MovieChat Forums > Prozac Nation (2003) Discussion > another book question?

another book question?

posted 18 years ago by niveknager
5 replies | jump to latest

ok, yeah, so I attempted to read this book about a year ago. I got almost 60 - 70 pages. I just gave up on it. a year later (now), I read her other book "More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction". I loved it, it was extremely interesting, but it did have a bland part in the middle when she was in rehab. Really, I have no clue what I'm asking. I was just wondering if I got stuck at the bland part of the book or something? I loved the movie, but supposedly they're completely different. Answers?

[–] Mean_Green 18 years ago

No.. The whole book is pretty much extremely bland and pretty much reiterates how much she hates her life and how horrible she is and how she wants to die over and over again until she gets put on Prozac.

There are a few other things that happen, but it's pretty much something that could've told in about thirty or forty pages as opposed to three hundred.

http://stanfordwank.livejournal.com

StanfordWANK: Because who doesn't like it rough?

[–] randomosity_prevails 18 years ago

I beg to differ. I found the book to be moving in places. Yes, I can see how for some people, it may have been self-indulgent, trite and overly involved. However, it is a memoir. It's meant to be solely about the author. Wurtzel's life was marked with depression, which she conquered, so it's natural she should want to share that.

As for bland, I personally found the book to be wonderfully descriptive. Her elaborations of her feelings are often very precise, which I believe reaches to her target audience (predominantly adolescents, or depressives) as she is relating what they often feel.

Books don't appeal to everyone, if you have no experience of what is being described in the book, obviously it will bore you.

As for the movie vs the book, go for the book. The movie is only the tip of the iceberg.

[–] Mean_Green 18 years ago

I'm an 11-year depressive, five year bi-polar. I just hated her book. I thought she was really unlikable in it. I know her goal wasn't to be likable.. But she really annoyed me throughout.

I liked the movie because the character didn't give as much insight as the book did, so it took some of the unlikable-ness away from her, for me.

I like her more after watching the film, but the book I still think is a tedious read. I didn't look forward to reading it. I just wanted to have finished it.

http://stanfordwank.livejournal.com

StanfordWANK: Because who doesn't like it rough?

[–] imshakin4rooney 18 years ago

I attempted to read Prozac Nation last year and I just couldn't get through it. I laughed at the titles. It just made me sick. However, after an extremely rough year that ultimately ended with me in a psychiatric ward changed everything. Prozac Nation is my favorite book. Elizabeth Wurtzel is the only person I know of who can describe my depression with the utmost perfection.
I definitely understand why people can not stand it though. The book is self indulgent. That's what depression is. Depression is self-indulgence, self pity. That is such a huge part of the disorder and she described it so accurately.

[–] NaniUbanani 16 years ago

people who aren't or haven't been depressed ( and by this i don't mean felt a lil down at times, i mean actually depressed ) hate or will hate this book and movie. they will find it to be extremely slow, tiring, exhausting and boring... well for people who have been depressed they love it because that's what depression is. its slow, exhausting and so irritating to the point of hating oneself because of your own helplessness. so if u watched this movie and hated it, good for you, you caught a lil glipmse of how it feels in the life of a depressive person, only for them its like this 90 % of the time.