Prozac nation is a book based on the life of Elizabeth Wurtzel and her struggles with depression. Growing up in the 70s Elizabeth struggled from depression from an early age. She talks about her self harm and negative thoughts which plagued her life pretty much every day. A big chunk of the book has to do with when she went to university. Here being on her own without her mother she lives a hazy life filled with sex and drugs. She also bounces in and out of hospital after overdoses and struggles to get through her courses at Harvard. Despite living quite a privileged life, Wurtzel bounces from doctor to doctor who do not seem to know what to do to help her. She is tried on a number of different medications to try and alleviate some of her symptoms when finally she is tried on Prozac and is able to overcome some of her problems.
This is a very honest story and at times Wurtzel's personality does seem rather obnoxious, but I feel that this just adds to her character. She does not claim to be perfect and I feel that this just makes the book all that more personal. At many points in the book you can hear the desperation that she felt. This is an excellent novel and I would definitely recommend.
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Wurtzel, if nothing else, is up with the times. In the age of agony books and 'woe-is-me tales', Wurtzel adds to the library with her memoirs of living with mental illness, artistic flair, and a trust fund. There is only so much sympathy one can have for a Harvard student such as Wurtzel, and all mine was used watching someone stand at the bus stop in the rain minus an umbrella. If you miss this book you can be sure another one with similar themes will come along shortly. After all, the rich and the spoilt always get heard.
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Oh boo hoo! Another misleading synopsis, i was expecting a colorful and detailed portrayal of a young girl's fight with depression, and all i get is this! - it's like listening to someone continuously sob their heart out, no matter what you say, except, wait, it's in a book! I was expecting a lot more, and for the first few paragraphs i was willing to give it a shot, hoping things would pick up, but i couldn't bare to read a novel about a whiney girl, writing a book and passing on the depression. Sheer boredom.
If you want to die, go ahead.
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I have never read such rubbish in my life!
Having just read Marya Hornbachers 'Madness', a true story of her struggle with BiPolar Disorder, I found Prozac Nation extremely boring.
There are only so many pages I can read about some little girl whinning over her parents breaking up, etc etc..
I found this book to be full to the top of self pity, and as a sufferer of depression who is also on Prozac, this book seems to not only glamourise the illness but read like it is a ticket to the alternative 'cool' life style.
Elizabeth Wurtzel seems never to grow up through out her years, the end of the book still reads like she is the same old spoilt 10 year old she was at the start.
And frankly, how she manages to remember all of this stuff happening in her life whilst she is on so much medication at such a 'terrible' time in her life, is quite surprising.
My opinion - read Marya Hornbacher.
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I felt that the story dragged on a bit too much, even though it is a good book to read. i wasnt really interested on how she got to that point, in fact i wanted to know exactly what happened at the age she started. She does go back to when she was younger, which makes the read slightly confusing at times.
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