Is Patric Gagne's Sociopath the latest literary hoax?
Redditors argue it doesn't 'pass the sniff test'
If you’re Australian maybe you remember the 2016 exposé in The Age of a video of Penguin Books staff coaching wellness influencer Belle Gibson. This was just before the publication of Belle’s book The Whole Pantry, and stories were swirling that Belle had lied about her cancer diagnosis in order to promote a healing wellness diet.
It makes me wonder whether Patric Gagne’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, had similar qualms about publishing Patric’s Sociopath earlier this year. Because the doubts about Patric’s story have been swirling for four years, dating back to the earliest articles she was writing about her diagnosis and her credentials.
Could Patric Gagne's memoir, Sociopath, actually be the next literary hoax, a la JT Leroy? Or is she just stretching the truth somewhat, in true sociopathic style?
Or do we just instinctively not want to believe a sociopath?
I'm listening to the audiobook and it starts off so promisingly. Patric purringly narrates with the flair of a professional actress, kicking off with some coolly unapologetic and thrilling glimpses of her behaviour as a (highly likeable) child.
Patric’s mission, growing up, was to understand herself and find a way to let her darker side flourish without causing harm to herself or others. As an adult, she explains her desire to be an advocate for sociopaths. She has a PhD in psychology and has worked as a therapist, she says.
But as I get deeper into the book, an uneasy feeling starts creeping in. You can forgive some of the dialogue not ringing true – when recalling our past in memoir we often have to just give dialogue our best guess – but many of the anecdotes seem more like convenient devices with which to make a point or advance some plot. Get as far as the tale of a man and a woman trying to abduct Patric in a van with the promise of some kittens and tell me what you think. For me, that marks the beginning of a slide into one eyebrow being raised high.
Frustratingly, these hollow anecdotes sit side by side with completely genuine-sounding ones that would have been adequate and compelling enough on their own. But a good liar – as Patric tells The LA Times she is – sprinkles in some truth to make the tall tales more plausible, no?
I'm not the only one to worry this 'doesn't pass the sniff test', as someone on a lengthy Reddit thread put it. The Reddit detectives – particularly those with actual qualifications in psychology – have been hard at it for years, trying to trace Patric's academic path and earlier adult life. Their conclusion is that, as with the book, some of her claims are truthful and some are not.
“A memoir is the last place you'd expect to find the truth,” serial memoirist David Sedaris has said. And Augusten Burroughs’ compelling ‘memoir’ Running With Scissors had to be re-marketed as a ‘book’ after the family that had taken him in as a child filed suit and complained that he had fabricated events.
In the case of Sociopath, maybe a darkly brilliant Gillian Flynn-style novel would have been a better idea. Reading what might be a hybrid of memoir and fiction feels deeply unsatisfying from both angles.
See you next week!