depressed, and this is her justification for endless tales of her symptoms: yes, then I was in the hospital AGAIN, etc. Some readers find this grating, as though Wurtzel has made her point once, and please, could she move on to something else.

Personally, I found it interesting and revealing. No matter where she went, or what she was doing, or how much her friends cared about her, she still had those same old symptoms. That's clinical depression as opposed to someone who is in a difficult situation and therefore feeling lousy.

She needs to make this abundantly clear, because the final point, and the justification for her book's title, depends on the reader understanding the depth and breadth of her depression, and the etiology of it-- or lack of a clear cause, if that is a better way to put it. Wurtzel is not unhappy because her parents are divorcing, or because she was forced to go summer after summer to camps she hated, or because she disliked her afterschool program, or because high school was difficult for her academically (it wasn't). She's just depressed because there's something about Elizabeth Wurtzel that is bound to be depressed.

This leads into her late stated thesis: Prozac, and drugs like it are the Philosopher's Stone for people with this kind of ontological depression. But everyone seems to be taking something for the mildest and most transient of melancholias. Prozac has almost become a by-word for something doctors throw at hypochondriacs to make them go away.

So the same drug that saved Wurtzel's life was becoming something that cheapened her real disease, and caused people to whisper "she really could just shake it off, but she's taking the easy way out...."

Before Wurtzel brings Prozac into the story, she desperately wants to show the reader that if it were merely a question of shaking it off, there would be no book.

Personally, I found her narrative voice pleasantly engaging, but I will admit that it is distinctively marked by her generation, to which I also belong. Her words rang in my head like conversation with a good friend. Someone much older or younger might have difficulty engaging with the narrative.

This question of the narrative voice may date the book eventually, but then so will the whole subject of Prozac and its over or under prescription, so I don't think it is a criticism to observe that Wurtzel chose to use such a marked writing style.

Whether one has been through depression or not, this book is fascinating. It's a trip through a generation growing up, through Jewish camps and Hebrew school for those who remember them, and depression for those who want comfort in company, or those who want to know more. I would recommend it to anyone. Read more ›

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars How it feels to be depressed October 26, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Ms. Wurtzel's book may seem like a long, drawn out, sarcastic whine at first glance, but ultimately, is an excellent source of reference in understanding depression. If you have a friend or loved one who has experienced this disease and are longing for a way to really know what they feel - this book may provide insight. All the tales she tells, the tears, the scenes in public, the lethargy, the manic spells...all is real for one in the clenches of depression. Her book helped me to realize that while sadness and challenging life experiences are universal, certain personalities (eg. highly artistic) and certain brain make up, are more prone to struggling with this disease. It would be so easy if the solution was to just "bite the bullet," but put simply, there is nothing easy about depression. And let's face it, people don't actually bite bullets anymore thanks to medical advancements. Wurtzel's book illuminates this point well. It was published at a time I needed to understand what was happening to me, to know I was not alone, to know that all the tears, all the humiliation, and all the black spells were, to some extent, "okay". It also helped me to see it for what it was, a private battle I could win.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A Self-Absorbed Rant June 13, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Elizabeth Wurtzel does a decent job of conveying what depression is like. But the fact that she has been depressed does not make this an insightful book. One of the jobs of a writer is to take personal experience and make it transcend their own individual experience, to make it relevant and emphathetic to many people. Wurtzel, however, seems convinced that she is the only depressed person to walk the earth. Yes, that is how many depressed people feel, but if she means to summarize her experiences and give them literary merit, some reflection and perspective is necessary. Her self-absorbtion dominates this book. In addition, Wurtzel feels the need to constantly remind us that she went to Harvard, and exactly how many awards she has won for her writing. These assertions of her brilliance would seem a little more plausible if the book was at all well written. Instead, it reads as if Wurtzel spoke it into a tape recorder and had it transcribed. A little judicious editing might have made this into a readable book instead of a self-absorbed riff.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars SELF SYMPATHY NOT ENOUGH TO HOLD MY ATTENTION February 7, 2003

By KEB

Format:Paperback

Elizabeth Wurtzel:

Depressed? Yes.

Unlucky? Yes.

Utterly inconsolable? Yes.

Self-centered? YES!

I would like to start off with one positive thought: Elizabeth Wurtzel had excellent qualifications for writing this book, because she appears to have been an extremely depressed. Outside of this, I have nothing good to say about the book.

The title promises a book with highly insightful things to say about depression (specifically, the experience of being depressed in America and all that it entails), but that's not what you'll find between the tortured-looking girl on the front cover, and several quotes from fashion magazines on the back. Instead, you will hear the pseudo-profound rantings of an uneducated girl who is eager to blame nearly all of her problems on her circumstances and the people in her life. I will acknowledge that her upbringing was not exactly first-rate, but it was not HORRIBLE by any means. Wurtzel makes her lower-middle-class, one-parent household seem like some version of hell... And she also implies that if only she had had more money and parents who loved eachother, she could have had a better life. Having grown up gifted and manic-depressive with two very wealthy, loving parents, I have come to understand that sometimes we need to take responsibility for our own healing; Wurtzel has either not realized that or she refuses to accept it, as evidenced by her constant whining about circumstances.

Wurtzel's endless complaining gives the book a tone of unbearable self-indulgence... somewhat akin to the child on the playground who refused to share his toys. The word "I" becomes nearly as imporant as in Ayn Rand's novel, ANTHEM. One word: EGO.

All of this is topped off by Wurtzel's hideous writing style, but I won't bother to go into that....

I would not reccommend this book to others... one's time would be better spent with Sylvia Plath's THE BELL JAR. Read more ›