Ciara's Final reaction

Yes, I do believe reading this book was worth it.  I would completely understand if someone disagreed and thought that, overall, it was not worth it, because I can quite clearly see both sides of the picture.  However, I liked this book because it made me feel less alone in a sense.  I have a lot of the same thoughts that Dostoyevsky had, but I push them into the recesses of my mind because they are so foreign and abstract, and I don’t have the time or patience, or even courage, to untangle them.    It is not easy to look at oneself from the outside, to really delve into oneself, because often, some of the most important aspects of ourselves are what we try so hard to suppress.

My favorite part of this book that I will remember is the idea that there is never a right answer; there are always 2 or more different ways to look at a situation, all holding equal weight.  I am naturally an indecisive person.  When my mom sends me to the store to buy a dessert for a dinner we’re going to, I spend an eternity with two items in my hand, weighing the costs and benefits of each. After a while, I just end up choosing one randomly because I honestly cannot justify one over the other; just when I think one is better, I realize an equalizing aspect about the other.  This trait of indecisiveness bothers my parents sometimes, because I find it very difficult to make decisions.  If I find it agonizingly difficult to decide between two desserts at the grocery store, imagine the dilemma I suffer when I have make life-changing choices. 

It is nice to know that I am not alone in my dilemma, because at times I wondered if this trait was more of a flaw than a gift.  I think this book was worth reading because it taught me more about my self, and made me more understanding of my most defining characteristics.