Reviews

Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

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comrademun's review against another edition

5.0

As someone who has lived with depression for over 20 years, this was an incredibly difficult book to read. I saw my own behaviour in that of Elizabeth and had to reconcile my own harmful actions. Not an easy task!

This book so perfectly captures the overwhelming pain and fog of living with depression, and ironically, has given me pause to really work through my feelings and actions. Cannot recommend highly enough for everyone - if you have depression, you will empathise, and if you don’t, you will understand why it’s not just “being sad.”

lottie1803's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

alexkersbergen's review against another edition

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2.0

This book was just 300 pages of self-pity but that’s sometimes almost exactly what depression is like. Elizabeth Wurtzel painted a raw and real picture of depression, and it was insufferable because people with depression ARE insufferable. I’m struggling to truly find the right words to describe this, I don’t want to talk bad on people suffering from depression. What I’m trying to say is, that this disease is so all-consuming that you become unrecognisable. You don’t care that you are hurting people around you because you can’t care about that. There is no extra mental space for that. Elizabeth Wurtzel was so fierce and real for writing this book, it was one big pity party and I loved it. That being said, I’ll go take my prozac now…

libraryforspooky's review against another edition

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2.0

I try not to rate memoirs or non-fiction books low. However, Elizabeth Wurtzel attended and graduated Harvard. It's often mislead that the author was living in poverty but was able to afford an ivy league education and visit therapists on a weekly basis. The book itself is a recollection of the author being depressed, which I understand completely, but the author had a substance abuse issue and we often are met with a wall when talking about the crippling depression. How did she finish school when she could never get out of bed?

She was saved by prozac and like girl, me too but its not a miracle drug. You won't just change your personality by taking prozac, you have to genuinely put in the work for a brighter outcome. Where was the work?

By the end, I can see why this is a favorite of Caroline Calloway. A self absorbed upper middle class young women who is able to see a therapist, pay for prescription drugs and pay for ivy league tuition.