Eduardo Santiago
They used to say psychopaths made up about one percent of the general population; that figure will need to be revised in light of the 2024 election. Have you ever wanted to spend time inside the head of one? Kuang takes you there. It's not easy. Not for the reader—I had to reach out to A. at the end of chapter two to ask for advice—and, ouch, almost certainly not for the poor author. My heart felt for Kuang, having to write first-person from the PoV of a narcissistic, self-absorbed, neurotic banal twisted monster. In the acknowledgments Kuang recognizes and thanks her support network (and I do too) but still, that has to leave scars. I wish her healing.
I'm glad to have kept reading. Also sad, because despite a smattering of overthetopness there really are people like that out there, as well as soulcrushing cutthroat environments that ... well, don't exactly create those monsters but they foster monstrous traits. And sadder yet as I remember Sapolsky's Behave and of course Tavris/Aronson's Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) and accept that there is nothing we can do to fix such broken people. Kuang's pacing and prose are captivating, and her depiction of the psycho is fascinating in the proverbial slow-motion train wreck sense.
TTFN. I now need to scrub my brain with bleach.
They used to say psychopaths made up about one percent of the general population; that figure will need to be revised in light of the 2024 election. Have you ever wanted to spend time inside the head of one? Kuang takes you there. It's not easy. Not for the reader—I had to reach out to A. at the end of chapter two to ask for advice—and, ouch, almost certainly not for the poor author. My heart felt for Kuang, having to write first-person from the PoV of a narcissistic, self-absorbed, neurotic banal twisted monster. In the acknowledgments Kuang recognizes and thanks her support network (and I do too) but still, that has to leave scars. I wish her healing.
I'm glad to have kept reading. Also sad, because despite a smattering of overthetopness there really are people like that out there, as well as soulcrushing cutthroat environments that ... well, don't exactly create those monsters but they foster monstrous traits. And sadder yet as I remember Sapolsky's Behave and of course Tavris/Aronson's Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) and accept that there is nothing we can do to fix such broken people. Kuang's pacing and prose are captivating, and her depiction of the psycho is fascinating in the proverbial slow-motion train wreck sense.
TTFN. I now need to scrub my brain with bleach.