Hello! I'm new to Ciao so please be gentle...I'm trying my best to learn how to write informative re...
Hello! I'm new to Ciao so please be gentle...I'm trying my best to learn how to write informative reviews!
My interests include reading, watching foreign movies, cooking & eating, and cycling.
Member since:14.12.2005
Reviews:12
Members who trust:3
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 tone of the book wasn't going to change. I even 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 opinion of this book. They give her self-involved writing a sense of purpose, and the fact that she doesn't deny the tediousness and narcissism of the book makes it all the more clear that it had to be written in this way in order to transmit the kind of suffering involved.
I tend to be sceptical of reviews which hail books as representative of an era before enough time has passed for it to be possible to look back; all the same, it can't be denied that the combination of lucidity and intense experience allowed this author to write in a convincing, emphatic way about an illness that is so hard to convey and, ultimately, so boring to talk about. Her habit of slipping into the present tense made the experiences all the more real and served to drag the reader further down into her world of dark thoughts. I was astounded by her ability to remember episodes so clearly, and it made sense when I read in her epilogue that this was a work in progress over many years. It is clear that she feels a little bitter towards the numerous less serious cases of depression which have surfaced recently, as well as the relative ease these days of obtaining medication for the condition, which explains her slightly pretentious tendency to see herself as the 'original case', her illness having pushed her to the forefront of medical findings and made her into a guinea-pig for new medication back in the 80s.
Reading this book, I was overwhelmed by two emotions: gratitude and fear. I am grateful that, for now, the dark cloud of true depression has passed me by on its travels; and scared, because one day it may be triggered by something beyond my control, and I will no longer be able to see clearly.
*** [this review has also appeared on my livejournal, username torksoul]
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Not enough information - JOKE. Sounds like an interesting book. I dont agree with Nar, personally I read plenty of information I would want to know before purchasing a book. Good review, Jonny.
nickyturnill 06.01.2006 13:34
I also wrote a review on this book. I really enjoyed it and would like to read it again! You seem to have good taste! x
Nar 06.01.2006 02:08
It sounds interesting from your point of view to why you read the book and how the author's writing appeals to you - but what are these experiences? Is the book all about universal Gratitude and Fear or does it stem from an idea that the author centres around? More info needed about what the book is actually about. Remember the more detail you put in, the more it may appeal to a consumer.
Advantages: Enthralling, impossible to put down, informative and shockingly honest. Disadvantages: It's a sad book and can be depressing to read at times.
Advantages: Enthralling, impossible to put down, informative and shockingly honest. Disadvantages: It's a sad book and can be depressing to read at times.
helpful by (92%):
somewhat helpful by (8%):
