Rating: 
Summary: Painful and poignant realization of depression
Review: I was really impressed by Wurtzel's memoir. It was initially recommended to me at a support group meeting by a friend who said, "I read this, and I felt like I was reading about you!" Given this interesting endorsement, I felt compelled to check it out. I bought it on impulse later that week, and immediately saw what my friend had seen. This work depicted the life of a severely depressed youngish person in America; this and the incidental ( and somewhat eerie) similarities between myself and the author made it too difficult for me to finish. Later on, I went back and completely the novel, and I was struck again by the unflinching, wrenching realness of the book. Depression is not pretty. It is dark, bleak, tedious, irrational, selfish, self involved, angry, bitter, and sad. In its implaccable committment to realism, this memoir does not make any attempt to gloss over the realities of severe depression to make it more readable or inviting. This makes it speak to the heart of anyone who has ever been at this bleak point, or to anyone who has ever seen someone there, or who merely wants to understand. I don't think that the average healthy well adjusted person will have the same reaction, and I can easily people being turned off by the incessant darkness. However, I think it is important to note that these negative aspects are a very true representation of the illness, not a symptom of whininess on the narrator's part. Ultimately, this book is so incredibly clearly rendered and candid that I have to recommend it. Wurtzel has taken the heretofore inexpressible realities of depression and put them into fascinating words.
Rating: 
Summary: Challenging
Review: I found this a difficult book to react to. It was challenging for me to separate my reactions to the quality of the story and the personality of the author. That this was an autobiography made it even more difficult to make this distinction. I was a fan of the delivery. I feel that the author did a great job of accurately portraying her mindset at each point in her life. She has an arcane ability to give a pure and accurate description of what was going through her head at each of her highs and lows, and she has got a lot of talent which has served her well. The rawness of her descriptions and frankness of delivery contributed to the overall poignancy of the story. As for the author's story and the situations which she put herself into, I really wanted to smack her sometimes. Making it through this book and keeping from getting livid at some of her stupid and selfish antics was very difficult. As one who suffers as well, I have arrived at the conclusion that people can only help themselves (she eventually came around to this notion as well). Yet she seemed to believe that everyone else's duty on earth was to put up with her [stuff] and make her life as easy as possible. To read about her banal histrionics ("Oh, I'm soooo miserable in London", or at Harvard, or in NYC) and the awful things she put that poor doctor (not to mention her poor mother) through were enough to put me over the edge. If anything, her parents should have been more strict with her as a kid to teach her some respect and restraint. Yet all she could do was feed her own self-indulgences and blame it on everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) but herself. It's London's fault for being too wet (well, what did you expect?). It's Harvard's fault for letting me do this (well, what did you expect?). It's my doctor's fault for giving me all these drugs (you asked for them). Her lack of self-accountability and use of her mental state as a convenient excuse for all of her unacceptable behaviour is truly appalling. All in all, this book definitely elicited a reaction from me (I guess that was the point, after all) and made me see my own situation in a whole new light. Although I pity this woman and all of the people whom she has tormented, I appreciate the lucidity of her storytelling and clarity of her message (although it repels me).
Rating: 
Summary: Self-centered and unimaginative
Review: I was really looking forward to reading "Prozac Nation." I loved "The Bell Jar" and "Girl, Interrupted" and thought this would be similar. WRONG! "Prozac Nation" is nothing but one long-winded pile of drivel. Wurtzel does nothing but feel sorry for herself for 300+ pages. She treats nearly everyone she comes into contact with [badly], blames her parents and friends for everything that's wrong in HER life, and whines about how unfair it all is. It's like she's in love with her own madness. I found the whole thing pretty dull. I also got the sense that Wurtzel was on so many psychological drugs NOT because she really needed them, but because she's a total pill-popper. She boozes and gets high in much of the book and seems giddy at the idea of being on lithium. She's a complete drama queen.
Rating: 
Summary: Sobering, then tedious. Triumphant...at your expense.
Review: The title suggests a larger commentary than what is actually delivered. Perhaps better: Wurtzel's Word on the World of Wurtzel. In the absence of properly managed expectations brews deceit. As evidenced in existing reviews, this book provides hope and perspective for a fragile audience in need. For that, I applaud Wurtzel. To those of us unencumbered with depression, the essence of this piece can become tantamount to a cattle call for the grandest pity party in existence. This book's tone grows annoying, the effect threadbare as chapters eek along. Her summary prologue comment of, "Great, that's the effect of depression" is convenient and impotent. Where's the triumph if medicine was her ultimate savior?
Rating:
Summary: What did I just read?
Review: I read this book in 6 days ... I really thought this book was ok on the topic since it was a personal memoir. There is not much plot, warning. I expected a suicide attempt climax. She does that and goes on prozac and her life gets much better ... I don't want to critizice her tooo much because I know how bad depression is, but she still managed to get into Harvard and work for the New Yorker. Impressive. After reading it you have to admit she did totally ruin her realtions with others. I can't understand all of her actions like how she would act with Rafe and other guys. All I can see is that I am looking forward to reading something else. Ou, I liked the Bell jar better and I suggest watch Girl Interupted.
Rating:
Summary: An insight into her world
Review: This is a book everyone should read. It makes you sad, upset, laugh at times, but most of all it makes you think. This insight story into depression gives a much better understanding of this disease. Her story has been described as self-absorbed but as she herself explains, that's part of the depression.
If you do go and read it, as you all should, be aware, this book can be very depressing. But you just get swept away with it. After the reading the first page, I found myself unable to stop reading and just anxious to find out how it ends.
Perhaps it is because I in some small way relate to her myself, but this book has just changed me. I think about things, especially depression, differently.
Rating: 
Summary: nice book
Review: i read this several years ago and enjoyed it much more than i did when i recently re-read it... maybe a good book while still a teen trying to find your way, but once the realities of life hit you, most of this seems insignificant.
Rating:
Summary: Wurtzel Nation
Review: I feel this book does not really live up to the considerable hype it has received. It loses one star for the misleading title. A more appropriate one would be "Wurtzel Nation" or, like one other reviewer suggested, "Listening to Wurtzel", since it's mainly just one long soliloquy. It loses another star for being fairly boring. In spite of these shortcomings, I still think it's worth reading, especially if you're suffering from depression. The young woman has a strong voice, whether or not it's the voice of a generation, and it should be heard. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".
Rating:
Summary: only good when she speaks for herself
Review: This is a good memoir of one young woman's nearly-lifelong bout with depression till age 20. Elizabeth Wurtzel is the product of a broken home, and emotional hostage to warring parents and extremely depressed. She gets into Harvard and has friends to support her. She is cognizant of these facts, that she really has a lot --- if only she could snap out of this funk to enjoy it. She keep looking for escape, recognizing that there really isn't any escape from something that is inside you. She has myriad therapists, both in New York and Cambridge, she is hospitalized, and given treatment after treatment. In the late 1980s, when she is a Harvard undergrad, Prozac is being put out on the market and she has salvation. When she writes only about herself and her experiences, Elizabeth is someone with whom you can empathize. But the epilogue is really a pain in the behind as she outlines how we have become a Prozac Nation --- EVERYONE is on it, it seems. I was particularly irked when she said she was once in "the unfortunate position" of listening to a cab driver talk about how depressed he was and almost killed himself till he got on Prozac. That is what she writes about in this entire book, and what her career is based on, so it's rather a cheap shot of her to be mad that a cab driver has the same problems she does! She even likens herself to Kurt Cobain at one point. (Ummmm ... NO, he produced something besides memoirs all about himself.) Read it as what it should be: a memoir. NOT the voice of a generation, or indeed the voice of anyone but the author. From that perspective, it is a great work. From any other, it's pretentious.
Rating:
Summary: Self-centered, depressing truth
Review: I review because I want the many interested in the book once seeing or hearing of the movie to know that this is not a happy book. This is not a fairy tale. It's real life. While some perhaps could dismiss Wurtzel's explanation of her life as one of a brat or ungrateful upper-west-side princess, her openness allows the reader to get a hint of understanding what so many must face. Whether you feel happy or depressed, understanding this book may be the key to living with your family and friends.
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