the means book review

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by Amy Fusselman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 2022

A trenchant comedy of class and the way we live now.

You, too, can have a beach house in the Hamptons...sort of.

"I used to think aliveness was a binary: a person was either alive or dead. But now I know that aliveness is more like something on a continuum, like the pain scale. And I want to be more alive. I want to be as alive as possible. My beach house would help me do that." Shelly Means, nonworking mother of two, wife of a struggling voice-over narrator, denizen of a part of Manhattan she calls the "discount caftan and incense district," is obsessed. Lucky for her, the woman who is providing online cognitive behavior therapy for her anger issues (Shelly threw her water bottle at the school board president) is also a real estate broker and knows just the tick-infested, nonwaterfront piece of land in a part of the Hamptons she and George can afford, once they sell their raccoon-infested lake house. And if they construct the house out of used shipping containers, give up all but the most basic amenities, and take out a loan, they may even be able to build on it. With its deadpan absurdity, pithy prose, and moral je ne sais quoi, Fusselman's latest will appeal to fans of Marcy Dermansky. With its sapient talking dog, readers of Susan Coll. And with its satire of the particular hypocrisy of the Hamptons, including homeowners associations, graft, and garbage and recycling practices, Maria Semple. Running jokes abound, involving, among other things, raccoons, Japanese toilets, nutrition bars called Generosity, Vulnerability, and Caring, and seltzer called Loving. We may be entering a golden age of the comic novel, surely one of the best possible outcomes of this desperate moment in history. Take it from Shelly's teenage son: “If you need money, you should write fiction. That’s what Roberto Bolaño did after he had a family and wanted to make money: he turned to fiction.”

Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-06-324871-7

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Mariner Books

Review Posted Online: July 7, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022

LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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New York Times Bestseller

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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Pulitzer Prize Winner

DEMON COPPERHEAD

by Barbara Kingsolver ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.

Inspired by David Copperfield , Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.

It’s not necessary to have read Dickens’ famous novel to appreciate Kingsolver’s absorbing tale, but those who have will savor the tough-minded changes she rings on his Victorian sentimentality while affirming his stinging critique of a heartless society. Our soon-to-be orphaned narrator’s mother is a substance-abusing teenage single mom who checks out via OD on his 11th birthday, and Demon’s cynical, wised-up voice is light-years removed from David Copperfield’s earnest tone. Yet readers also see the yearning for love and wells of compassion hidden beneath his self-protective exterior. Like pretty much everyone else in Lee County, Virginia, hollowed out economically by the coal and tobacco industries, he sees himself as someone with no prospects and little worth. One of Kingsolver’s major themes, hit a little too insistently, is the contempt felt by participants in the modern capitalist economy for those rooted in older ways of life. More nuanced and emotionally engaging is Demon’s fierce attachment to his home ground, a place where he is known and supported, tested to the breaking point as the opiate epidemic engulfs it. Kingsolver’s ferocious indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, angrily stated by a local girl who has become a nurse, is in the best Dickensian tradition, and Demon gives a harrowing account of his descent into addiction with his beloved Dori (as naïve as Dickens’ Dora in her own screwed-up way). Does knowledge offer a way out of this sinkhole? A committed teacher tries to enlighten Demon’s seventh grade class about how the resource-rich countryside was pillaged and abandoned, but Kingsolver doesn’t air-brush his students’ dismissal of this history or the prejudice encountered by this African American outsider and his White wife. She is an art teacher who guides Demon toward self-expression, just as his friend Tommy provokes his dawning understanding of how their world has been shaped by outside forces and what he might be able to do about it.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-06-325-1922

Page Count: 560

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2022

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The Means : Book summary and reviews of The Means by Amy Fusselman

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by Amy Fusselman

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Published Sep 2022 256 pages Genre: Literary Fiction Publication Information

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About this book

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The debut novel from "wholly original" ( Vogue ) memoirist Amy Fusselman, a tragicomic family saga that skewers contemporary issues of money, motherhood, and class through a well-to-do woman's quest to buy a Hamptons beach house.

Shelly Means, a wealthy stay-at-home mom and disgraced former PTA president, is poised to get the one thing in life she really wants: a beach house in the Hamptons. Who would have guessed that Shelly, the product of frugal Midwesterners, or her husband George, an unrepentant thrift shopper, would ever be living among such swells? But Shelly believes it's possible. It might be a very small house, and it might be in the least-fancy part of the Hamptons. But Shelly has a vision board, an architect, and a plan. But what should be a simple real estate transaction quickly goes awry as Shelly's new neighbors disapprove of her proposed shipping container house at the same time that George's lucrative work as a VoiceOver artist dries up. But Shelly is dogged. She knows how to go into beast mode. But will it ever be enough to realize her beach house dreams? A novel of real estate, ambition, family, and money from "one of our best interrogators of how we live now, and how we should live" (Dave Eggers), The Means is also a fantastical, fast-moving and very funny exploration of class, wealth, and the value of work.

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"With its deadpan absurdity, pithy prose and moral je ne sais quoi, Fusselman's latest will appeal to fans of Marcy Dermansky....With its satire of the particular hypocrisy of the Hamptons, including homeowners associations, graft, and garbage and recycling practices, Maria Semple....We may be entering a golden age of the comic novel, surely one of the best possible outcomes of this desperate moment in history." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "With Shelly, Fusselman creates a character determined to see her vision to completion without regard for impediments of any kind, and the supporting roles (like a therapist who's also a real estate broker and party planner) will leave readers laughing. Recommended to anyone who enjoys humorous fiction." - Library Journal "This charming novel bears the Fusselman touch that makes all of her books so brilliant: touching, uncanny, and deceptively simple observations that dismantle complex assumptions about the world." - Sarah Manguso, author of Very Cold People "Amy Fusselman's The Means is an absolute delight! Anyone who's ever wanted more than they had—so, all of us—will be unable to turn away from this wise, funny, page-turning story of relationships, motherhood, and real estate ambitions." - Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane "Location, location, location: that is the real estate chant. In Amy Fusselman's The Means those words are intermingled with laugh, laugh, laugh. Fusselman is a prescient observer chronicling one couple's desire to live near where the other half live. She deftly captures the absurdity of the everyday and the American quest for more. The Means is funny, playful and at times painfully accurate." - A.M. Homes, author of The Unfolding and May We Be Forgiven

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Author Information

Amy fusselman.

Amy Fusselman is the author of four nonfiction books: Idiophone; Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die; 8; and The Pharmacist's Mate . Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post , the New York Times , the Atlantic , McSweeney's , and many other outlets. She lives with her family in New York City where she teaches creative writing at New York University.

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The Means: A Novel Paperback – July 4, 2023

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" The Means  is such a fast-paced, breezy comedic novel that you may find yourself surprised that Fusselman deftly and directly leads you to existential dilemmas and the absurdity of capitalism and striving for more." – The Millions

Shelly Means, a stay-at-home mom and disgraced former PTA president, is poised to get the one thing in life she really wants: a beach house in the Hamptons. Surely, once she has her beach house, Shelly will at last feel at peace, in control, and content. It might be a very small house, and it might be in the least-fancy part of the Hamptons, but Shelly is hell-bent on achieving this idea of paradise. 

But what should be a simple real estate transaction quickly goes awry as Shelly’s new neighbors disapprove of her proposed shipping container house at the same time that her spouse George’s lucrative work as a VoiceOver artist dries up. When George wants to cancel the beach house, Shelly goes deeper down the rabbit hole of capitalism: it’s an investment property! It's a community! It’s a place for their children to thrive! And, for a woman whose labor has buoyed her family for years, this beach house might just be Shelly’s last stand.

The debut novel from “one of our best interrogators of how we live now, and how we should live” (Dave Eggers), The Means is a comedy about the suffering inherent in desire, capitalist delusion, and the value of unpaid labor.

"With its deadpan absurdity, pithy prose and moral je ne sais quoi, Fusselman's latest will appeal to fans of Marcy Dermansky....With its satire of the particular hypocrisy of the Hamptons, including homeowners associations, graft, and garbage and recycling practices, Maria Semple....We may be entering a golden age of the comic novel, surely one of the best possible outcomes of this desperate moment in history." –  Kirkus Reviews  (starred review)

• Print length 256 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Mariner Books
• Publication date July 4, 2023
• Dimensions 0.2 x 0.3 x 5.1 inches
• ISBN-10 0063248727
• ISBN-13 978-0063248724
• See all details

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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

“A fast-paced and funny send up.” — People

"Delicious." — Zibby Owens, gma.com

“A plucky jaunt of a novel.” — New York Times Book Review

"With its deadpan absurdity, pithy prose and moral je ne sais quoi, Fusselman's latest will appeal to fans of Marcy Dermansky....With its satire of the particular hypocrisy of the Hamptons, including homeowners associations, graft, and garbage and recycling practices, Maria Semple....We may be entering a golden age of the comic novel, surely one of the best possible outcomes of this desperate moment in history." — Kirkus Reviews   (starred review)

"Just like its title, Amy Fusselman’s new novel is breezy-sharp, super-funny, and full of second meanings and surprising insights into The Means , and what it means to have and lack them. You don’t have to want to live in a shipping container in the Hamptons to understand Shelly Means and the yearnings that drive her hilarious desperate measures. But if you need a hint, Twix the socialist dog will yell it at you. (SPOILER, but look: Maria Semple and David Sedaris are brilliant, but have they written a talking dog as funny as Twix? The answer, my friends, is no. You can only find this, and so much else, in The Means )." — John Hodgman, author of Vacationland and Medallion Status

"This charming novel bears the Fusselman touch that makes all of her books so brilliant: touching, uncanny, and deceptively simple observations that dismantle complex assumptions about the world." — Sarah Manguso, author of  Very Cold People

“Amy Fusselman’s The Means is an absolute delight! Anyone who’s ever wanted more than they had—so, all of us—will be unable to turn away from this wise, funny, page-turning story of relationships, motherhood, and real estate ambitions.” — Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane

"Location, location, location: that is the real estate chant. In Amy Fusselman’s  The Means   those words are intermingled with laugh, laugh, laugh. Fusselman is a prescient observer chronicling one couple’s desire to live near where the other half live. She deftly captures the absurdity of the everyday and the American quest for more.  The Means  is funny, playful and at times painfully accurate." — A.M. Homes, author of The Unfolding and May We Be Forgiven

" The Means  is such a fast-paced, breezy comedic novel that you may find yourself surprised that Fusselman deftly and directly leads you to existential dilemmas and the absurdity of capitalism and striving for more." — The Millions

“ Fusselman ( Idiophone,  2018) delivers a well-paced story with gentle humor, compassion, and a sparkling, original look at the absurdities of everyday life in a world filled with inequities, financial and otherwise.”  — Booklist

"[An] entertaining debut. ... Recommended to anyone who enjoys humorous fiction." — Library Journal

"Damn funny. ... Fusselman presents a hilariously heightened reality." — Shelf Awareness

About the Author

Amy Fusselman is the author of four nonfiction books: Idiophone; Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die; 8 ; and The Pharmacist’s Mate . Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post , the New York Times , the Atlantic , McSweeney’s , and many other outlets. She lives with her family in New York City where she teaches creative writing at New York University. 

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books (July 4, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063248727
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063248724
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.9 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.2 x 0.3 x 5.1 inches
• #6,180 in Mothers & Children Fiction
• #16,889 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction
• #65,294 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Amy fusselman.

Amy Fusselman is the author of five books. Her latest, The Mean$, is her first novel. Fusselman’s previous four books, all nonfiction, have been translated into several languages. Her work has been nominated for The Believer Book Award and the University of Iowa's Krause Essay Prize. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and many other places. She lives in New York City with her family and teaches creative writing at New York University.

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Book Review: The Means by Amy Fusselman

The is the story about the Means family. They live in NYC and are the proud owners of a plot of land in the Hamptons. Their land is fairly small, triangular, and infested with ticks. That won’t stop Shelly and her husband George from moving forward with their plan to build a beach house.

As one would expect, Shelly and George are not on the same page about the plans for beach house. George is practical and budget conscious. Shelly, on the other hand, has a vision board that includes every luxury item she could think of. Especially a Japanese toilet. Ever since their trip to Tokyo years ago, she’s been pining for a Japanese toilet and is fixated on getting one for the beach house.

Can the Means manifest their beach house dreams into reality? As a one-income family living in NYC, with two kids in private school, they’ll have to stretch their budget. Of course, on top of that, everything seems to get in the way of their plans, including the HOA board. Not one to give up easily, Shelly is determined to do whatever it takes to build the beach house.

This is a character-driven story that started out strong, but then fizzled. At the beginning, I liked the quirky characters, snarky dialogue, and various characters Shelly enlisted to help move the beach house plans forward. The story seemed to be poised to be an entertaining and full of wry humor. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

• The talking dog. Yes, Twix (the family dog) can talk to Shelly. I could’ve done without that.
• Everyone Shelly encounters is identified by race. I found it odd, since it wasn’t relevant to the plot or storyline.
• The book is plagued by non sequiturs about random subjects, social issues, and opinions. These are all delivered by the talking dog.

As for the ending of the story, I actually liked it. It’s fitting, funny, and very Shelly. Overall, I’m glad I gave this book a try, even though as it turns out I only liked the beginning and the end of the story 😏.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a fantastic job. If you want to give this book a try, I recommend the audiobook.

Have you read this book yet?

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Talking animals can be annyoing sometimes. I’m glad you liked the beginning and the end.

Thanks! It was an interesting one, though not quite what I expected.

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The Means by Amy Fusselman [Book Review]

Honestly, I read The Means in about a day and a half. It wasn’t really the subject matter, or the characters that kept me reading… it was the storytelling, and the obsessive behavior of the main character that I found endearing.

This post may contain affiliate links. I’ll receive a small commission through your purchase, and I’m so grateful!

Table of Contents

Shelly Means is a stay-at-home mom. Her husband makes pretty good money, and she’s been on the PTA for years. That is, until she disgraces herself with the PTA, and her husband loses a lucrative voice-acting job.

Shelly decides that the one thing she wants in life, the one thing that will give her life meaning and contentment, is a beach house in the Hamptons. She sets her sights on having her house, despite lack of money, lack of planning, and especially lack of understanding from the homeowner’s association.

The Means is a satirical look at what it means to be rich and what it means to have everything you want.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of The Means by Amy Fusselman, in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My Thoughts

Ok, my review won’t be very long on this one, because it’s seriously way too hard not to give spoilers for The Means . I will say, however, that I really liked the book. It was such a funny story. Shelly’s obsession with getting her beach house, and the lengths she goes to in order to get it, are pretty insane. Funny, but insane.

Even though her husband struggles to provide for them, Shelly is so determined to elevate their status through a “house in the hamptons” that she ignores almost everything he says. She hires a realtor/architect who convinces her to use storage crates (you know, those big metal pods on the barges?). While she thinks it a great idea, the history of the containers means way too much to her. If they didn’t come from a fancy location, and hold something really interesting, she doesn’t want to use them to create her dream house.

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Recommendation

Seriously, you should read The Means . One, it’s funny. Two, it will honestly make you feel better about your own life. I struggle to market my business some days, and I struggle to write blog posts on time most days, but at least I’m not struggling to build the perfect house on the beach made out of shipping containers.

The Means by Amy Fusselman is on Amazon!

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Book Review: ‘Means of Control’ charts the disturbing rise of a secretive US surveillance regime

This cover image released by Crown shows “Means of Control” by Byron Tau. (Crown via AP)

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In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, former national security advisor John Poindexter launched Total Information Awareness, intent on preventing future assaults on the homeland by amassing extensive databases on people and their movements.

The Pentagon program had a creepy eye-surveilling-the-globe-from-a-pyramid logo and was roundly rejected by civil libertarians as Orwellian overkill. Adm. Poindexter, an Iran-Contra conspirator, was skewered by late-night talk show hosts and Congressional resistance moved to defund it.

Except TIA wasn’t DOA. Not by a longshot.

The data collection that Poindexter envisioned instead went underground, with code names such as “Basketball” and classified budgets. How private Beltway contractors grew what has become a secretive surveillance regime is exposed in disturbing detail by journalist Byron Tau in his first book, “Means of Control.” In the absence of a federal privacy law, the U.S. national security establishment has used commercially available data to craft a creeping panopticon.

As a Wall Street Journal reporter, Tau broke important stories on how the shadowy U.S. data collection and brokering industry has been indirectly — and legally, it seems — eavesdropping on tens of millions of Americans and foreigners in the service of U.S. military, intelligence and homeland security.

“In China, the state wants you to know you’re being watched. In America, the success lies in the secrecy,” he writes. “The government does not want you to notice the proliferation of license plate readers. It does not want citizens to understand that mobile phones are a surveillance system... that social media is being eavesdropped on.”

“Means of Control” traces Tau’s efforts to cut through thickets of secrecy to show how different kinds of data became available for purchase by the U.S. government post-9/11, how what author Shoshana Zuboff termed “surveillance capitalism” — the vacuuming up of personal data by Facebook, Google and others to feed the online ad market — stoked a thriving, under-the-radar bazaar of businesses selling data on people’s habits, predilections and, importantly for soldiers and spies, physical movements.

“I’ve spent years trying to unravel this world — a funhouse of mirrors draped in nondisclosure agreements, corporate trade secrets, needlessly classified contracts, misleading denials, and in some cases outright lies,” he writes.

Unlike Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency worker whose 2013 data dump sounded piercing alarms on U.S. government surveillance, Tau is an outsider. So he is often stymied. But he is not alone in this work, and generously credits his journalist competitors.

When Tau does get a breakthrough, it is often on surveillance partnerships that help foil a bad guy — like the U.S. border drug tunnel Department of Homeland Security agents uncover in 2018 with cellphone geolocation data obtained from a company called Venntel.

To gather intelligence, firms working closely with U.S. national security operators have embedded data-collecting software in smartphone apps — such as Muslim prayer apps popular in the Middle East. The app owners may or may not be aware of the software modules’ surveillance mission, though there’s a reason they’re getting paid to include the data-gathering SDKs (software development kits).

Some of these tools have been developed with CIA funding and some, like VISR (Virtual Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), have been widely shared inside U.S. intelligence and among U.S. military special operators, Tau writes. The companies involved come and go in the sort of musical chair game we’ve come expect in U.S. national security contracting.

Which hasn’t prevented some from being outed by privacy warriors led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and, now, the Biden administration’s activist Federal Trade Commission.

Take X-Mode, one firm Tau examines.

In 2021, X-Mode was found to have been selling access to location data to the U.S. military. In January, the FTC banned X-Mode and its successor, Outlogic, from sharing or selling data on cellphone users’ location without their explicit consent. It expressed concern such data could be used to track visits to places like abortion clinics, places of worship and domestic abuse shelters.

Near the end of the helpfully annotated 291-page book, Tau offers a chapter on how to protect yourself from digital tracking. There are privacy/convenience tradeoffs. But is complete erasure truly possible? He asks Michael Bazzell, an expert in the field.

“Of course,” Bazzell says. “Will you enjoy that life? Maybe not.”

More AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

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Author Interviews

Author's memoir details her struggle to accept she's a sociopath.

Devan Schwartz

Author Patric Gagne speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about her memoir, Sociopath , and the misunderstood diagnosis bearing the same name.

MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Be honest. How many times have you called somebody a sociopath or heard somebody else use that word to refer to somebody who just doesn't seem to care about what they do or how other people feel? But have you ever met somebody like that? This author says you have, and she says she knows because she is one. And not only that - she says she's researched the condition and has worked as a therapist who treats people with this condition, and she says it's not what you think. Patric Gagne is the author of "Sociopath: A Memoir," and she's with us now to tell us more. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

PATRIC GAGNE: Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: So let me start with the obvious question, and then I'm going to ask you to tell me why it isn't as obvious as we might think. What does it mean to be a sociopath?

GAGNE: Well, it's very different from what it means to be a psychopath. A psychopath has certain brain abnormalities that make it impossible to move through complex emotional development. So while they're able to feel the inherent primary emotions, happiness, sadness, etc., they're not able to experience the so-called learned social emotions - love, empathy, even jealousy to a certain extent.

But sociopaths are different. Sociopathy does not appear to be the result of any biological abnormality. Sociopaths can progress through emotional development. They can learn the social emotions. They just learn them a bit differently. In the book, I refer to this as an emotional learning disability because that's what it feels like for me. But the biggest difference between psychopathy and sociopathy is that sociopathy can be treated, and I don't think a lot of people realize that.

MARTIN: Describe what it feels like inside, because one of the things that you talk about in the book is the fact that you started these feelings very early. You started being able to name these feelings really early, that you knew there was something different about the way you felt and kind of experienced things than other kids your age. Could you just talk a little bit about that?

GAGNE: So I would look around at all of these other kids experiencing shame or envy or empathy, and I remember just not feeling that way. But more importantly was the understanding that I needed to pretend that I did feel those feelings. If I didn't, I would be outed. I talk about it in the book that there's that adage, the truth shall set you free. But for me, I never felt that way. For me, the truth never set me free. It was a guaranteed problem if I told the truth. So I learned how to mimic these emotions very early. But what I was really experiencing was nothing. I had those inherent emotions that we are all born with - anger, joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness. But it was the learned emotions - embarrassment, love, shame, empathy - these were missing. And these are emotions that are very, very prevalent, particularly among children. And it was very, very clear to me that I was not experiencing these emotions the way that the other kids around me were.

MARTIN: The other kids tagged you as weird pretty early.

GAGNE: I mean, yeah. Kids are pretty smart (laughter). I felt very early on what I can only describe as a pressure. It felt like a geyser about to burst. It was this building of you better do something. You better do something to feel. You better do something to feel. You better do something to feel. And the more I resisted that urge, the greater it became. And what I believe now is that that was my brain's way of trying to jolt myself into some experience of emotion and destructive actions seem to be the quickest way to achieve that.

MARTIN: You never really seriously seemed to have hurt someone. I am wondering why you think that is.

GAGNE: I was lucky. Listen. I was lucky in that I recognized very early that - and it was a selfish realization, I want to be very clear about that - I realized, you know what? If I give in to hurting people, I'm going to get caught, and if I get caught, I'm not going to be able to live the life that I think I want to live. Now, as I got older, that changed to I don't want to hurt people because I don't want to get caught, to I don't want to hurt people because I don't want to hurt people. But I remember as a kid it wasn't, oh, gosh, I hurt someone, and I feel so badly about it. I shouldn't do that anymore. It was, oh, this caused a tremendous amount of attention to be pointed in my direction. I don't like the way this feels, and I won't be doing it again.

MARTIN: Interesting. So I'm wondering if maybe people for whom violence is a part of their life don't get that memo. You know what I mean? Somebody who's taught, like, well, you have to go fight. Or if you come home and somebody hit you, you better hit him back or you don't come home - that kind of thing.

GAGNE: Absolutely.

MARTIN: Yeah.

GAGNE: No question.

MARTIN: OK, here's where I really have to go there, because...

MARTIN: ...You mentioned multiple times in your book that you're a liar...

GAGNE: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...And that you find it very easy to deceive people, and you feel little remorse for doing so. So why should we trust you in this book?

GAGNE: Look, I - to your point, I understand that I'm not - I'm a flawed messenger. OK, I know that my stories are true, but I also know that not everyone is going to believe my stories are true for that very reason. And what I would say to someone who is skeptical is go and do the research. Or better yet, try to prove me wrong. Because if every single person who is skeptical of me went out and did their own research, the conversation around sociopathy would change. And ultimately, that's my goal, is for people to see for themselves, oh, wait, there is more to this personality type than meets the eye.

MARTIN: You tell us in the book that you pursued your Ph.D. in clinical psychology, and you served as a therapist for a time. I could see where that could be either incredibly helpful or incredibly painful or both. Could you talk a little bit about how did you choose that or why did you choose that?

GAGNE: Again, it was a selfish decision. I wanted to learn more about my personality type. And in doing so, I ended up learning about all the personality types. So it was a gift I was not anticipating, but was incredibly grateful to have received. There was a time where I volunteered as a grief counselor for some very traumatic events, mass shootings included, and one of the reasons that I did that was because I understood that I had the capacity to hold that type of pain and grief. And I think something that's really important as a therapist is you always want to be in check and making sure that your emotional reaction isn't interfering with the emotional experience of your patients or clients. And I didn't have that issue.

MARTIN: It reminds me of a physical therapist I once needed to work with when I broke several bones in my arm, and he said to me that you should not do these exercises with your spouse. And I was like, why not? He says, because he can't take watching you in pain, and I can.

GAGNE: Yes, exactly.

MARTIN: That's Patric Gagne. Her book is called "Sociopath: A Memoir." Patric, thank you so much for talking with us about this.

GAGNE: Thank you. It was fun.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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• Entertainment

The Tearsmith : The Biggest Differences Between The New Dark Romance Movie and Bestselling Book

The new film, now streaming on Netflix, is based off of Erin Doom's Italian bestseller of the same name

Rebecca Aizin is an Editorial Assistant at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023. Her work has previously appeared on Elle, HGTV and Backstage. 

Ready for the next Twilight ?

Erin Doom's Italian bestseller The Tearsmith has arrived stateside to give the popular franchise a run for its money. The spine-tingling romance story follows Nica and Rigel, both orphans at The Grave who are adopted by the same family. While Nica is as naive and innocent as a harmless butterfly, Rigel is often compared to the volatility of a wolf.

Unbeknownst to Nica, Rigel has been harboring an undying love for her since the day she stepped into the orphanage at 5 years old. Though she's terrified of his aggressive nature, Nica can't help but be intrigued by Rigel's hidden vulnerability and a bond begins to form between the two — hindered only by the fact that they're about to be siblings.

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Now adapted into a movie streaming on Netflix, The Tearsmith , which was filmed in Italian with English subtitles, is spreading to new audiences looking for their next romantic fix.

Here's everything to know about the differences between the book and the movie adaptation. Some light spoilers ahead, for those who haven't yet discovered the magic of either version.

The abusive matron is still at the orphanage

In the book, Nica and Rigel often talk about their complicated history with the matron from their childhood, Margaret Stoker. While Nica was brutally abused by the matron, Rigel was her favorite and the only child spared from her abuse — which only exacerbated his feelings of isolation and shame.

In the movie, the same relationship with the matron exists, but unlike the book where she was replaced by Mrs. Fridge when Nica was 12, Margaret was still the matron when Nica and Rigel were adopted.

Nica and Rigel's relationship developed more quickly in the movie

Netflix/Youtube

The novel is a whopping 550 pages and it isn't until around halfway through that a physical relationship starts between Nica and Rigel, after much tension and build-up. However, given the runtime of the movie is an hour and 45 minutes, the relationship is sped along much faster onscreen.

Rigel is prone to headaches and severe fevers and, early in the book, he experiences a fever that causes him to pass out, leaving Nica to take care of him while their adoptive parents are out of town. While the same scene happens in the movie, it is also the first time Nica and Rigel get together physically — whereas in the book, Rigel is asleep and Nica merely sees his vulnerability for the first time.

Chaos ensues at a school dance rather than at a party

There is a raving animosity between Lionel, who has a romantic interest in the clueless Nica, and Rigel, who doesn't trust his rival (and let's face it, he's jealous). In the book, the rivalry culminates in the final scene where Rigel and Lionel get into a massive fight.

However, in the movie, it all comes to a head during the climax of the film at the school dance — which does not happen in the book. Instead, a similar chaotic scene happens when Nica attends Lionel's party, where a drunk Lionel is aggressive toward her.

At the dance, Lionel is the sober one while Rigel fends off an inebriated Nica. A near-fatal incident that occurs at the end of the book happens directly after this scene — after Nica and Rigel have sex for the first time (which is also not when it happens in the book!).

Though Asia is a minor character in the book, she is important to the story as Nica stands up to her and proves that she's not there to replace her adoptive parents' deceased son, Alan, but rather to bring them new joy. Asia, who was in love with Alan before his death, has a hard time accepting her and is brusque and rude to her.

In the film adaptation, Asia's character is the same but she is not developed and is only in two scenes: the initial scene where she reacts poorly to Nica's presence and the final scene where she accepts Nica. Her friendship with Adeline is ignored and her story as a law student (and Adaline's love story) is also not portrayed in the film.

The story has a somewhat different ending

The plot still ends with Nica testifying against Margaret (but no spoilers on the outcome of that testimony!), but it's in a slightly different, more condensed order than the book.

In the book, Nica sits by a comatose Rigel's side for months, telling him stories and attempting to rouse him.

How this dark fairytale come to end? You'll just have to read—and watch—to find out.

Related Articles

Valerie Bertinelli shares recipes that reshape what it means to 'Indulge'

Check out her kale sweet potato salad and savory thyme cookies.

Actress, Food Network host and bestselling author Valerie Bertinelli is out with a new cookbook that redefines what it means to indulge.

Bertinelli joined "Good Morning America" on Wednesday to share a taste of two dishes from "Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share."

Check out her full recipes below and shop her new cookbook, plus kitchen tools to help recreate her dishes at home.

Kale and Sweet Potato Salad

Prep time: 15 minutes Serves 4

"This recipe came to me one day when I was hungry and my body was begging for fuel, not junk food. I needed a meal that would nourish me and rev me up -- a forkful of feel-good and energy. I opened the fridge and put together all these great ingredients, and the Dill Pickle Vinaigrette sent it over the top. Indulge!"

Ingredients 1 bunch lacinato kale, ribs removed, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 cups finely shredded cabbage 1 1/2 cups roasted diced sweet potato (from 1 sweet potato) 1 Honeycrisp or Pink Lady apple, diced 1 cup cooked tricolor quinoa

Dill Pickle Vinaigrette 1/4 cup dill pickle juice 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 small garlic clove, grated 1 heaping tablespoon roughly chopped dill 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Toss the kale in a large salad bowl with the olive oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Use clean hands to massage the kale for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The kale will soften and turn a deep shiny green.

Add the cabbage, sweet potato, apple and quinoa to the bowl and toss to combine. Whisk together the dill pickle juice, olive oil, garlic, dill, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately or refrigerate. The salad will last in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Thyme and Gruyère Savory Cookies

Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 14 minutes Makes about 2 dozen cookies

"I'm going to warn you now: These fly off the plate. After you make them once, you'll probably want to double the recipe the next time. They are similar to shortbread but savory instead of sweet, and you can serve them as you would chips. They don't need a dip or a spread. But no one will complain if you do offer a little sumpin' sumpin'."

Ingredients 1 large egg 1 cup freshly grated Gruyère (about 4 ounces) 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

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Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Set aside.

Combine the cheese, flour, thyme, pepper and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the cheese is broken up and incorporated with the flour. Add the butter and pulse until you have pieces smaller than a pea, 10 to 15 pulses. While pulsing, stream in the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. After 2 tablespoons, remove the lid and check your dough; it should look like wet sand and hold together when you squeeze it. If it doesn't, place the lid back on and pulse in the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times, just until it comes together. Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out until it's 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out the cookies and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Gather the dough scraps and lightly knead together. Continue the process of rolling out the dough and cutting cookies until all of the dough is used. Brush the cookies with the egg wash.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden and puffed. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, always using a cool baking sheet.

Recipes reprinted with permission from Valerie Bertinelli and Harvest Books.

Bertinelli also shared two heartier dishes for chicken breast with Prosecco sauce and baked ziti earlier this week with "GMA." Check them out here .

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Screen Rant

"i liked [it], but can't say i loved it": what grrm thinks of the book game of thrones' creators just adapted.

George R.R. Martin shared his thoughts on the book Game of Thrones creators Benioff and Weiss just adapted as a series for Netflix.

• George R.R. Martin reviewed the novel that became a Netflix series, 3 Body Problem, back in 2015.
• The series is similar to Martin's Game of Thrones regarding characterization and tone.
• 3 Body Problem is a strong series, but creators must be cautious due to the precise sci-fi elements.

George R.R. Martin shared his overall thoughts in a review of the novel 3 Body Problem , which was adapted by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B Weiss for Netflix. The novel is a part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixen and both it and the series focuses on a non-linear narrative that begins with Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) in 1960s China. When the young astrophysicist is conscripted into the military after a devastating loss, her decisions set in motion a chain of events that could shape Earth forever.

Wenjie's choices echo over time and come to fruition in the modern-day United Kingdom. A group of scientists, known as the Oxford 5, must figure out the meaning behind a rash of deaths and the strange countdown timer many in the scientific community are seeing. The series explores not only the connections made beyond time, but space as well, as the past and the present fight to shape the future.

3 Body Problem World Explained: Science, Tech, Aliens & Your Questions Answered

George r.r. martin reviewed the three-body problem in 2015, martin was reviewing the book for the hugo awards.

Martin discussed the novel on his LiveJournal account , largely praising the book for its blending of genre and historical integration, including the Chinese Cultural Revolution and its aftermath . Martin commented that Wenjie was a "fascinating and complex creation" but that some of the other characters fell flat. He ultimately stated that the book "sagged in the middle" before picking back up and that he had been unaware it was a series, but would be continuing it due to how interesting he found it.

How 3 Body Problem Compares To Game Of Thrones

Both series' have a flawed female protagonist at their heart, whose decisions create polarizing images of her values to those around them and largely affect the decisions of others due to her uncompromising views.

3 Body Problem and Game of Thrones share some similarities in tone and characterization, but the differing genres pose different challenges and needs for the narrative overall. 3 Body Problem, similar to the HBO series, is a strong adaptation that is able to balance complex and tense events with strong character moments. Both series' have a flawed female protagonist at their heart, whose decisions create polarizing images of her values to those around them and largely affect the decisions of others due to her uncompromising views.

However, 3 Body Problem's book counterpart is completed, unlike Game of Thrones. While this means that the creators will have an easier time adapting it into a series, it can also be limiting. Sci-fi as a genre, especially a story like 3 Body Problem which uses real scientific theories, can be very precise. If the creators want to make any changes for the sake of the narrative, it would have to be done carefully to not stray too far from those hard rules. This contrasts with high fantasy, where the worldbuilding can be manipulated to fit the story.

3 Body Problem is currently streaming on Netflix.

3 Body Problem

3 Body Problem is a Netflix original series from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with Alexander Woo. Based on the novel of the same name by Liu Cixin, 3 Body Problem centers on a detective who joins forces with a group of scientists after an unknown force begins killing scientists around the world.

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How Would Your Life Change if You Knew When It Would End?

In Nikki Erlick’s debut novel, “The Measure,” all adults can find out how much time they have left.

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By Leni Zumas

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THE MEASURE, by Nikki Erlick

We are all going to die. Most of us don’t know when. But what if we did know? What if we were told the year, the month, even the day? How would that change our lives?

These questions drive Nikki Erlick’s debut novel, “The Measure,” which weighs Emerson’s claim that “it is not the length of life, but the depth of life” that matters.

One morning, adults around the world find on their doorstep (or outside their tent, or next to their shelter bed) a box labeled with their name. Inside is a piece of string whose length, it turns out, represents their life span. Short strings, long strings, medium strings — every person over 21 receives one, delivered in strange containers that materialize out of nowhere. As the weeks go by and data is gathered, scientists declare the strings to be accurate in forecasting how long their recipients will live. Some people choose to look at their strings; others throw the unopened boxes off bridges, preferring not to know how much time they have left.

Where do the boxes come from? Why can’t anyone see them being delivered? Why were they sent in the first place? Erlick is less interested in technicalities than in the strings’ impact on her characters. Hank, an E.R. doctor whose life is spent handling other people’s deaths, must confront his own. In a romance where one string is much shorter than the other, Nina and Maura debate whether to marry and have children. Aimless young Jack finds direction when his uncle, a ruthlessly ambitious presidential candidate, starts spouting incendiary rhetoric against people with short strings. Two strangers, finding themselves accidental pen-pals, forge an intimacy that will have enormous consequences. Prejudice against short-stringers gains traction — their despair is seen as dangerous — while Jack’s uncle and other politicians make hay from the long/short divide, and a weekly support group for short-stringers becomes a makeshift family.

“The Measure” gives us the perspectives of several characters, alternating viewpoints at a brisk, staccato clip. Many chapters are only a page or two long. The most intriguing story line belongs to Amie and Ben, strangers who begin leaving each other anonymous letters in the classroom where she teaches by day and he attends a short-stringer support group by night. Their tender, thoughtful notes are a welcome counterpoint to the novel’s speedy pace.

Recent American fiction is rich with dystopian explorations of real-life horrors: racist violence (Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s “Friday Black”), toxic patriarchy (Jessamine Chan’s “ The School for Good Mothers ”) and climate catastrophe (Omar El Akkad’s “American War”), to name just a few. “The Measure,” in contrast, stays firmly in the comfort of the imaginary. Although it is set in an otherwise familiar present-day America, the strings effectively become the only problem, eclipsing sociopolitical issues to such a degree that String World begins to seem, well, not so bad. Erlick writes, “At least the future they had been doled seemed more promising than those on the shelves in front of Amie, in which women’s bodies were stripped solely to their reproductive capacities and children murdered each other on television at the government’s behest.” She goes on, “If those were the alternatives, Amie thought, perhaps they should feel lucky that the strings were all they got.”

With Roe v. Wade now overturned, and children with semiautomatic rifles mass-murdering other children, readers of “The Measure” are living in the futures on the shelves. Despite its chilling premise, Erlick’s novel is an escape from — rather than a window into — our own terrifying reality.

Leni Zumas’s latest book is “Red Clocks.”

THE MEASURE, by Nikki Erlick | 368 pp. | William Morrow & Company | $28.99

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Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .