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Summary: Hard to give sympathy
Review: Although going through depression is an uphill climb, I found it difficult to give sympathy to this woman. Depression did not cause the person was. She slept with her best friend's boyfriend, she slept around with many different people, she uses people people for her own gain. Elizabeth has very trivial relationships, the only serious one being the one with her mom. Other than that, she is self-absorbed and seems not to care for others' feelings. I also didn't like how overly critical she was of her dad, a person she hardly knew.
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Summary: Oh please.
Review: Depressed? When did she have time to be depressed? Sounds more like an out of control Borderline Personality Disorder. And even worse, it's kind of dull.
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Summary: Put the Pieces Together
Review: I read this book and it made me see all sorts of things that have happened to my sister and myself in a new light, she being a prozac junkie and myself now thinking I should be. This book can be very disturbing, especially if you see patterns of her life that reflect things in your own. I recommend it for readers who are trying to understand anyone with depression, although I would not recommend it for teenagers. It is just plain too much for someone who is not emotionally mature on their own. The book is very powerful and can shape your thoughts if you read too much into it. For such a young writer, though, it is very well written.
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Summary: Phenomenal
Review: One of the best books ever written about being young, bright, beautiful, and at times, crazy. It definetely belongs with the classics on depression such as The Bell Jar. Ms. Wurtzel elucidates what it really feels like to lose your mind while everyone else thinks you're just being selfish. I would not only recommend this book to anyone who has suffered from depression, but anyone who has watched a loved one slowly disintegrate for no known reason. Ms. Wurtzel is able to explain how the thoughts that everyone has eat away and dominate those who suffer from depression in a way few writers have done. Just a great book.
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Summary: Conveys What Depression Is and How Her Generation Battles It
Review: This book was terrific for two reasons. The first is that it is THE book which finally conveyed to me what depression is. I could never understand how someone could be depressed if he or she was successful, intelligent, attractive, and/or articulate. Wurtzel made me finally understand that one has nothing to do with the other. Here was a scholarship student at Harvard, who had boyfriends, but who had struggled with this horrible disease since childhood (apparently). At first, she and everyone else blamed it on her lousy childhood - her parents horrific marriage and divorce, her dad later "abandoning" her. By the end of the book, it is apparent that her illness was basically organic, and that the treatment - prozac and lithium - was the key to wellness. I have always been an advocate for medication if it is appropriate, and she makes the best argument ever for the use of prozac. Fortunately for her, her psychiatrist prescribed her prozac when it first came out, and the results seemed like a miracle. However, sadly enough, she explains that even prozac may not, in the end, be able to "hold back" her depression, because depression may be stronger and more virulent, ultimately. This is the best book I have read, so far, on describing what it is like to battle depression, and on how medication may help. The second reason the book was so good, is because it is the first I have seen to bemoan the "emotional numbing" of so many young people. Wurtzel wisely comments for instance, on how a father can leave his daughter, and the daughter is expected to feel "nothing", like she can "handle it". The same goes for sleeping with someone who then leaves you, etc. She laments also on how tragic her generation is; how her friends almost all have divorced parents, and they sit around and compare notes re: divorces, etc. This is tragic, and the experiences take a tremendous toll on these young people, yet they are expected to "feel nothing". No wonder some of them feel depressed!
Rating: 
Summary: Prozac Nation
Review: I started off really liking this book. The prologue was great, chilling and funny. As I got further into it though, I hated it more and more. It wasn't just the whining. I have been clinically depressed too and I know how self-absorbing it is. I know it's hard to look outward and see anything else but your own pain. But her total lack of insight into others, as she lackadaisically describes their suicide attempts, misery and problems, was annoying. And there is absolutely no excuse for the way she uses her friends. I'm sorry but stealing your best friend's boyfriend is not acceptable. Making your mother miserable is not acceptable. As miserable as I have been, I do try to keep up a facade in lieu of spreading the misery around. It's not easy and it doesn't always work. I am guilty of hurting others too, but I don't go out of my way to do it. The way she tries illustrate that she, and only she, has truly suffered from depression only serves to reveal the key to her personality, her essential shallowness. And not only is she the only depressed person in the world, but she suffered so prettily! She certainly knows how to market herself to the guys! At least the shallow ones. She is not just depressed but also suffers from what is known as a histrionic personality disorder. I found myself thinking, "It's too bad her friend didn't stab her to death when she had the chance." As an afterthought, I have actually read interviews with her, and in them she has come across nice and at times, even self-deprecating. If she had come across a little more like that in the book, she may have actually fulfilled her stated purpose, helping and relating to others suffering from depression and making a far reaching statement about her generation.
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Summary: The book that changed my life
Review: Ok, so this sounds a little bit hyperbolic when talking about a book whose subject is the dejection and self-absorption of depression, but this book has touched so many people, and, more importantly, it touched me. As a teenager struggling through depression which I thought was on the same scale as Elizabeth's, this witty yet poignant account of her experience was invaluable. Not only did she write with such personal honesty and candour, but she didn't patronise, didn't tell you what to do. By relating so intensely to her experiences, I felt like I wasn't alone and even now, excerpts from the book are echoed in my thoughts, time and time again. Sure, the book can be criticised in a technical way and it is not a classic in the conventional sense of the word, but to me it is a classic because it epitomises what I, and countless other depressed teenagers, are feeling and thinking every day of their lives.
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Summary: Review of Prozac Nation.
Review: Elizebeth Wurtzel describes her years of anguish as she battles with depression. If you have suffered yourself with any kind of emotional disorder you will discover that you are certainly not alone, although at times very sad this account is accurate aand most readers will relate to Elizabeths plight to have her disease recognised. I found this book gripping, funny in times and a valuble insight into depression.
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Summary: disjointed drivel
Review: Wurtzel can string a sentence together, but she cannot tell a story. Wurtzel's memoir of her own depression rambles so much that I had to force myself to finish half of it. It's hard to argue with a depressive. I know, I battled depression for many years, mostly in high school. No matter how smart, attractive and funny they may be, they just don't see it. However, I tired of the excuses when they came out of me, and I tired of them even quicker from Wurtzel. Wurtzel also launches into pointless, irrelevant tangents at random. I found it very hard to sympathize with her. Nothing she had to say was any more interesting than watching a dead houseplant. That is all I can bring myself to say about this one. ...
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Summary: How it feels to be depressed
Review: 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.
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