Reviews - Sociopath: a Memoir

6.03k reviews for:

Sociopath: a Memoir

Patric Gagne

3.82 AVERAGE

emilycdennis's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

katerina119's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful informative

“Inflicting pain (or distress) was a guaranteed, instantaneous method of pressure elimination. I didn't know why. All I knew was the release after stabbing Syd was the best feeling I'd ever had. It wasn't just that I didn't care. It was that I didn't care that I didn't care.”

I couldn’t tear myself away from this one.

I consider myself an introvert with pretty bad social anxiety and I’ve often wished I could just not care at all…until I read this. This is a lonely, isolating and scary life. The author’s stories throughout the book were shocking and sad. The way she so badly wanted to be different? It kinda broke my heart.

"You know what the worst part is? The worst part about being a sociopath?" I said. "It's the loneliness. You wouldn't think so, but it is. I want friends. I want to connect. But I can't. It's like I'm starving, but food makes me sick.”

Clearly sociopathy is a misunderstood diagnosis. I admittedly used it interchangeable with psychopathy so to see the differences laid out in this book was eye opening. I feel like I learned a lot without being overwhelmed with medical terminology.

That being said, there are reviews floating around claiming that the authors qualifications are a bit sus. But I gotta say… after reading those and considering their authenticity … I almost find this memoir more fascinating. It’s even more of a peek into in psyche and after all, this is a memoir about her experiences and views of the world living with a mental illness that almost nobody understands.

The research parts of the story carried so much less than her IRL experiences and I think that’s how we’re able to empathize with what she’s dealing with. I think we’re supposed to be a little uncomfy about it…that’s why we picked it up, right?

whitfieldbp's review

3.25

challenging dark informative medium-paced

Just a bit of an odd read. It's sometimes interesting and other times odd off putting. While i understand it's about the authors sociopathy, listening to someone talk about constantly makes you feel like this is the most annoying friend in the world.

katsreads91's review against another edition

This book or something like it should be required reading. Not only did I learn about sociopathy but it also makes me look at anyone with mental illness (myself included) or physical disability differently.