Comments on: Dear Elizabeth Wurtzel – you’re OK, really

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Wed, 19 May 2010 07:12:25 +0000

Separately, I’m sure I speak for everyone here when I say, I’m very sorry for the depression that you have had to deal with in your own life. Depression is no joke. I hope you’re ok.

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:20:04 +0000

Jess… that’s ridiculous. No one here has talked any smack–even those who admit her personality isn’t one they care for still speak kindly and wish her well. Also, I know for a fact that at least one and probably multiple members of this conversation have in fact dealt with depression. There’s no need to jump into an old conversation and start throwing punches.

By: jess

jess — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:31:28 +0000

Everyone that’s talking smack doesn’t even know what you’re talking about. That’s exactly where her pain and frustration came from was that nobody understood her pain and how it feels to be depressed. I’m assuming that everyone talking smack has never actually been depressed because if you ever had been you would understand exactly how she feels and how it is to be depressed. She didn’t over exaggerate or over dramatize it that’s how it is…

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:01:55 +0000

I gotta agree wilth bellademe here, she seems a bit egocentric to me, but I wish her no harm at all and hope she gets through whatever her crisis is.

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:39:08 +0000

You could be right… it’s not a statement I’m willing to stick my flag in and stand on. (that she loved him, I mean.) Really I’m just reflecting on my own version of that relationship–my wonderful, darling Ben and how I’ve had such a hard time dealing with the fact that our relationship doesn’t look like the one I imagined, even though I realize it could in fact be far better than following my fairy-tale might have allowed.

Reflecting on it after a night’s sleep I realize that, more likely than my first comment, it’s probably some combination of our reactions: that she didn’t really love him, but she could have if she hadn’t been chasing something else, maybe.

By: belledame222

belledame222 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:27:34 +0000

Yeah…I kind of can’t deal with her. I see what you mean, but she’s exactly the kind of personality I cannot. deal. with. or, well, one of them. exhausted and drained just reading her. “More, Now, Again” was really where she lost me. That and the 9/11 reaction. It’s all part of the same thing, though. Hope someday she pulls through…whatever she needs to pull through.

By: Natalia Antonova

Natalia Antonova — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:54:27 +0000

Heh.

I dunno about Gregg, not having been there and all, but she strikes me as someone who felt profoundly insecure around him. I think she was shocked that he loved her or at least had feelings for her, and hence sabotaged the entire thing. I also think that her worshipful-yet-oddly-distant language on him implies that the connection wasn’t particularly deep to begin with, but perhaps there was that chance, and it’s the chance she mourns.

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:45:52 +0000

I just noticed you have me at the very top of your blog list! and little me hardly posting once every six months. You are such a sweetheart!

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:44:02 +0000

Ohh, my heart goes out to her. I agree with you, her writing is as open as a wound, and beautiful. But I disagree with you a little; I think it’s possible that she did love Gregg and could have been happy with him, but she didn’t have the wisdom or emotional maturity to know how to make that happen. I believe that we all look for great meaning and purpose in our lives, and she was looking for that through sex, which is why life with just one person felt like a prison… but sex is never going to give us meaning. It feels cliché to introduce Christ at this moment, but really, I think our human need is to fit our lives into a story as cosmic as Christ–a story of a great and loving God; and a beautiful, fallen humanity; and an unimaginably great act of love and redemption; and a beautiful, momentous, adventuresome, perhaps dangerous and (while we live) mysterious purpose for the redeemed. I think the stories we write for ourselves are far too small.

By: octogalore

octogalore — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:34:05 +0000

Excellent post, Natalia. Agree with you about the reaction being smug. Personally, if I were younger than Wurzel (I’m the same age), I’d be wary of smugly predicting I’d act differently in ten, twelve years.

As it is, I agree with you — this is exposure of a wound, it’s not clear whether it reflects the sum total of Wurzel’s rational thoughts on the matter, or the passing angst of someone who knows what kind of world she lives in.