I tried really hard to give this one a shot. While it was interesting at times, it was very long and very repetitive. I think this could be a good book for the right reader, unfortunately that just wasn't me. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read!

This is a fascinating memoir. Since childhood, Patric knew that she was different. She knew that within her, a pressure would routinely build up until she did something that would be considered illegal or deviant in order to feel better. These deeds included stealing cars, breaking into neighbors' homes and hanging out, (sometimes stealing items and keeping them in a collection). As luck had it, she was never caught, never did jail time, and eventually earned a PhD in the field of sociopathy. This however, came years after she had suffered with apathy and a need to commit misdeeds. It wasn't until she went to college and took psych classes was she able to put a name to her condition.

Patric is the daughter of someone who is or was well known in the music world in LA. She also had a friendship (close to romance) with a well known singer, who she did not name. She meets the man she is now married to when she went to summer camp at age 14, and knew back then that he "got her.," although they required extensive therapy for him to truly understand her.

The best part of this book, for me, was all that I learned about sociopathy, especially how it differs from psychopathy. The memoir delves far into the world of sociopaths, and begs the reader to understand them -- not as people who are "bad" but as people who process things differently, especially emotions. It is also interesting to think about the fact that Patric figured all of this out on her own. What about all the sociopaths out in the world who suffer without knowing what is happening to them or why, and who are unable to avail themselves of help.?

#netgalley

I didn't like this book. I found it hard to get through and the author was annoyingly cocky. I mentioned that I didn't care for the author in a book group and someone said, "well, she IS a psychopath." So okay, that's fair. But this read as someone who diagnosed themselves as a sociopath and then spent the rest of the book talking about how amazing they were and how everyone else just didn't get it. Add some Playboy mansion name-dropping and encounters with the rich and famous and you've got your LONNNNNNGGG book by someone who got their PhD from a diploma mill.

Slow build, but the author is extremely honest with how their diagnosis has impacted their everyday life. The author is brutally honest, and oftentimes endearing with their explanation as to why they made some of the decisions they made as both a kid and an adult. Unique view inside the mind of a person with a diagnosis that is often looked down upon.

This memoir, in which the author chronicles her life as a sociopath, started and ended strong, but flatlined a bit in the middle.
The first half of the book, which consisted of her recollections of a childhood spent lying, stealing, and feeling like an outsider, was quite interesting.
Things started to flag for me, however, once she started writing about her life as a young adult out of college, and all of her research into sociopathy. It was redundant, sometimes boring, and occasionally irritating, especially when she would describe telling people she just met about being a sociopath, like she was using her diagnosis to show off or something.
The epilogue was good, redeeming it some, but I’m still going to round down for this one.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for this #arc of #sociopath in exchange for an honest review.

I received an Arc of this book from Netgalley, but I just could not get into it. I put it down for a while and thought maybe I could come back to it, but I’m putting it away for good. Thanks for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I finished this book with so many questions that won’t have an answer, so I will stick to what’s in the book. The story was an interesting, detailed read of a professed sociopath’s life from her perspective. Regardless of the accuracy of it, I found it a beneficial window into those who are so difficult to help. I appreciated her defining the clear difference between a psychopath (organic in nature) and a sociopath, and the work she’s had to do to develop empathy. Hopefully by shining a light on what it is and what it’s not, she can help those in need to get the right kind of help with this difficult disorder.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book.

A fascinating story about growing up knowing you’re different and trying to figure out how to act “normal.” Definitely not what I expect when I hear the word sociopath, the generalized connotation for someone who’s committed horrible crimes so to read about a “normal” sociopath is fascinating

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘥," 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘙𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴. "𝘐'𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺." 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘐, 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

This was a truly fascinating memoir that gave me insight into the mind of a sociopath, their experience of life, and their effort to figure out what sociopathy is, in a world lacking in both research and understanding of sociopathy.

My favorite sections of this book were when Patric goes into her childhood experiences and shares what growing up was like for her. While there were many thoughts & impulses I couldn't relate to personally, there were others that felt so familiar.

Patric describes the constant weight of apathy and explains how it is that lack of feeling, and the subconscious desire to feel, that leads sociopaths to act out. She talks about wanting integration not approval, acting as a sort of emotional anthropologist to mimic correct behaviors and look for emotional cues in others, and wanting to experience apathy without stress and pressure.

I feel like I learned so much from Patric. I have empathy for what she and other sociopaths go through and see how difficult it must be to ease the stress of apathy. I also appreciate her being so unflinchingly honest. There are things that are hard to read in this memoir but Patric bares it all for us all to read and scrutinize. That takes guts and vulnerability.

I found reading about Patric's commitment to studying & learning about sociopathy, seeking out research & questioning preconceived notions of what a sociopath is or isn't, and what they do or don't do, to be commendable. I can't imagine how difficult it is to try to live and function within a society where you don't process emotion like everyone else and don't feel like everyone else, then on top of that to have so few answers/solutions to what you're going through.

Thank you very much to Simon & Schuster for approving me for this eARC through NetGalley.

Sociopath by Patric Gagne was a standout memoir. I highly recommend the audiobook version too since it is narrated by the author.

"I don’t care what other people think. I’m not interested in morals. I’m not interested, period. Rules do not factor into my decision-making. I’m capable of almost anything."⁣
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Summary⁣
Sociopath: A Memoir is at once a jaw-dropping tale of a life lived on the edge of the law, and a moving account of one woman's battle to gain a deeper understanding of people who, like her, are sociopaths.⁣
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The first hmm maybe half I was all in, I loved learning about how non-existent the term sociopath is/was when Patric Gagne was researching and attempting to learn more about sociopathy and psychopathy. Learning about Gagne's upbringing and childhood was also fascinating.⁣
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Sounds like a really fascinating book, doesn't it? Well, this was when it started to piss me off. She made extremely immoral and dangerous choices, never once being afraid of any consequences (sociopaths lack empathy so I understand the 'why') BUT what if every person with a mental illness acted on every single one of their impulses? I also recognize that she did not come of age in a time that recognized mental illness but the woman was in therapy and was clearly not trying to "get better" but rather, just learn more about herself. She never once used the word narcissist but she seems to be a pretty big one. Towards the end she even mentions used physical violence against a child to "teach the kid a lesson." I truly hope that she has found some strength to actually find the right set of doctors to actually calm her mind.⁣
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Have you read this one? It is very interesting so I think I still may recommend it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

It's hard to believe that this book is getting attention for anything other than being salacious, something that most books of this nature are trying to move away from. It's hard to know how much of it to believe especially considering the author's questionable educational . A lot of news sources are presenting this as an author who "struggled" with her sociopathic diagnosis. This is patently false. She diagnosed herself early on and then seemingly insisted on it until a professional agreed with her. Take away all of the law breaking and this book is incredibly boring, just domestic arguments. The author seems oblivious about her level of wealth and privilege and at the end of the day I think it's kind of offensive and irresponsible to present all of her illegal activities without really delving into the fact that the only reason she isn't in jail right now is because she's a wealthy white woman. She claims to have written the book to 'help' other people who may be sociopaths but I really don't buy that.

I think everyone should read this book. The author does a great job in bringing to light that sociopaths are out there and they aren’t all bad people. These people are just different, not necessarily dangerous and should be judged harshly. It sounds to me like sociopaths can lead respectable lives on the right side of the law if they are just given the right guidance on how to adjust their sense of normal to the way society has deemed things to be acceptable. I felt bad for this author that she’s spent her entire life just searching for answers on how she can feel accepted and live a normal life. The personal stories she told are truly what makes this book so interesting to read. Her family member was right when they said to not write this like a textbook, because the personal stories are what the reader wants to hear, because those of us that aren’t sociopaths might not read it if we thought it was just a “How to” for a sociopath, especially if we aren’t one. Hopefully this book can bring more help to others that suffer from this condition as well.

I was given this book by the publisher in exchange for my honest review and was not encouraged to write a positive review, just an honest one, and my honest opinion is that this book is excellent and I recommend that everyone read it. There are a large amount of sociopaths that exist in this world and we need to know how to recognize them so we can try to help them.

As a soon as I saw the cover and the title, I knew I had to read it. It did not disappoint! It grabbed my attention from the moment that I started reading. I think most people do confuse the terms sociopath and psychopath and Gagne did a great job highlighting the differences. I was surprised to learn about the history with lack of diagnostics, treatment, and even a basic definition. Gagne brought an unique perspective of experiencing it firsthand. I was in disbelief at some of her stories. It was heartbreaking to hear some of the lengths she went through to feel normal and live up to the pressure of her loved ones. Just thinking about her counting her bites in case her mother asked was unsettling. But I loved to hear how she took such an interest in her disorder and ending up helping so many people like her. I would definitely recommend this book!

Patric Gagne’s memoir about being a sociopath provoked so much conversation in my life. This memoir was at its strongest when she discussed her childhood and her path to diagnosis. I felt like the narrative turned choppy and seemed as though she was holding back when discussion more recent events in her life. I think this was such an important topic and I would recommend it, but it’s sitting at a 3.5 due to the last half or so.

I was really interested in this book after seeing a bunch of people I follow review early copies and I think that unfortunately raised my expectations. As someone with BPD I understand first hand what it's like to have a very misunderstood and villainized mental illness, and I enjoyed seeing the author talk about that alongside the feeling of being alone in her diagnosis. The thing that really lowered my enjoyment of this was simply the fact that I didn't like the author. Which is super disappointing (and a little annoying) considering this is a memoir. I was interested in understanding more about what it means to be a Sociopath, simply because almost everything you find in the media about it is negative or blown out of proportions. Overall, I had an alright time reading this and I wish I didn't see so many raving reviews of it so I could've kept my expectations low.

Sociopath is an outstanding memoir, tracing the life of Patric Gagne from her earliest recognition that she didn't think or feel the way that others do. Despite her struggles, Patric writes with a compassion that is compelling. Readers will be both fascinated and engrossed with this well-written memoir.

I admire Gagne for openly sharing her story, but it ultimately fell flat for me. While I rip through most memoirs, this one was a struggle to finish. Gagne is very repetitive and her insistence on a diagnosis of sociopathy rubbed me the wrong way. Her insistence that no other diagnosis could be hers felt closed minded and immature. Further, refusal to mention that female mental health traits often differ greatly from those listed in books also bothered me. Ultimately, I found some parts of this book interesting but it is doubtful I would recommend it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

This had to be one of the most complicated but helpful books I've ever read. I haatve long suspected that someone close to me has some sociopathic traits, but I was unsure how the traits are clustered. Dr. Gagne gives an excellent overview of why sociopathy is so complicated to diagnose as well as why it is a condition with a stigma that prevents people from seeking and receiving the help that they need.

As she explores how her condition impacted her life, I found myself continually muttering, "That sounds right!! No, wait that's not ____ at all!" It was incredibly frustrating for me, so I can only imagine how someone with sociopathy would feel. The lack of understanding, resources, and help available would make it hard to fully integrate into society.

Through a unique combination of tactics, Dr. Gagne is able to reign hers into something controllable and is able to live a happy and fulfilled life. But how many others will have the opportunity to explore their options? The answer is not enough.

I found this book to be fascinating, honest and at times brutal to read. There is some humor sprinkled throughout to bring levity which was greatly needed.Gagne realizes she lacks something everyone else has and makes an effort to understand it in interesting and unusual ways. The honesty revealed about her disorder and the kind of behavior it has led to has a candor that is both refreshing and disturbing. Definitely one of the most interesting books I’ve read all year! Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for this arc.

DNF-ed at 20% because none of the stories feel believable which I guess may be a component of the author being a sociopath but it also makes me question how much of the book actually happened.