Prozac Nation (Movie Tie-In) by Elizabeth Wurtzel
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Book Reviews of Prozac Nation (Movie Tie-In)
Book Review: I rounded up from 3.5 stars.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm kinda drawn between liking this book and thinking that it's spoiled girls account of what happens when she doesn't get what she wants. She's chemically imbalanced, intelligent, well-educated, has an addictive-personality, has parent issues, and is overall dysfunctional. It sounds like me and a million other middle-class people. But, maybe that's why I kinda liked it. She has had incredible opportunities handed to her on a silver platter, including the publication and popularity of her book. I'm stuck on this one.Book Review: Like a Car Crash - You Can't Help Watching
Summary: 4 Stars
Reading Prozac Nation is like watching a car crash that you just can't stop staring at. At times Wurtzel becomes quite tiresome and annoying in trying to tell you just how smart, well-read, socially conscious, and knowledgeable about music she is. Despite this, Prozac Nation is a great memoir and an addictive read.Book Review: still reading it
Summary: 4 Stars
It's kind of slow so far and I can't really detect a plot yet but we'll see.Book Review: not traditional; either you hate it or you love it
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a memoir of 26-year-old Elizabeth Wurtzel, about 10 years of her life dealing with a chronic clinical depression.
At first glance, it might seem to some readers that this is Wurtzel's way or `excuse' to whine. But in truth, this memoir actually paints a very honest picture of a person dealing with this disease. The author also stated that her main intent in writing this memoir is to let others know and understand how it is dealing with her disorder. She also stated that she wants people to understand and differentiate between a diagnosis of a clinical depression as opposed to someone who is lousy, and sad all the time.
Personally, I found this a really interesting, honest, and revealing book. I found her writing to be engaging, simply because the way she talks is marked by the younger generation. I felt that it was easy because it was like talking to a friend, but I could see how maybe a much younger AND older generation will not find this book easy to relate to.
It might come off initially that the author is taking the chance to whine and be sarcastic but in truth, this is a way to understand people that are dealing with depression. The writing was a little bit self-indulgent at times, even coming off as narcissistic.
Would I recommend it?
I will tell you that this is one of those books that it's either you like it or you don't. It is definitely not your traditional kind of novel, and that is why sometimes, it could be a little hard to get through this. Just cut the author some slack, try to read it for its honesty, and imagine yourself in her place instead. Maybe that will make the book a great read for you.
Book Review: Anguished
Summary: 3 Stars
This is one woman's memoir of severe depression, dating from her teenage years though young adulthood in the days before prozac. Elizabeth Wurtzel was a young, talented, and deeply depressed student and writer in the 1980s. This is a memoir with little happiness and hope, much like depression itself. In order to cope with the pain Wurtzel drowns her sorrow in drugs, alcohol, and sex. She acts out in inappropriate ways. There's no nice ending, at least until the epilogue. Wurtzel's memoir shows how hard and despeate depression can be.
Elizabeth Wurtzel is clearly a very smart woman and a talented writer. That said, the most difficult part of this book to stomach is not the gut-wrenching descriptions of major depression, but rather, Wurtzel's refusal to recognize the significant socio-economic advantages she has had. Most significant of these are her Harvard education and her plum writing internships. The issue is not that she "should have been happy because she had so much," rather, its the fact that Wurtzel paints herself as a disadvantaged young woman, which she simply does not appear to be. Presenting herself as something of a child of deprivation simply doesn't work, and the book would have been stronger had it not made such suggestions. Much more interesting is how the culture of high expectations shaped her depression.