Rating: 
Summary: Tremendous opportuniity to experience what depression is!
Review: Elizabeth Wurtzel gives a gut-wrenching detail of her child
hood and entry into depression. Ms. Wurtzel is truly a talented aurthor who is able to appropriately blend prose
and metaphors with the events happening in her life.
Her honest and descriptive writing brings you up close to
what depression feels like. Yet keeps you reading beacuse
you begin routing for this tremendously talented indivdual that somehow she beat the depression that consumes her life
The way Elizabeth Wurtzel is able to honestly interpret and
convey the events in her life with a sense of humor and "oh well attitude" should give strength to anyone who has experienced an embarrassing moment in public.
A must read for anyone who is suffering from depression or knows someone who is
Rating: 
Summary: One Person's Descent into Despair
Review: First of all, let me begin by stating that the title of this book can be a little misleading. This is, after all, a memoir, and should not be taken as an all-encompassing generalized statement as to the state of teenagers and young adults today. This is one woman's account of her bouts with depression. Furthermore, the majority of this book is not directly related to the drug Prozac itself, as the bulk of this memoir takes place during the mid-80's, when anti-depressants weren't nearly as prevalent as they are today. Thus, the book is more a reflection of the gradual shift towards the drug dependence of one single person than on the actual state of drug use itself. Though this book offers little insight into the malady and it's treatment, Elizabeth Wurtzel writes of her own personal experiences with depression throughout college in a somewhat compelling and intriguing way. The book doesn't set out to make any real mind-altering points, or change anyone's opinion in any way, it merely tells "only a small personal tale of one person's mental [anguish]." The author does, however, try to make it known that there were clear events in her life that led up to her feelings and emotions, as opposed to some sort of chemical imbalance. Eventually, these emotions took complete control over her mental state, and the author could no longer function as a normal, more rational person might. Though the narratives can get rather irritating at times, making Elizabeth Wurtzel out to be a whiny, overly-dramatic, spoiled college girl, the reader can't help but feel a little bit of compassion and sympathy for what the author experienced. Throughout all of this turmoil, Ms. Wurtzel did manage to get herself into and through college, winning many awards along the way. With an incredible support team of people who stood by her throughout an incredibly dramatic period of her life, she was able to overcome her depression. When things went well for her, she lived a normal, happy life. When things were on the downhill, the bouts of depression reared their ugly little heads. Though Prozac and lithium, and before that Mellaril, did provide some relief and assistance, it was, and is, ultimately, what goes on in the author's life that alters her state of mind. Overall, this was an interesting book to read. It isn't some great piece of literature that will be remembered for years to come, and it certainly isn't mind-altering in any way, shape, or form, but it does provide an interesting account of one person's descent into a suffocating, dismal way of life. Elizabeth Wurtzel has been compared to Sylvia Plath on more than one occasion. Though her prose isn't quite as sophisticated, and her narratives tend to be slightly more gratingly exasperating, I would tend to agree with that analogy. The film version, starring Cristina Ricci and Anne Heche was due out in theaters sometime in 2003, but that never came to fruition. It is currently slated for a straight to video release sometime in late 2004.
Rating:
Summary: A new favorite
Review: I thought this book was beautiful and touching and have no doubt that I will pick it up and read it again sometime very soon. However, I am not surprised that many readers found this book to be somewhat tedious or immature, or that they had difficulty identifying with the author. As someone who has been through depression, I related to this book on so many levels. The feelings expressed and the thought processes were so familiar that I often found myself thinking about things in my life that I had tried to desperately to forget. I am someone from the same area, someone who has been to the same hospitals, someone who has felt and done the same types of things. Now, I am about to graduate from law school and am excited about the future. My journey to this point has been long and arduous, as I am sure the author's will continue to be. For readers who have never felt the way the author has felt, I can understand their lack of ability to relate. However, to call what she is feeling immature or whiney is a close-minded view that I think you all should be somewhat ashamed of. Yes, many of these events happened when the author was young, respectively, but I think that it takes a certain amount of age and experience to understand why you feel the way you feel and to put it into proper perspective. To the readers who did not enjoy the book: I think you need to wake up and understand the realities of the world. Not understanding this book or enjoying it shows me that you still cannot grasp the idea that someone can be depressed, for a long time, for no particlar reason. Shame on you. This book was a very quick read, with beautiful language. The author articulates feelings that so many of us have felt but been unable to express. Prozac Nation is definitely one of my new favorite books.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Been There; Somewhat Done That
Review: No one, not even for a single instant, can look out at the world through the eyes of someone else's mind. Yet, Wurtzel tries to bring us into hers and show us what it's like to view the world from a mind suffering from hereditary (probably manic-)depression. And since she is trying to show us what it's like INSIDE her mind, is it any wonder that her mostly stream-of-consciousness narrative tends to be self-centered? Who of us in the privacy of our minds is NOT self-centered? After all, we are all fated to be only ourselves 24/7 for our entire lives. And constantly suffering, as Wurtzel does from severe bouts of depression, interspersed with irrational frenzies, is it any wonder that Wurtzel does NOT seem to notice the affects her behavior is having on those close to her, such as her mother? (Yet Wurtzel still dedicates her book, "For my mom, lovingly.")
The hardcover edition of this book came out in 1995. Some of us love it; some of us hate it; some of us don't know what to make of it. But at 269 reader reviews and still counting on this Web page alone, it looks like this book is going to keep disturbing us for quite some time in the future -- particularly now that it's been made into a movie.
I understand approximately ten percent of us suffer from some form of chronic depression, including me -- not to anywhere near the extent Wurtzel does, but enough to understand where she's coming from. Why doesn't she act like a "normal" person? Because she can't understand the mind of a "normal" person anymore than a "normal" person can understand hers. If she could change her mind to that of a "normal" person, don't you think she would? Indeed, isn't that her motive for taking Prozac in the first place? And since we're dealing with a person's mind here, not a novel, I think it is precisely this inability for any of us to truly be able to occupy another person's mind that is leading to all the controversy. No, this read is not particularly fun, but then neither is being a manic-depressive. Yes, it's often repetitive and at times boring, but so is life. And she does try to give us a bit of humor mixed in with all her problems Although I recommend this book for everyone due to the insights it can give on how some of us look out at the world, I particularly recommend it for those ÂgnormalÂh people, such as WurtzelÂfs mother, who find themselves either having to bring up, or married to, or have some other such close relationship to someone suffering from depression. Note that the hardest part of her entire day is simply getting out of bed. Note how her mind is stuck in overdrive and almost out of control. Note that while she is just barely functional, she wishes at times she could cross over the line into sheer insanity, be institutionalized, and be done with it. Note the sudden flashes of fear for no reason. And note the state of her mind when she tries to ÂgescapeÂh from all her problems (from herself, really) by suddenly flying off to a London she has never been to -- and discovers immediately, of course, that sheÂfs just put herself in an even worse situation. Yeah, I can understand where all this is coming from; and a ÂgnormalÂh person after reading this book will at least gain a better idea. Ironically, my only disappointment about this book is its misleading title. It is NOT about Prozac since she doesnÂft start taking it until the end of the main book. It IS about being ÂgYoung and Depressed in AmericaÂh. But I had hoped to find out more about this supposed wonder drug and what it feels like to be on it. Interestingly, though, in the Epilogue written some eight years later, she writes that while the Prozac did seems to help her sudden mood swings, after several years on it, her old problems started creeping up on her again. Drugs can help people like her, but not cure them. She is stuck with being herself for the rest of her life. Just like the rest of us. For better or for worse.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure feminist excrement
Review: One reviewer's title about this book was : "I'm a privileged, hot looking white chyck in America, and depressed... wah wah wah. poor me" which pretty much sums up Wurtzel. Seems like the more privileged they are, the more they whine. But no doubt it pays to be a hot chyck in the States. I guarantee you that if this girl was a 400 lb. gastropod she would not have landed her book deals; and you can take this fact to the bank. So here we go again, again and again: American society caters to a girl just because she won a genetic lottery and is pretty to look at. Women in America love to play the role of the oppressed so its no wonder this writing was a best seller in this country. But this sheds light on an even bigger problem; the author of this book is not the only chyck in the United States with worms in her head. The majority of American women are walking psycho wards who have histrionic and narcissistic disorders. This is becoming more self evident everyday. There are also things that do not add up in this *ahem* memoir such as how a girl can suffer from such mental disabilities, which no doubt would affect her grades and SATs, yet be able to get into Harvard? If men in America would just stop indulging these retarded princess behaviors in women, then we would not have to deal with this nonsense, and in the long run it is better for women anyway so they may lose the victim mentality and grow up!
Rating:
Summary: Young and Whiny in America
Review: I have bipolar disorder. I thought it might be interesting to read about another young woman dealing with the same sort of things as me, so I picked up this book. Oops. Big mistake.
I barely made it through this. Elizabeth Wurtzel isn't a very appealing writer (the overall tone is very juvenile, and full of ridiculous metaphors and similes), and she's completely unsympathetic. She comes off as totally spoiled, whiny, and self-indulgent. She shows no growth or insight through the course of the book, ending as the same bratty, obnoxious child she started off as. She doesn't seem to want to actually do anything about her depression, just wallow in it. I realize that this book is not meant to portray a healthy mindset, but when one spends most of the time wanting to smack the author and tell her to get over herself, then she's failed at writing an effective memoir.
One of the major reasons I found Wurtzel's story so irritating is that she is very privileged and well-off, yet does nothing but moan. The complaints of being broke were especially laughable, considering she mentions going to private school and Harvard, and living on the Upper West Side.
Her afterword states it was her intention all along to anger the reader at her asinine behavior, which just made me think "What was the point of that?" I don't get why someone would write a book intended to make themselves look like a twit, but I have to hand it to her, she succeeded very well.
Prozac Nation is not a good way to get a look inside a depressed person's mind. I couldn't relate to it at all. I really don't see how reading this would help anyone struggling with depression either, aside from possibly cheering them up with the satisfaction they're not as much of a narcissitic jerk as Wurtzel apparently is.
Rating:
Summary: Prozac Nation-Young and Depressed in America
Review: This memoir is about one woman's struggle with clinical depression. From her teenage years all the way through college. She writes about the beginning of her life, through her teenage years, dealing with self-destructive behavior and therapy, the works. She writes about it all, her inner struggle with drug abuse, and her inability to find "the man of her dreams". She writes about being institutionalized, her high-strung mother and college. She has a hectic life that's forever changing, which makes for a pretty good read.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who is currently suffering from depression or has in the past. For anyone who's ever found the need to take part in self-destructive behavior, for any young girl having difficulties with growing up, this book is a must-read. For anyone who can relate to being "spoiled" yet still has struggles in life, and pretty much just being misunderstood. This book is realistic, and I think practically anyone would enjoy it. I know I did, and I'd have to recommend everyone else give it a try as well.
Rating:
Summary: Objective and subjective all at once
Review: A very detailed memoir about living depressed that is interesting to read if you get into the story but disregard all the analysis. What you get out of her story is as good as it gets. Quite frankly, it's difficult to understand her because she chooses all the wrongs in her life which she then expands on and adds to her list of things that made her depressed. We seem to skip all of the brighter moments, such as making friends and getting into her dream school. The tone gets quite annoying if not for her way of defining society from such a skewed perspective. I do however like the ending, perhaps because I was pessimistic about her whining from the beginning. She seems to bring her story together, and yet at the point in her life when she wrote the novel she still can't look at her situation from the side and see its similarity to those of many people. I still recommend reading it as it is well-written and can be interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Prozac Blah
Review: I'm 24 and I've been clinically depressed on and off for nearly ten years. My final diagnosis is bipolar type II. I thought that I would be able to relate to Ms.Wurtzel's story because we are somewhat close in age and because I've been *extremely* depressed in the past. I thought wrong.
I really don't understand why all the hype about this book. There are many better books out there. One that comes to mind is the Bell Jar. If you want to read a good book read that one, but don't bother with this book.
Technically speaking it's a good book. She can in fact write well but she's so whiney it's seriously hard to take. I've been extremely depressed before probably even more depressed than Wurtzel and I was never this whiney in my life. Not only is she nearly constantly whiney but she is so self-indulgent/ self-involved it will make you want to vomit. Either that or put the book down and never want to pick it up again.
What else? Some parts were so boring I was forced to skip over them entirely.
Overall this book doesn't really help the reader understand clinical depression better, in my opinion anyway. Also, I guess it is my opinion that I have suffered through something much worse than clinical depression, that being manic-depression. More and more I find it difficult to relate to people who just have clinical depression. If you have bipolar disorder I think it is unlikely that you will be able to sympathize with the whiney, narcissistic, self-involved/self-indulgent narrator that Wurtzel proves to be.
I only gave it two stars because she actually knows how to put a sentence together well. If that weren't the case I would have given it one star.
Ouch, that's harsh I know...but really, what is with all the hype?
Rating:
Summary: 'Prozac Nation,' the only book I could stand
Review: Alright, I hate reading. I've only gotten into 2 maybe 3 books... But I couldn't put this one down. I was dragged to the book store, and was scanning the books to pass the time. I saw the title "Prozac Nation" and was intrigued. I read the first chapter in the store and had to buy it. I read 90 pages the first day I had it; I normally get bored within the first paragraph. But Elizabeth Wurtzel grabbed my attention from the first sentance. Now, instead of dreading another book report I have to fake, I can't wait untill I can buy 'Bitch', and 'More, Now, Again' (Perhaps I got that wrong) to share with my classmates her amazing ability to grab someone's [lack of]attention like mine. I am in love with this woman
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