> If you do this, be sure to read something lighter afterward, like perhaps Anna Karenina’s suicide scene, or a biography of Sylvia Plath
Nobody, including the author, seems to have mentioned the cultural aspect in all this. Allow me:
Q: What is the difference between a Russian optimist and a Russian pessimist?
A: A Russian pessmist thinks that things can't get any worse. A Russian optimist thinks they not only can, but will.