Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America

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: The Worst Book I've Ever Read
Review: This really is the worst book I've ever had the misfortune to pick up. And in a world with John Grisham, that's saying something. Partially, growing up in a poor rural area, I have little tolerance for upper-class self-indulgence. But my main gripe with the book is simply that it takes self-indulgence itself to a whole new level. It's like reading the diary of a petulant, spoiled child. If Liz was eight, I could have understood it. But she's not, and loves to try to cover up her own unbelievably loathsome behavior (and whining) with a catch-all excuse. "WAAAA, I'm depressed, it's all abotu me!" I've dealt with mid-level clinical manic-depression much of my life, honey, you ain't special.

I hate Dr. Laura, but I almost wanted to go turn her show on after reading this to provide some freakin' balance.

One star is way too generous. Avoid this one at all costs.

Rating:
Summary: Living through the hell of depression...
Review: This well-written memoir chronicles the teenage and college years of Elizabeth Wurtzel's life, which she spends primarily in a funk of deep, unshakeable depression. If you have not felt this kind of depression before (and I haven't), it is easy to get impatient with the author midway through the book. She seems to have everything that many of us want: a burgeoning career as a feature writer for newspapers and major magazines like Rolling Stone (and this is while she is still in college, remember); a Harvard education that is seemingly entirely scholarship-funded; an endless supply of endlessly patient friends. So why is she constantly whining and self-obsessed, constantly full of unjustified pain? Even her tragedies are minor -- a distant father, a failed short-term relationship. Wurtzel herself even comes out of her funk from time to time to wonder, "Why am I so depressed? What do I have to feel bad about?"

It is this impatience with the narrator that is the real brilliance of the book, and as we find out in the last chapter, Wurtzel has deliberately portrayed herself exactly as she felt, so that we, the readers, can learn exactly what it's like to be severely depressed. And we do, believe me.

By the end of the book, we have been through the wringer with Wurtzel, and we are glad to see her find salvation in drugs (although she is careful to explain that while anti-depressants have saved lives, they are in danger of being over-prescribed for the most minor cases of the blues). So yes, this book is uncomfortable to read, and we may occasionally want to yell at Wurtzel to snap out of it already, but when it is done, we know just what hell she went thorugh -- because we went through it with her.

Rating:
Summary: necessary read for those afflicted
Review: Unless you are afflicted with depression or know somebody afflicted with depression, you may see Wurtzel as a whining young woman. After reading some of these reviews, that is the vibe I get. What Wurtzel does is gives you the view of a depressed individual through the eyes of a depressed individual, not through the empirical eyes of some therapist, nor a third person account. What Wurtzel writes is real, what one does under depression may not be rational, nor does it always make sense, but for whatever reason they happen. Maybe if I, or Wurtzel did not have such conditions then we would be seen as "normal" people that do not "whine," or "complain," or handle things ratitionally. After reading this book, it made me feel better to know that depression is a real thing, and that here was another young woman dealing with it too. Perhaps Wurtzel did not act lady-like enough (e.g. when she celebrates her deflowering) for those who criticize her account. If you are diagnosed with any type of depression, bipolar disorder, or are involved with anyone, or friends of anyone with such disorders, please read this book. It will give you a greater insight into what is going on through their head. Maybe you and your relationships will benefit from it.

Rating:
Summary: A voice for the countless people who suffer in silence...
Review: Well written. I just really loved reading this book because the author shares the overwhelming emotions ... every bit of frustration and hopelessness the depression caused her... which is something that many of us who suffer from clinical depression can relate to. At least, I can.

As Elizabeth Wurtzel is telling her personal story, she details the history of the depression in her life she suffered from since childhood, the things she thought may have contributed to it, and, all the ways she unsuccessfully tried to deal with it through the years. It was ruining her education, her relationships, her career and basically her life. As she grew worse in her 20's she eventually started being hospitalized for it and when she couldn't handle her life anymore she overdosed.

Finally, she was put on a medication which was still quite new at the time, which was Prozac, and it worked for her. She called it "the miracle that saved her life." However, this isnt a book promoting a medication. Its a true-life story that openly tells of her suffering but she even goes beyond her own story ... speaking of so many things in our lives that affect us... how many of us have turned to medications as a last resort... and how we came to be a "Prozac Nation."

Very interesting reading.