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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
This book was great. I found it amazing and unique. What a great lesson in life to learn to be accepting of people. The author does a great job of presenting her life story. I could not put it down. I hope to relisten to this is the future. There was so much great information in there, I loved it!
You know me. I looooove memoirs; it's what I'm most famous for if you looked me up, which I urge you not to do. I read Sociopath by Patric Gagne, and this is one of the memoirs that I do not really like. A very interesting premise and some cool stories and internal conflicts are this book's saving grace. The overarching narrative, struggle for self-acceptance (and societal acceptance?), and the writing (WOOF! The writing!) are all pretty weak.
Like, I get it. The premise, a self-aware sociopath who tries to forge a normal life despite her violent urges and lack of empathy, is a good one and immediately draws attention. Her youth, in particular, is interesting, as he struggles to even figure out what differentiates her from others. The broad strokes/outlines are there. However, there is nothing interesting about her writing style. The classic memoir pitfall. The only thing that memoirs need to be is true (apparently some of that is even called into question upon digging up information online?). Yet, the narrative is straightforward, corny, predictable, and, most egregiously, boring. How do you make a book about being a diagnosed sociopath boring? She focuses so much on her relationship to husband, a one-dimensional figure, and reveals where it will lead extremely early on that it removes so much tension for the rest of the book. Will they work out? Will he be able to accept her as a sociopath? Yes, doofus, obviously. I am so sorry to her husband, who is clearly a caring, smart, and influential tech guy who could give me a high-paying job some day, but anytime he was the focus it felt like I was getting hit with the brain-melting ray.
For a person who has no emotions, she sure does feel a lot toward the other characters. It's explained away by stating that sociopathy is on a spectrum, and she landed somewhere in the middle. She flirts with deep dives on the psychology front and analyses on her condition, but nothing major is revealed. By trying to be a creative memoir and a psychological text, I think this book mostly fails at both. To be totally honest, I felt like the sociopath while reading this book. I wanted her to do more dangerous stuff and break more conventions and rules, maybe because I wasn't getting that from the writing.
Sounds like I hated this book, but I did not. Some of her actions are so outlandish and dangerous that they were interesting to read about. And I'm glad a perspective like this exists, and I'm glad she is okay, happy, and able to tell this story. It's just a shame that things weren't take to the next level.
Like, I get it. The premise, a self-aware sociopath who tries to forge a normal life despite her violent urges and lack of empathy, is a good one and immediately draws attention. Her youth, in particular, is interesting, as he struggles to even figure out what differentiates her from others. The broad strokes/outlines are there. However, there is nothing interesting about her writing style. The classic memoir pitfall. The only thing that memoirs need to be is true (apparently some of that is even called into question upon digging up information online?). Yet, the narrative is straightforward, corny, predictable, and, most egregiously, boring. How do you make a book about being a diagnosed sociopath boring? She focuses so much on her relationship to husband, a one-dimensional figure, and reveals where it will lead extremely early on that it removes so much tension for the rest of the book. Will they work out? Will he be able to accept her as a sociopath? Yes, doofus, obviously. I am so sorry to her husband, who is clearly a caring, smart, and influential tech guy who could give me a high-paying job some day, but anytime he was the focus it felt like I was getting hit with the brain-melting ray.
For a person who has no emotions, she sure does feel a lot toward the other characters. It's explained away by stating that sociopathy is on a spectrum, and she landed somewhere in the middle. She flirts with deep dives on the psychology front and analyses on her condition, but nothing major is revealed. By trying to be a creative memoir and a psychological text, I think this book mostly fails at both. To be totally honest, I felt like the sociopath while reading this book. I wanted her to do more dangerous stuff and break more conventions and rules, maybe because I wasn't getting that from the writing.
Sounds like I hated this book, but I did not. Some of her actions are so outlandish and dangerous that they were interesting to read about. And I'm glad a perspective like this exists, and I'm glad she is okay, happy, and able to tell this story. It's just a shame that things weren't take to the next level.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Before reading this, I had the basics of what defined sociopathy in my tool kit. After this, I would say I have a lot more than the basics. The first half of this book was the better half. Reading what Patric experienced as a young child built up the reasoning for later in life things. It also shows how difficult it is for a young child to navigate life knowing they are so different than everyone they know.
The second half of the book was decent. This covered Patric’s life once she goes to college and beyond. As one would mighr expect, it did delve more into technical terms and psychological ideas/practices. I have no training in this field, so some of this reading did feel heavy. Also, Patric kept writing about how great David was and how he helped her so much. In reality, I sat there questioning how much help he really was-he always seemed to be questioning her diagnosis, remind her to be “good,” etc. If I were in his shoes, I would have wanted some couples therapy and done my own research (granted, he does get better in the end).
This wasn’t a horrible book. I did recommend it to my mom who is in the psych/conseling field, figuring she would understand the technical stuff a lot more than I did. I hope that this does help people out in some way, even if it’s helping your “typical” person understand the diagnosis better.
The second half of the book was decent. This covered Patric’s life once she goes to college and beyond. As one would mighr expect, it did delve more into technical terms and psychological ideas/practices. I have no training in this field, so some of this reading did feel heavy. Also, Patric kept writing about how great David was and how he helped her so much. In reality, I sat there questioning how much help he really was-he always seemed to be questioning her diagnosis, remind her to be “good,” etc. If I were in his shoes, I would have wanted some couples therapy and done my own research (granted, he does get better in the end).
This wasn’t a horrible book. I did recommend it to my mom who is in the psych/conseling field, figuring she would understand the technical stuff a lot more than I did. I hope that this does help people out in some way, even if it’s helping your “typical” person understand the diagnosis better.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship