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.

What an interesting memoir on a topic there's so little written about. I love Patric's voice and the way she blends personal with medical.

I was very intrigued when I saw this book, and I wanted to read it right away. The beginning of the book talks about Patric's childhood and how she couldn’t understand why she was different from other kids. I really enjoyed that part. Most of the stories she tells during and after college feel like fiction. They don’t feel genuine, give no insight, and are repetitive. I lost interest.
In part IV of the book Modern Love, when they were doing couple’s therapy, I found good insight when the therapist asked some excellent questions that got me thinking about how an adult sociopath and their partner deal with their differences. But it was a brief glimpse.


Thank you #NetGalley #Simon&Schuster for a free copy.

Wow! This book was intense. I have so many mixed feelings on it though. I really liked it a lot at first, but there were some things that really rubbed me the wrong way. When she said that her bipolar friend was jealous because she wasn't a sociopath--huh? Also she was somehow able to remember quotable conversations that happened over 10 years ago. Flashbacks are fine, as are broad descriptions of conversations, but I'm not sure you should be quoting things someone else said so long ago with no written proof of the quotes.

My friend who is a therapist pointed out that this book is written from the perspective of a sociopath...someone who admits to lying to get her way, so maybe we aren't really supposed to believe everything she says.

I definitely appreciate her openness, but i'm not sure i believe the honesty.

Thank you to the publisher, Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. This was really really great! So well written and such an important thing to write about. This book sheds a lot of light on a mental state that is so heavily stigmatized and I think it's really crucial that more people read this and understand. Fabulous book, great read, highly recommend!

This one started off incredibly interesting and eye opening. I found myself very drawn into Patric’s story, but quickly felt there was a lot of unaddressed privilege which made me start to feel less interested/engaged.

Sociopathy is very misunderstood. Patric Gagne's book helped me realize what it's really like for people like her.

The main draw for me was when Gagne describes her inner life. Like most people, I thought that sociopaths were innately evil. But Gagne makes it clear that sociopaths don't experience emotions the same way as most of us. And being different causes anxiety for young kids who can't figure out why they're so different from anyone else. The antisocial behavior from suspected sociopaths may be an attempt to feel something, anything, to alleviate the anxiety caused by not feeling. Gagne also contrasted narcissists or BPD by describing a person who was a self-described sociopath but who seemed to have an excess of emotion. The insights Gagne has are important and I hope they're taken up by the scientific community.

I highly recommend this to anyone who's interested in this topic. I also would urge people to read it and learn more about what sociopathy actually is.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for granting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review
This is an INCREDBLE memoir, and one of the best I've read. This is a memoir that definitely needed to be written, my hope is that this book will bring the awareness that is much needed.
As someone who is so intrigued by human behavior and how the human brain works this book was right up my alley. I'm not going to lie there were some parts of the book that where frustrating to me with what schooling of psychology I've had, but for the most part I put that to the side because I think a human experience can be more important.
I truly do feel like I learned a lot while reading this. There were times I definitely had to put clinical words to the side. I think that this is a truly important memoir, there is a very common misconceptions that if one has antisocial personality disorder is a killer or serial killer or a bad person, when that is just not the case. There is so much that makes up a person and a brain and I think this book is such a push in the right direction.

This was an interesting read especially at the beginning where the author was figuring out about her self as a kid. I found the middle
Lagged a bit for me and the end. A lot of things seems a bit repeated. But a interesting look into this type of personality

fascinating and well-written! the type of book where you are considering your emotional reaction throughout. i’ve been telling everyone who listen about how much i loved this. think my dad will read it next lol. a woman overheard me proselytizing to my boyfriend’s little sister and grabbed one.

thanks netgalley and simon & schuester for the eArc! OUT NOW.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC of this fascinating memoir. I have been recommending this to everyone. I think this is a nuanced account of a giant oversight in psychiatry. Gagne's story is both alarming and intriguing. A real page turner.

This book was not like any other I've ever read. I enjoyed it and learned a lot about what it's like to be a Sociopath. Before reading it, I thought as many others do that a Soxiopath and a Psyxhopath were the same. They are not. This is a memoir, because it tells the true story of Patric Gagne and what she has gone through in her life. She finally comes to terms with how to deal with her sociopathy, and now she helps others too. It is a touching, at times humorous, and emotional story of her journey. Thanks to the publisher, and Dr. Patric Gagne for giving me the chance to read it.

ARC review; thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the access to this ebook.

This is a tricky one. On the one hand, I feel like this made me understand "sociopathy" in a new way. The part about her childhood felt particularly insightful and I felt for her. I didn't feel for her much as an adult, but I guess that proves her point that it's difficult to empathize with someone with her disorder when you don't understand the inner experience. On the other hand, some of the stories she shares feel off, as in extremely hard to believe. And it seems her credentials are questionable, so that makes me doubt what I learned, which SUCKS.

One of the things that stood out to me is that she tells us everything she's gotten away with and makes it sound like it's just because she was smart. manipulative, and able to adapt. Babe, I think you got away with shit because you have about every kind of privilege a person could possibly need to breeze through life no matter how appalling their behavior, whatever the reasons for that behavior may be. She recognizes she's luckier than most because she has people who love her as she is, but she doesn't recognize her privilege, and that's odd to me.

Also, this didn't need to be over 350 pages long. It drags a bit and gets repetitive with no payoff for that repetitiveness, so this could've easily been 100 pages shorter. Overall, I enjoyed it as a memoir. It was interesting for the most part, I just don't think I can trust the information that I thought was valuable now that I know her credentials are murky.

This book broke my heart. Remembering how being a child and learning all these new emotions and feelings and just wishing we didnt feel a certain way and reading Patric's story of that exactly how she went through life makes me thankful we have those emtions and the ability to feel them. I remember feeling so lost, but having friends and family who have been through those emotions and being able to deal with them with their help, I couldnt imagine how lost she must have felt not understanding why people feel the way they do in certain situations and not having anyone to talk to and figure out how to deal with what she was going through. When David came into the picture, I had to cheat and find her social media and hoped he was still in her life! Such an amazing story that proves again, being different doesnt have to be sad or scary.

Fascinating memoir! I learned a lot about sociopathy through Patric’s story. And questioned my biases and preconceived notions about sociopaths.

Highly recommend giving this one a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted copy.

Wow. What a vulnerable and honest memoir. I’m so glad that I read this, and it will live rent free in my brain for forever.
We follow Patric, a sociopath. She recounts her early childhood and how she always felt different, how she had to mask and pretend. (Which, as an autistic person, was actually so familiar and interesting to read from someone else’s perspective with a different learning disability.) She then goes onto a linear timeline of growing up, becoming an adult, and finding love.
Patric seriously does not hold back, and I think that’s why I loved this so much. We are inside of her brain, her thoughts. We follow her on late night criminal activity, get the inside scoop on personal dialogue, etc. She’s such a brave person for writing this, for putting it all out there.
I highly recommend this to everyone. It’s such an important mental health read and has never been done before. Patric is not only a sociopath, but she’s a psychologist who has first hand experience, statistics, research and HERSELF.
Fearless is all I can say. And also… good for her!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.

Holy sh*t. I loved loved, loved this book. This memoir opened my eyes in a way I did not expect. It is real, raw, educational, and made me feel for and care about the author so deeply. I have learned about sociopathy and antisocial personality disorder many times throughout school and never have I felt like I could understand the people who carry these types of diagnoses until now. It makes me sad for how misunderstood the diagnosis is, even in the medical community. Thank you, Patric for the bravery to share your story. I am so happy you found acceptance and love through your family, David, children, and friends. We are so afraid of anything different than us, and often forget to celebrate our differences as what makes us unique and special. There is so much sociopathy can offer and bring to the table and I’m so grateful to have gotten the chance to see that through Patrics story. It felt a little slow at times reading through, but 100% worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC, I was so excited for this one, and my expectations were exceeded!