I started out loving this but my interest waned and by about two-thirds of the way through, I put it down and just never picked it up again. The first part of the book is a compelling tale of growing up (extremely) different from everyone around you, and trying to make sense of what that means for your place in the world. Once she reached adulthood, however, the story becomes a bit boring. It felt like way too much time was spent on the author’s time in Hollywood and the music industry. Also, I thought the book would start to incorporate more of the author’s research on sociopathy (she must’ve done some to earn that PhD, right?), but frankly it does not seem that she did not carry out the kind of rigorous academic work I would’ve expected. I finally did some googling (I was suspicious after the graduate school was specifically not named) and it seems that the institution she got her degree from is a bit of a degree mill, a rather disappointing discovery. All in all, this really did not live up to my high hopes.

Finished Reading

Pre-Read notes:

I'm really interested to read this book. Like Bipolar Disorder, Sociopathy is popularly and widely stigmatized by people who don't know better. Since I know this experience from one of those angles, I thought I would learn a lot from the other.

This is another arc that got away, ironically because NetGalley doesn't always provide accessible copies.

Final Review

Most kids seemed to inherently get the idea of limits. They understood when to stop and when to go. They had an emotional connection to right vs. wrong. But that was never the case with me, particularly when it came to rules that I felt were open to interpretation. (1:47:09)

Final Review and recommendations:

This was a riveting read for me, a book I related to in a dozen unexpected ways. It was actually therapeutic for me to read about the childhood experiences of someone else whose had mental illness since early childhood. Like my diagnosis, sociopathy is widely stigmatized. In fact the top two reviews for this book suggest Gagne is actually wrong about her diagnosis, but let me make something very f-cking clear about those reviews: they are ableist as f-ck. No one can determine a diagnosis for someone just by reading a book. And as far as the author's credentials being circumspect, it's just ridiculous to assume the author *must* have papers published. But even if she did lie, what do you expect? Sociopathy is *marked* by the patients' inability to tell the truth. But the bottom line is, it is radically unprofessional and damaging to psychiatric patients to engage in armchair psychology because it stigmatizes everything it touches. So go ahead and be a soulless windbag if you must, but I'm going to call ot as it is. Ableism.

I recommend this book for fans of psychological or medical memoir, and seekers of realistic mental health rep. I abjectly refuse to recommend this book to anyone who has ever said something like, "that guy's just a psycho" or "you're crazy" or especially "You are definitely neurospicy, did you know that?"

I'd gotten my wish. I was invisible. At least as far as my diagnosis was concerned. (3:47:13)

Reading Notes:

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. Like my limited grasp of emotion, the concept of boundaries was muddled for me. What’s more, it solidified my understanding that I was very different from other people. (1:47:00) I remember the feeling of being different when I was a kid. It's uncanny to read an account that is so different from my own experience, and to see the overlap in how we each lived mental illness in childhood.

2. “You introduce pressure so they learn to release their will," he demonstrated. “And most importantly,” Granddaddy reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sugar cubes, “you reward their progress to encourage obedience.”The horse munched eagerly on his treat, and I giggled. “And that,”he said, winking, “is how you break a horse.” (00:00:00) Life unexpectedly and inevitably finds a way To teach those of us with mental illness.

3. I can really feel Gagne's pain, especially when she was a teenager and young woman. Such a confusing time, with difficult hormones coming home to roost. She wanted so badly to fit in and connect to our society, like we all do, but her makeup caused her to make unusual, sometimes violent, decisions in that pursuit.

4. "People are f-cking amazing, you know?" (08:03:55) I happen to agree with her about this. We are resilient little guys.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. TW animal cruelty. She couldn't really leave out the cat story altogether because, at least diagnostically speaking, it's pretty relevant. But maybe, less details?

Rating: 👤👤👤👤👤 /5 diagnoses from the masses
Recommend? Yes. Please read this book and learn to empathize with mentally ill people, even though they're different from you.
Finished: Jan 6 '25
Format: digital arc, NetGalley; audiobook, Libby
Read this book if you like:
🗣 memoir
👤 mental health rep
🤥 unreliable narrator
🏥 medical memoir

Thank you to the author Patric Gagne, publishers Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of SOCIOPATH. I found an accessible (audiobook) copy on Libby. Read by the author. All views are mine.
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I am so grateful for this book but it was unfortunately not for me. I appreciate it and see it’s allure to others.

I honestly found this hard to get into, maybe because it read with the flat affect that a sociopath might exhibit. The descriptions of her childhood tendency towards violence felt very clinical and detached. I think it's an important read to understand that sociopathy is a condition that can be managed but in terms of enjoying the read I did not.

This book kept people talking and for good reason. Sociopath by Patric Gagne is a thought-provoking memoir that made me reexamine some of my biases. It's one I frequently recommend.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Patric knew she was different from a young age. She didn't feel remorse or experience emotions as her peers did. Her mother calmed her and helped her cope until her parents' marriage fell apart. She entered young adulthood lacking boundaries and self-control and then discovered psychology. Finally, she had a word for who she was, but it was charged with negative stereotypes and psychology lacked a methodology for coping with her neurodivergent condition. Patric's fearlessness and desire to understand how quiet her restless mind in a less destructive way led her to study psychology and pioneer treatment for and create a better understanding of sociopathy.

This memoir reads much like a novel while fostering awareness of a misunderstood mental health condition. Patric's journey to help herself and others like her is inspiring as she works through her frustration to change the perception and treatment of sociopathy.

Patric shares her struggles to understand herself and find a way to live her life and have relationships without negative impacts from her sociopathy. It's easy to read and kept my attention.

This is the review I posted on Goodreads.

I gave up on this one. I read other reviews that debated whether Ms. Gagne was indeed a sociopath but ultimately, I just didn't care. I was tired of her uncaring ways and how she continued to do things that could and did hurt others. She sought out help, but then, didn't take the advice of those who cared about her or the therapist she hired. I just didn't want to spend any more time feeling uncomfortable reading it.

This book was interesting but covered a lot of already well-trod ground for my taste. I happen to read a lot of memoir and especially a lot of mental health memoir that ties in histories of disorders. So! With that in mind, I was drawn in to this book but felt some sense of "why was this written?" by the time I got halfway through. I would recommend it to someone who hasn't read a bunch of mental "illness" memoirs already. The writing is decent enough but the author doesn't have anything particularly interesting to say if you're familiar with sociopathy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for providing me this Digital Advanced Readers Copy of the book!

This is a tough book to rate/review. I'll start by saying I thought the writing was engaging and easy to follow. Patric is certainly not a conventionally likable narrator, which is sort of the point. I found the aspects of her memoir that dealt with ...more

[4.5 stars]

There’ve been many nonfiction books about sociopaths, BUT I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nonfiction book written about sociopaths BY a diagnosed sociopath…and Gagne also has her PHD in Clinical Psychology. The Prologue is jarring and SUPER compelling. The entire book is deeply uncomfortable and I could not look away. Gagne helps readers understand what it's like to actually BE a sociopath and she enabled me to have some empathy for these types of people. They are aware that they don’t feel and they WANT to feel, but they just can’t. She also talks about the lack of research into and treatments for sociopathy and she say that she hopes this book will help sociopaths feel less alone. Raw, uncomfortable, and honest!

Thank you to Net Galley, Edelweiss, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I, like many other reviewers, find that this is a tale somewhat difficult to buy into. While the author acknowledges some embellishment for the sake of storytelling (such as filling in certain details to move the narrative along), it feels like more than that.

I don't pretend to be an expert in anything, let alone authenticating memoirs. While she certainly seems to be describing various neurodivergent behaviors, I (again, like other readers) don't know if "sociopath" is quite the right term. But who am I to say?

Either way, this one didn't work for me.

Sociopath really hit me hard in the best way possible. I don’t think a book has ever made me reflect this deeply or changed my perspective so profoundly. Patric Gagne’s memoir is a powerful exploration of what it means to be different, and it resonated with me as an autistic woman in ways I didn’t expect.

What struck me most was Gagne’s exploration of sociopathy itself. She doesn’t shy away from discussing how her lack of typical emotional responses made her feel like an outsider. Yet, instead of accepting societal labels, she challenges them. Gagne highlights that sociopathy isn’t synonymous with being a monster; it’s about understanding and accepting a different way of experiencing the world.

The writing in the book really struck a chord with me. When she talks about wanting to tell her younger self, <i>“In that moment, I wanted to race back in time to the child I once was and take her face in my hands. 'You're not bad,' I wanted to tell her. 'I swear to God you're a good kid, a kind kid. Don't let anyone tell you different. Wait for me. I wanted to beg. Wait for me and I'll prove it to you,'” it’s like she’s voicing something many of us have felt. We all have moments of doubt, especially when the world seems to label us unfairly. Gagne’s exploration of anxiety and the quest for connection is so relatable; it reminded me that we’re all just trying to navigate our own paths, often feeling lost along the way. </i>

This story isn't just about sociopathy; it's about the universal human experience of feeling different and seeking acceptance. Her exploration of building meaningful relationships and finding love, despite the challenges posed by her sociopathy, is truly inspiring. It shows that connection and empathy can take many forms, and that we shouldn't be quick to judge or dismiss those who express themselves differently.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of human nature and the importance of embracing neurodiversity. Patric Gagne has created a narrative that challenges our preconceptions and encourages us to look beyond labels. I walked away from Sociopath with a renewed appreciation for the diversity of human experiences and a deeper commitment to accepting people as they are.

3 stars - I read it but will probably not think about it again.

This is a mixed review. The title 'Sociopath' is definitely catchy, and the blurb hooked me. It started a fascinating story about a little girl who didn't understand her atypical responses to certain situations. I was totally there for it. But as the book went on, it just got more and more far fetched and sketchy.

In a search to figure out how to say Patric's name (Is it Patrick or Patrice? It's Patrick btw, and I found it really odd the pronunciation of her name or fact it's typically a male name never came up in any of the stories in the book) I found some interesting articles and threads on Reddit about the author. There were questions about the validity of her PhD (she repeatedly mentions her undergrad at UCLA, but only refers to her graduate studies as being at “a small school nearby”), if Patric Gagne is even her real name, and why is her CV is mysteriously hard to find.

She enjoys a life of privilege, living rent free in her dad's LA house, mingling at the Playboy Mansion, managing musicians behind the scenes at the Roxy, and maintaining a peculiar, romance-adjacent relationship with a rock star who she gives a pseudonym.

She says she wrote the book to help sociopaths like herself, as the medical community often lumps them together with psychopaths, doesn’t truly understand them, and lacks treatment plans. While I did learn about the clinical aspects of sociopathy, which she clearly linked to her own behaviors, the book reads more like a fictional story. She claims sociopathy exists on a spectrum like other conditions but mainly shares her own struggles and what works for her. This might be comforting for other sociopaths to know they aren’t alone or ‘evil’ as often labeled, but the book doesn’t provide content that would actually help them.

This book feels like another chance for the author to shout, “I’m a sociopath!” - just as she did with every new person she encountered throughout her life in the book. In the end, I find it hard to believe much, if not all, of what was written, which aligns with the typical traits of a sociopath: full of lies.

What an electrifying and compelling biography! While diving into Patric's book, I felt a thrilling sense of discovery, as though I was privy to something forbidden. Like many others, I had never truly dissected the differences between sociopathy and psychopathy, nor considered that these personality types could exist on a spectrum similar to autism. Patric masterfully brings human emotion to a subject often devoid of it, which is no small feat. Throughout the book, I felt as if I were walking in Patric's shoes, gaining insight into their thought processes and life experiences.
Patric's work is crucial in raising awareness about mental health, particularly concerning sociopaths. Their approach encourages society to shift its perspective from fear-driven shunning to a more nuanced understanding of these individuals as having unique personalities with their own strengths and weaknesses. Equipped with the right tools, sociopaths need not bear the stigma of being seen as criminals. Instead, they can be recognized as people with different, but equally valid, ways of navigating the world.
This book should be essential reading for any college course on Abnormal Psychology. Its insights and empathetic portrayal make it one of my top picks for the best books of 2024!

What an electrifying, compelling bio! I almost felt naughty, that I was reading something I shouldn't while diving into Patric's book! I must admit-like most others, I have never dissected the difference between sociopathy and psychopathy, and considered the fact that these personality types could fall onto a spectrum, much like autism. Patric brings a real human emotion to a subject about people who supposedly don't have emotions, and what a feat that is! I felt like I was in Patric's shoes the whole book, and appreciated the breakdown in thought process provided in their life. I think what Patric is doing is very important work-bringing awareness to mental health in regards to sociopaths, and that society should shift their views from shunning them due to fear, but rather consider them as different personalities with their own strengths and weaknesses. Armed with the right tools, sociopaths don't have to carry the stigma of being deviants hellbent on a lifestyle of crime. I think this ought to be required reading for any Abnormal Psychology college course! This is one of my picks for best of 2024!

It isn’t a bad book, but I can’t honestly call it good. I was interested in the first 50% and then got utterly bored in the second half. There’s too much preview of what happens on her self-discovery journey to make it interesting. I was much more into hearing about her misbehavior than how she tamed her wild side by accepting herself. It also didn’t make much sense or clarify how she stopped acting out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"Sociopath" offers a raw and insightful look into the life of someone with sociopathy. The memoir starts strong with compelling childhood experiences but begins to feel a bit repetitive in the middle. Despite this, it provides fascinating insights into sociopathy, distinguishing it from psychopathy, and emphasizes understanding this often misunderstood condition. Gagne’s honesty is both enlightening and thought-provoking.

I’m a sucker for mental health memoirs and this was a doozy. The author’s self reflection is remarkable