Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19507 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Synopsis
An account, both harrowing and amusing, of the author's dependence on Prozac, prescribed for her after a series of suicide attempts and breakdowns. She describes her experiences and her determination to get herself off medication.

Customer Reviews

Boo Hoo I'm Depressed
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.

Good, but too long
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.

YES! EXACTLY!!!
Several times as I was reading "Prozac Nation", I thought, "I want my parents, my friends, everybody to read this memoir!" It's on the spot! Completely!

Elizabeth Wurtzel manages an amazing feat. She describes her depression without dramatizing or romanticizing it. It's ugly, discouraging, and dark, but it's true and honest. "Prozac Nation" isn't a fun read or a memoir you plow through forgetting the details. "Prozac Nation" devours you.

"Prozac Nation" is Elizabeth's story of growing up with divorced parents, about being the kid in the middle of feuting parents, being the odd man out in school, and over time, suddenly, despressive. The majority of the story is when Elizabeth is at Harvard in the grounding mill of academia, treatment, the black wave, and life (and death).

One of the thing that I like about "Prozac Nation" is that it doesn't end. No "and she lived happily ever after. The end". The realization that you never truly recover depression is there. You can get better, you can turn your life around, but you never forget.

Louise.