Prozac Highway

by Persimmon Blackbridge

From the author of Sunnybrook comes a rollicking new novel about Internet romance, pharmaceutical remedies for life, and far-flung family."Blackbridge's prose is direct and stylishly simple". -- Quill & Quire

Prozac Highway veers along like an accident waiting to happen. Its heroine, Jam, has a hard time walking to the corner store because she's so depressed, but her life on the Internet is one delirious ride. Featuring a group of eccentric misfits out to prove that you can fight city hall, and a steamy on-line affair that deepens into love, her virtual life is everything that her real Life isn't. The story intercuts her present career dilemma as an over-forty lesbian porn star, with her teenage acid-head past and her various sexual misadventures. Jam's far-flung family -- her Net friends Junior and Fruitbat, her long-time artist-partner, Roz, and Cynthia the phone-sex worker -- stick with her through it all as she navigates the shifting terrain of urban madness, Prozac and virtual reality.

Blackbridge writes with wry wit and an ear for contemporary dialogue. With Prozac Highway she takes readers on a hair-raising cyberlit journey that explores multiple dimensions of family and the challenges of aging rebelliously.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Mental Health, Relationships, Lesbian, Novels

267 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[Ocean]

i remember liking this book a little bit when i was younger but it didn't hold up to re-reading. i actively disliked all the characters and, to me, reading about someone's adventures on a listserv and fantasy role-playing game is the height of tedium. i know that's some people's thing, and that's fine, but it isn't mine.

[Caty]

In my late teens, this book marked my discovery of the existence of the Mad Pride movement. And never was such a pivotal discovery wrapped in such a compulsively readable package (with clever queer sensibility, to boot.)

[Kit Pangman]

I came across this book when cleaning out a friends' attic - it had various sticky notes and penciled in notes in the margin regarding the main characters' mental health diagnosis possibilities. Reflecting back, I found these notes made reading the text a little more biased, with mental health on the forefront of my mind. I however found the main character relateable, and think back on my own time spending time in online communities with friends in others parts of the world - though a simpler time, it made it easier to feel and connect to the emotions of the main character as she connects with her online friends. I enjoyed reading a story that was a different change of pace than some of my other readings.

[Ginny]

At the time I read this book (1998-1999) I was an active member of an internet community she mentions (alt.support.depression), and I was participating in a mailing list for depressives as well. I felt as if I knew her because I was so familiar with the world she was describing in the book - depression, internet communities, mailing lists, concern for people you've never met but to whom you feel closer than you do to your own real-life acquaintances.

[Lo]

One of the best novels about lesbians. She does things with language that are so familiar and accessible yet totally unconventional.

[Ryan]

a decent dyke novel. probably would have liked it a lot more when i was like 16.

[D.J. Sylvis]

I don't think I expected this novel to be as well put-together as it was, but I was engrossed! I'd recommend it highly.

[Allison Landa]

Phenomenal. One of my all-time favorites. Funny and profound, timely and timeless. I read it every now and again for inspiration, and I am never disappointed.

[Kailin]

A view from the other side of the mental illness looking glass.