More,
Now, Again
By
Elizabeth Wurtzel
I
have to admit that I'm not the swiftest of readers, even at the best of
times and I often have to plough through a book. It was a few years ago
that I read Prozac Nation - Wurtzel's first book and the one that established
her as a significant name in the literary world. I was captured by the
title and clearly inferred subject material, but wasn't at all prepared
for the harrowing account it gave of Wurtzel's lifetime of struggle with
depression. So when I bought 'More, Now, Again' I did so with eyes wide
open, and I think that to any would be readers of it, I would recommend
that they first make sure they know just what this book is going to be.
Wurtzel does not write fiction. She writes a twisted and painful form
of memoirs. She does not write a diary account, but leads the reader through
a lived experience of her addiction to drugs, the tensions in and breakdown
of the relationships around her. She writes about her life, but responds
and interacts, critiques and analyses it as it happens.
People watching is one of my favourite hobbies. The location has to be
just right so that I get to see the widest cross-section of people possible
and have time and space to chew over my thoughts and ideas as I go. Reading
Wurtzel is that kind of experience. It's for that reason (and this isn't
another attempt at excusing my slow reading pace) that it's taken me a
full seven months to read this book. There have been all kinds of insights
and thoughts, expressions of emotion and accounts of crucial relational
interaction that have captured me, sometimes in a 'looking on' kind of
way, but at other times, in a very introspective and self-examining kind
of way. People watching, when done properly, should be awkward and uncomfortable
and ultimately lead back to an examination of oneself in one way or another.
For me, 'More, Now, Again' was captivating reading, though certainly not
a book to whiz through. If the explanation of my experience of reading
it appeals to or connects with your own approach, then I very much recommend
this book and hope that you find it as satisfying a journey as I have.
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