Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America: A Memoir - Elizabeth Wurtzel

Advantages: Enthralling, impossible to put down, informative and shockingly honest.
Disadvantages: It's a sad book and can be depressing to read at times.

...hands on a copy of Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel for years, loads of people had told me how great it was!! I eventually bought the book in February in a second hand shop for £1.50 and I read it in three days. Doesn’t that say enough!!! The book is a true to life portrayal of Elizabeth’s life in the USA, written first hand. It starts of in her childhood, in approximately the 1970’s, when she is only around 8 or 9 from when she still feels normal ...
...situation marginally. At this point Prozac is a brand new drug on trial and Elizabeth agrees to give it a shot despite the little knowledge there was about the drug at this point. Of course you can guess the rest. The improvement is dramatic and immediate and it changed Elizabeth’s life immensely for the better, letting her control her depression and at least attempt to lead a normal existence. In many ways this isn’t a happy ending, for Elizabeth ... Read review

Advantages: A spot-on account of depression
Disadvantages: Whiny at times

I've been putting off writing this review because I wanted to sit down and collect my thoughts so as to write something coherent. This book just stimulated me so much that I feel as though I could write reams in response. As soon as I read the first page, I felt drawn right into the narrator's experiences. By the middle of the book, however, the constant droning started to get on my nerves, especially as I realised that this really was it - the ...
...felt a little disappointed, and perhaps deceived by the title which implied that the book was in some way a social comment on today's society; all I had read up until almost the end was very much focussed solely on Elizabeth herself. But she saved the best for last. Throughout the book, Wurtzel's intelligence is often clearly apparent, but the pertinent, concise remarks she makes in her epilogue on the phenomenon of depression were what decided my ... Read review

Advantages: truthful, thoughtful, funny
Disadvantages: can't think of any!

I found this book to be completely addictive. Fed up of people trying to tell me how I should feel and fed up of reading self help books, reading this painful but truthful account of depression somehow made me feel better. I couldn't help but smile at Wurtzel's bluntness in describing her situation as well as realising (as cliche as it sounds) that I'm not the only one!! On the other hand, I'm not sure how interesting this book would be to someone ... Read review