Nota en 1ª página.: 19/III/2016. Feliz Día del PAdre. Mamá y Amoná. (Firma de Amoná) ( )

Lo dejé a medias, debería volver a retomarlo, pero me aburrió soberanamente, sobre todo las partes en las que se repite la historia con diferente "voz".

Se lo envío a Cristina Jiménez Urriza, grupo Facebook - febrero 2021

Julia Navarro wrote one gripping story in her 2016 psychological thriller Story of a Sociopath. The book is a character study of sociopath, Thomas Spencer, a fictional character. The author wrote about events in Thomas' life that took him down a wrong path, beginning when he was a boy, and then wrote a section about what he would have done if he had not been a sociopath. All of this is written from Thomas' viewpoint, first person.

In the prologue Thomas Spencer muses over his life as he mulls his impending death. He admits "I am scum...I was born without a conscience, or at least I never knew where to find one, but perhaps one will knock on my door tonight."

Thomas was the black sheep of the family, a wealthy family in the upper echelons of New York society. He disliked every member of his family and each of them responded by showering love on him because they did not know why he was different. He had all of the advantages that wealth can give a person including education and the need to not even work if he chose not to do so.

However, as the oldest son in the family Thomas was expected to follow in this father and grandfather's footsteps and become a lawyer in their law firm. He chose not to for two reasons. One, he despised them and wanted to hurt them and two, he floundered in school.

Thomas ended up at an unknown advertising school run by a former ad executive who had fallen from grace. This educational credential was not expected to help any graduate in the job market but Thomas made it work by moving to London. There he gave up a life of privilege and over a lifetime worked his way to the top working in media for politicians.

It has been a long time since I was interested in reading a novel. This book gripped me from the first page and kept me reading. Nasty characters are always fun to read about and Thomas Spencer delivers here. There are many dark plot twists as you would expect with a character study on a sociopath as well as with someone involved in political campaign management. Thomas accidentally stumbled into this career but I think he got lucky because this career perfectly fit his personality.

This was a great read. ( )

This is a difficult book to review. It is particularly lengthy and it is told from the viewpoint of the sociopath in the title. By nature, sociopaths are a turn off. This one, Thomas Spencer, is no exception.

Thomas grows up in an upper middle class household. His father is an attorney in a second generation New York law firm. His mother is a nurse who is half Mexican and half American. His younger brother is a lovely person with a personality that all love and a golden future. Thomas is a difficult person from childhood all the way to death.

As the story opens, Thomas and his brother Jaime are both children. Thomas is adored by his father, despised by the nanny/maid and distant with his mother. He is cruel to his younger brother as well as animals. He is unpleasant in every way but he is the heart of the story and there is little or no reprieve from Thomas.

What is great about this story is that sociopaths are most often shown to be criminals. In this story, the sociopathic tendencies of Thomas, translate into a certain amount of success in his chosen profession – advertising. His methods though, leave a lot of collateral damage in his wake.

As Thomas narrates the story, there are a number of places where he explains how an event played out. But he also gives an alternative narrative, in italics, about what he could have done instead. Thomas never chooses the correct or pleasing or socially appropriate response however.

As the book proceeds from childhood, to young adulthood, to adulthood, to old age, Thomas becomes increasingly less pleasant and more sadistic. Sadly, he is also the most successful character in the book and as life often imitates art, many of us can see how it works the same in the big wide world.

Thomas destroys lives, including many of those closest to him. He is unable to love although it is something that he desperately seeks and is unable to receive much less understand.

The story takes place in both New York and London with a segue to Madrid that felt incomplete. Strangely, it is the one time in the story that one feels Thomas has found what amounts to him, happiness and peace. It is also the one place in the world where as much as he is able, he abstains from damage.

It is one of those books I can’t stop thinking about so therefore, it must have resonated more than I thought. It is long – almost 900 pages, so it is one with length and depth and requires a commitment of time. If psychological manipulation and gaslighting interest you, and you want to better understand the mind of a sociopath, then this one is for you. ( )

Un audaz cambio de registro en el que Julia Navarro disecciona la ambición, la codicia y el egoísmo del ser humano.Soy un canalla y no me arrepiento de serlo.He mentido, engañado y manipulado a mi antojo sin que me importaran las consecuencias.He destruido sueños y reputaciones, he traicionado a los que me han sido leales, he provocado dolor a aquellos que quisieron ayudarme.He jugado con las esperanzas de quienes pensaron que podrían cambiar lo que soy.Sé lo que hice y siempre supe lo que debí hacer.Esta es la historia de un canalla. La mía.Thomas Spencer sabe cómo conseguir todo lo que desea. Una salud delicada es el precio que ha tenido que pagar por su estilo de vida, pero no se lamenta por ello. Sin embargo, desde su último episodio cardíaco, una sensación extraña se ha apoderado de él y en la soledad de su lujoso apartamento de Brooklyn, se suceden las noches en que no puede evitar preguntarse cómo habría sido la vida que conscientemente eligió no vivir.El recuerdo de los momentos que le llevaron a triunfar como publicista y asesor de imagen, entre Londres y Nueva York en los ochenta y noventa, nos descubre los turbios mecanismos que en ocasiones emplean los centros de poder para conseguir sus fines. Un mundo hostil, gobernado por hombres, en el que las mujeres se resisten a tener un papel secundario.