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A review by semi
Sociopath: a Memoir by Patric Gagne
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
2.0
tldr: as a memoir it attempted to be introspective but lacked depth and accountability. tbh this book could’ve benefited from more editing.
***
there’s something off about this memoir…having done light research about aspd prior to this novel there are just some contradictions that puzzled me, but i’m no expert so i just took it with a grain of salt.
i also had to realize that the narrator is most likely really unreliable. to be fair they outright admit that some of the conversations were reconstructed for narrative purposes and they describe so many instances of them being by dishonest and manipulative despite priding themselves on “i never lie.” people who constantly have to prove that they’re honest probably aren’t. some of the conversations felt too polished and info dumpy. like it felt more like i was reading a movie script rather than an organic conversation. and a lot of her stories felt embellished.
i also wish she sourced actual people and papers to help validate her claims and give attention to others work in the field where aspd is stigmatized and there is still so much debate about it. but this could be a nit pick.
lastly narratively wise it started interesting but quickly fizzles out. the first 4/5 of the book felt pretty superficial in the sense that she’d repeat the same points on every other page just in different phrasing. yet it never got deeper than that despite her trying to make it sound profound. she would also repeat how much of a sociopath she was on like every page for what im assuming is shock factor. however, the “i’m a sociopath” bit got old after 10 pages. ok cool, you’re a sociopath, but why should i keep reading?
***
there’s something off about this memoir…having done light research about aspd prior to this novel there are just some contradictions that puzzled me, but i’m no expert so i just took it with a grain of salt.
i also had to realize that the narrator is most likely really unreliable. to be fair they outright admit that some of the conversations were reconstructed for narrative purposes and they describe so many instances of them being by dishonest and manipulative despite priding themselves on “i never lie.” people who constantly have to prove that they’re honest probably aren’t. some of the conversations felt too polished and info dumpy. like it felt more like i was reading a movie script rather than an organic conversation. and a lot of her stories felt embellished.
i also wish she sourced actual people and papers to help validate her claims and give attention to others work in the field where aspd is stigmatized and there is still so much debate about it. but this could be a nit pick.
lastly narratively wise it started interesting but quickly fizzles out. the first 4/5 of the book felt pretty superficial in the sense that she’d repeat the same points on every other page just in different phrasing. yet it never got deeper than that despite her trying to make it sound profound. she would also repeat how much of a sociopath she was on like every page for what im assuming is shock factor. however, the “i’m a sociopath” bit got old after 10 pages. ok cool, you’re a sociopath, but why should i keep reading?