"A book that became a cultural touchstone." -- The New Yorker
Elizabeth Wurtzel writes with her finger in the faint pulse of an overdiagnosed generation whose ruling icons are Kurt Cobain, Xanax, and pierced tongues. In this famous memoir of her bouts with depression and skirmishes with drugs, Prozac Nation is a witty and sharp account of the psychopharmacology of an era for readers of Girl, Interrupted and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.
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Elizabeth Wertzel writes with her finger in the faint pulse of a generation whose ruling icons are Kurt Cobain, Xanax, and pierced tongues. A memoir of her bouts with depression and skirmishes with drugs, Prozac Nation still manages to be a witty and sharp account of the psychopharmacology of an era.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Twenty-six-year-old Wurtzel, a former critic of popular music for New York and the New Yorker, recounts in this luridly intimate memoir the 10 years of chronic, debilitating depression that preceded her treatment with Prozac in 1990. After her parents' acrimonious divorce, Wurtzel was raised by her mother on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The onset of puberty, she recalls, also marked the onset of recurrent bouts of acute depression, sending her spiraling into episodes of catatonic despair, masochism and hysterical crying. Here she unsparingly details her therapists, hospitalizations, binges of sex and drug use and the paralyzing spells of depression which afflicted her in high school and as a Harvard undergraduate and culminated in a suicide attempt and ultimate diagnosis of atypical depression, a severe, episodic psychological disorder. The title is misleading, for Wurtzel skimps on sociological analysis and remains too self-involved to justify her contention that depression is endemic to her generation. By turns emotionally powerful and tiresomely solipsistic, her book straddles the line between an absorbing self-portrait and a coy bid for public attention. First serial to Vogue, Esquire and Mouth2Mouth.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Some catastrophic situations invite clarity, explode in split moments: You smash your hand through a windowpane and then there is blood and shattered glass stained with red all over the place; you fall out a window and break some bones and scrape some skin. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Some catastrophic situations invite clarity, explode in split moments: You smash your hand through a windowpane and then there is blood and shattered glass stained with red all over the place; you fall out a window and break some bones and scrape some skin. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
From the break up to the attention-seeking suicide attempts and the trying to make herself depressed, it is only clear that this girl had or maybe still has borderline personality disorder.
I read the book when I was 16 and I loved it because I thought I could now put what I felt into words and finally get help. But the truth is, this book only makes you crave for more and more drama in your life and I only got worse and ended up attempting suicide(several times) and following a very similar path to elizabeth.
It's a shame and it's sad but it's true.
I have borderline personality disorder(BPD).
I am a lot better now to be able to see clearly into the kind of effect this book has had on me.
I used to love the author for writing the book but now that I'm older, I see it for what it really is: a book you can only get worse from(if you have BPD or even depression).
Also, I 'd like to add that some people might despise those who act the way the author did (by not wanting to get better from her depressed state of mind and attempting suicide as a cry for help and to look 'cool' or be accepted) but that's what BPD is all about: impulsivity and making irrational decisions, confusion, chaos.
You really have to live it to understand it.
I read the book when I was 16 and I loved it because I thought I could now put what I felt into words and finally get help. But the truth is, this book only makes you crave for more and more drama in your life and I only got worse and ended up attempting suicide(several times) and following a very similar path to elizabeth.
It's a shame and it's sad but it's true.
I have borderline personality disorder(BPD).
I am a lot better now to be able to see clearly into the kind of effect this book has had on me.
I used to love the author for writing the book but now that I'm older, I see it for what it really is: a book you can only get worse from(if you have BPD or even depression).
Also, I 'd like to add that some people might despise those who act the way the author did (by not wanting to get better from her depressed state of mind and attempting suicide as a cry for help and to look 'cool' or be accepted) but that's what BPD is all about: impulsivity and making irrational decisions, confusion, chaos.
You really have to live it to understand it.
1 star because it is a downer (which is the part that may go unnoticed to many).
By Bunny Lane
Format:Paperback
People are strange. They say how the character was so self-absorbed and how she didnt care about anyone else. Duh. Depression. Hello? Get anything out of the book?
Its a good book. Its the way someone felt. All the negative reviews need to realize that these are her thoughts when she was depressed. Not perfectly edited so that she looks better.
By K. Braun
Format:Paperback
I found this a valuable read. Wurtzel is an eloquent writer who doesn't hesitate to portray herself as she must have seemed in reality - sometimes whiny and high maintenance. She shares her personal experiences, which I found easy to relate to.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Did not recieve
I did not recieve this product over a month after ordering... I will be filling a claim against the seller.
Published on Mar 13 2011 by Non-Product
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing.
There are some interesting revelations in Prozac Nation, but most of it comes across as more whiny and self-absorbed than anything. Read more
Published on Feb 22 2009 by K Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Umm....Borderline Personality Disorder
She's not depressed. She has BPD!! It's so obvious. I do too.
Published on Dec 27 2005
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you are depressed
This book was very well written. It really describes depression and how a depressed person might feel. Read more
Published on Dec 27 2005
4.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhat Been There; Somewhat Done That
No one, not even for a single instant, can look out at the world through the eyes of someone else's mind. Read more
Published on July 11 2004 by Kenneth E. Wright
2.0 out of 5 stars
SO many things wrong; where should I start?
I had many problems with this book. First of all, true depression affects every aspect of your life. Read more
Published on July 1 2004 by Elle M.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new favorite
I thought this book was beautiful and touching and have no doubt that I will pick it up and read it again sometime very soon. Read more
Published on Jun 20 2004
3.0 out of 5 stars
One Person's Descent into Despair
First of all, let me begin by stating that the title of this book can be a little misleading. This is, after all, a memoir, and should not be taken as an all-encompassing... Read more
Published on Jun 19 2004 by CreepyT
3.0 out of 5 stars
Get Real
Throughout the book the author pays to go to therapy, whines and complains to anyone who will listen, repeatedly gets people to help her in any way she wants, and now we are paying... Read more
Published on Jun 18 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars
a pleasant book
i enjoyed this book so much. some parts throughout the book were a little dry but that's with like every book. a good read. i didn't want it to end.
Published on Jun 12 2004 by anika
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